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<span class="articletitle">The Enlightenment</span><br>
<span class="tagline">From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</span>
<p>In the period known as <b>The Enlightenment</b>, <a href="http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/18th_century" class='internal' title="18th century">Eighteenth century</a> <a href="http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/Europe" class='internal' title="Europe">Europe</a> saw remarkable cultural changes characterized by a loss of faith in traditional religious and political sources of authority and a turn toward <a href="http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/Democracy" class='internal' title="Democracy">democracy</a>, <a href="http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/Human_rights" class='internal' title="Human rights">human rights</a>, and <a href="http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/Science" class='internal' title="Science">science</a>.
<p>
The upheavals of the Enlightenment led directly to the <a href="http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/American_Revolutionary_War" class='internal' title="American Revolutionary War">American Revolutionary War</a> and the <a href="http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/French_Revolution" class='internal' title="French Revolution">French Revolution</a> and significantly influenced the <a href="http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/Industrial_Revolution" class='internal' title="Industrial Revolution">Industrial Revolution</a>.
<p>
Some of the most important figures of the Enlightenment are:
<ul><li> <a href="http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/Denis_Diderot" class='internal' title="Denis Diderot">Denis Diderot</a>
</li><li> <a href="http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/David_Hume" class='internal' title="David Hume">David Hume</a>
</li><li> <a href="http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson" class='internal' title="Thomas Jefferson">Thomas Jefferson</a>
</li><li> <a href="http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/John_Locke" class='internal' title="John Locke">John Locke</a>
</li><li> <a href="http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/Montesquieu" class='internal' title="Montesquieu">Montesquieu</a>
</li><li> <a href="http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/Isaac_Newton" class='internal' title="Isaac Newton">Isaac Newton</a>
</li><li> <a href="http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/Voltaire" class='internal' title="Voltaire">Voltaire</a>
</li></ul><p>
See also <a href="http://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/French_materialism" class='internal' title="French materialism">French materialism</a>.
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