The Age of Enlightenment or simply The Enlightenment or Age of Reason is an era from the mid-1600s to the end of the eighteenth century in which cultural and intellectual forces in Western Europe emphasized that the sources of knowledge were experience and reason were the primary sources of true knowledge about the world and thus that individual need not rely on revelation or authority for understanding but could undertake the challenge to “dare to know” for themselves, It was promoted by philosophes (the French term for semi-professional philosophers - lovers of knowledge) and society’s everyday intellectuals who frequented urban coffee houses, salons, and Masonic lodges wherein they discussed the important topics and problems of the day