Enlightenment
WordNet

noun


(1)   Education that results in understanding and the spread of knowledge
(2)   A movement in the 18th century that advocated the use of reason in the reappraisal of accepted ideas and social institutions
(3)   (Hinduism and Buddhism) the beatitude that transcends the cycle of reincarnation; characterized by the extinction of desire and suffering and individual consciousness
WiktionaryText

Proper noun



  1. A 17th- and 18th-century philosophical movement in European history; the Age of Enlightenment or Age of Reason emphasizing rationalism.

Quotations

  • 1997: Chris Horrocks, Introducing Foucault, page 36 (Totem Books, Icon Books; ISBN 1840460865)
    He first presented a complementary thesis on the philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724–1804), in which he used the term “archaeology” for the first time, and which indicated the period of history to which he was constantly to return.
    The : the intellectual, philosophical, cultural and scientific spirit of the 18th century. A belief in reason, progress, man’s “maturity” and a general rejection of tradition, religion and authority.
 
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