The European Enlightenment was a cultural and intellectual movement focused on the ideas of reason, science, and progress. The ideas of the Enlightenment synthesized into a worldly view that dominated Europe during the eighteenth century. Skeptics, otherwise known as “doubters,” questioned the ideals and traditions of religious authorities, such as Pierre Bayle who criticized the religious persecutions of the past, and Baruch Spinoza who contradicted the ideas of the Jewish community. The Age of Enlightenment led to a strengthen scientific revolution, defended ideas like liberty and tolerance, and eventually influenced the ideals of America’s founding fathers. The Enlightenment, however, cannot be viewed as a turning point in history for this era failed to include men of lower class, women, and people of different races.
The Enlightenment encouraged many people to share ideas on issues such as society and politics. Enlightened thinkers often held receptions to freely examine the ever changing aspects of society. The exchange of ideas over progress and change was strictly limited to the elite population of Europe, though. Aristocrats and ascendent nobility believed they were the only ones capable of radicalized
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Rousseau was an influential advocate for individual freedom, but believed a woman’s place was at home caring for children, and that a woman’s mind was to be clear from personal thought and opinion. The societal role of women remained consistent with the expectations of former eras like the Middle Ages or the Age of Exploration. Allowing women to express their ideas regarding the Enlightenment was believed to corrupt the basic foundations of individual thought and progression skeptics and philosophers worked so hard to establish. Women continued to serve as ornaments to their male counterparts, and their rights were even less than those of poor European