How Did The Age Of Reason Influence The Future Development Of Western Europe

The Enlightenment period (very often called the Age of Reason) which started in the 17th century, put a huge emphasis on reasoning and humans as individuals. At the same time it touched at the core of the life based on faith and tradition. The ideas developed by thinkers of the time strongly affected future intellectual, political and economic development of Western Europe, influencing also the character of modern societies. During the 16th century society faced many turbulence in different parts of Western Europe. Something what started as a dispute over the political and economic issues between king and nobility in England, and resulted in the Civil war, provided a fertile ground for thinkers who first started to question the world around them.

Consequently, many of doctrines established by the church authorities were directly threatened by individuals who dared to think out of the commonly accepted rules. Below, I will try to elaborate contributions of the Enlightenment period to future development of Europe taking into consideration three aspects. First, I would like to argue about how the idea that humans are capable to use their reason influenced the overall development in Europe. Furthermore, I will discuss that a belief in progress with its consequences affected particularly the intellectual and economic development. Finally, I will explain to which extend a nowadays democracy and system of government in Europe owes to the ideas of