From the late seventeenth century to the late eighteenth century, there was a period of intellectual change that became known as the Enlightenment. Thinkers, writers, artists, political leaders, and others drove this movement. They believed they were shining the “light” of reason on the world.

The Enlightenment had intellectual, social, economic, and political consequences across the globe. Enlightenment ideas emerged from ongoing discussions among many people. These thinkers, writers, and artists—known as philosophes—were particularly active in Europe and European settler colonies. They were connected to networks that moved around the globe. This enabled Enlightenment ideas to inspire revolutions.

What was so enlightening about the Enlightenment?

The Enlightenment started as a scientific and intellectual movement and soon became a political movement. Enlightenment thinkers did not always agree, but they were devoted to lively study and conversation. They aimed to cast “light” on questions that had lurked in darkness for centuries.

The Enlightenment had roots in the Scientific Revolution. In 1687, Isaac Newton introduced “rational mechanics” into the study of mathematics and astronomy. Following Newton, Enlightenment thinkers believed that a “natural law” could be discovered for all aspects of the world. However, they did not think that people could discover these laws through religion. Rather, truth would be found by examining the world around them.

Some historians trace the Enlightenment’s political dimensions to the “Glorious Revolution” of 1688 in the British Isles. King James was deposed and replaced by his daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange. A constitutional monarchy was then established.

For many Enlightenment thinkers and artists, slavery became not only an ethical issue, but also a metaphor for different sorts of oppression and liberation. Radical artist William Blake used the theme frequently in his work.

This was a new form of government. Although Britain still had a monarch, it also had representative parliaments and established “rights.” In 1690, the English philosopher John Locke argued that government should be formed through a contract between people and their ruler.

The Enlightenment impacted people’s views on economics and morality. Locke owned stock in the Royal African Company, which profited from the enslavement of Africans. He argued that slavery was acceptable under some conditions. Yet Locke rejected the idea that there were underlying differences people of different races. Most Enlightenment thinkers took Locke’s lead and emphasized shared humanity between all people.

Yet African enslavement kept growing and its profits helped the growth of European cities. Enlightenment thinkers increasingly struggled with the fact that the apparent “progress” of their world depended on slavery. Locke’s contradictory position became harder to maintain. Religious groups like the Quakers and some philosophes called for the abolition of slavery.

The Enlightenment and historical “progress”

Who could participate in the Enlightenment and who could benefit from it? Despite growing participation in the Enlightenment, not everyone had an equal voice. Many philosophes believed that women, children, working people, and non-European people were less developed than white European men.

Almost no Enlightenment thinkers believed women should have political rights. Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote that the goal of women’s education should be to please men. The English intellectual Mary Wollstonecraft wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Women in 1792. Yet even though Wollstonecraft called for women’s education, it was based on the idea that educated women made better mothers.

Ideas about human development were also popular at the time. Scottish Enlightenment philosophers William Robertson and Adam Smith believed that societies moved through specific stages of development. The final stage of human development was a society based in commerce and trade. This society looked much like Western Europe.

Smith’s economy depended on free trade. He believed that if prejudices were eliminated and humans were free to make economic decisions, a society that was good for everyone would arise. Smith’s ideas about free markets became the foundation for modern capitalism. Many of these ideas were also used to explain colonial occupations and conquest.

So was the Enlightenment really that revolutionary?

Historians disagree about whether the Enlightenment was truly revolutionary. It provided new tools for examining the world and ideals about a shared humanity, but inequality remained. European Enlightenment philosophes were typically white, male, and well-off. They had a reason to want to improve existing institutions without removing them. Other people had less to lose. Calls for more revolutionary change grew louder as more people saw the gap between the Enlightenment’s stated ideals and the actual state of the world.

Who were these rebels pushing the Enlightenment to go further? Historians say they were multi-racial, multi-national, and working class. One example was Olaudah Equiano, an enslaved laborer and a sailor who became a leading voice in the abolitionist movement.

French playwright Olympe de Gouges was also an abolitionist. In 1791 she criticized women’s exclusion from the government formed during the French Revolution.

In Latin America, Enlightenment thinkers like José Antonio de Alzate criticized European Enlightenment ideas. He was especially concerned with European ideas about Native Americans. He said that local scholars understood native societies better than Europeans.

However, social elites continued to hold power. In some ways, modern states actually acquired more power over people’s everyday lives. “Citizenship” was a powerful rallying cry for political participation, but it also left people out.

The Enlightenment left a complicated legacy. Although it was liberating, it imposed limits on change. Perhaps it is best to think of the Enlightenment as a process, rather than a single thing. When you use a microscope, write a novel, or carry a protest sign in the street today, you are engaging in a process of “enlightened” thought.