section_path: Religion, science, philosophy, and education/Enlightenment and reason
section_name: Enlightenment and reason
paragraph_text: Enlightenment and reason
  
  The Age of Enlightenment is also called the Age of Reason because it marked a departure from the medieval tradition of scholasticism, which was rooted in Christian dogma, and from Renaissance philosophy 's occultist approaches. Instead, reason became the central source of knowledge, initiating the era of modern philosophy, especially in Western philosophy. This period in Europe was characterized by system-builders—philosophers who established unified theories of epistemology, metaphysics, logic, ethics, and sometimes even politics and the physical sciences.
  
  Early 17th-century philosophy is often referred to as the Age of Rationalism, succeeding Renaissance philosophy and preceding the Enlightenment. Some consider it the earliest part of the Enlightenment, stretching over two centuries. This era includes the works of Isaac Newton (1643–1727), such as Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687), and the development of Descartes' famous proposition Cogito, ergo sum (1637). The first major advancements in modern science included Newton's theory of gravity, which, along with the contributions of John Locke, Pierre Bayle, Baruch Spinoza, and others, fueled the Enlightenment.
  
  The 18th century saw the rise of secularization in Europe, notably following the French Revolution. Immanuel Kant classified his predecessors into two philosophical schools: Rationalism and Empiricism. The former was represented by figures such as René Descartes, Baruch Spinoza, and Gottfried Leibniz. Roger Williams established the colony of Providence Plantations in New England on the principle of separation of church and state after being exiled by the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
  
  French salon culture played a key role in spreading Enlightenment ideas, culminating in the influential Encyclopédie (1751–72), edited by Denis Diderot with contributions from thinkers such as Voltaire and Montesquieu. The Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns stirred debate within the French Academy, elevating contemporary knowledge over classical Greek and Roman wisdom. Enlightenment thought also significantly influenced German philosophy, fostered by Frederick the Great, with Immanuel Kant emerging as a leading figure. These developments also had profound impacts on the Scottish Enlightenment, Russian Enlightenment, Enlightenment in Spain, and Enlightenment in Poland. The Enlightenment flourished until around 1790–1800, after which the emphasis on reason gave way to Romanticism and the growing influence of Counter-Enlightenment movements.