John Locke's Theory Of The Enlightenment: The Age Of Enlightenment

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John Locke, a philosopher of the Enlightenment, once said, “No man’s knowledge here can go beyond his experience”. This quote effectively describes the overall thoughts of the time known as the Enlightenment. The Age of Enlightenment began in the late 17th and 18th century Europe. This was a movement involving many intellectuals developing new ideas focused around reason and thinking rather than following old traditional ideas. The main goal of the Enlightenment was progress in thinking and tolerance. The important advancements in areas such as reasoning and logic made during the time period of the Enlightenment were made possible by the many influential thinkers of the time. Included in the broad umbrella of thinkers, there are individuals who possess different areas of expertise, such as writers, scientists, mathematicians, and philosophers. Literature written during the Enlightenment was drastically different than previously written works and began to focus more on culture and logic to influence man’s thinking (Bodrogean 65). One of the most important writers of the time was Denis Diderot, also known as the encyclopaedist. Diderot translated many books into the French language and also watched over the translation of the Chambers Encyclopedia as the French did not have anything like it. This eventually led to his greatest accomplishment of creating a new and more detailed encyclopedia in French (Verma 809). Growing up, Diderot was raised by strict parents and was