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Jan 1, 1439
Printing Press
Johannes Gutenburg's invention of the printing press around 1439 was highly influential to the Age of Enlightenment because it allowed books to be created and sold for less cost, giving more people opportunities to become educated and learn things for themselves. -
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Rene Descartes
Rene Descartes was one of the most important figures of the Age of Enlightenment. He was a strong advocate for the idea that only that which could be proven with evidence was true. This idea was the backbone of the Scientific Method and the universal belief of pretty much every other Age of Enlightenment thinker. -
Heliocentricism
Although there was a lot of strong evidence towards the theory of Heliocentricism, the church denied. They denied it to the point of putting Galileo under house arrest in 1633, but this only served to further demonstrate to the general public the misuse of power by the church. This was important because it showed that the church was wrong from time to time and that complex things could be explained through logic and observation. -
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Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton came to explain the various events of everyday life in detail and also brought about the framework for Deism. This was important because Deism, although not hugely popular, was an important step towards creating a population more focused on human achievements. -
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The Glorious Revolution
The overthrow of King James II in what was known as the Glorious Revolution was highly influential to the Age of Reason. It was an increasingly more educated populaltion rising up against a highly religious, closed-minded rule and replacing it with a more free-thinking one. It also lead to an ammended Bill of Rights in England which allowed citizens far more personal freedoms. -
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Montesquieu
Montesquieu was a crucial figure in the Age of Reason because of his political philosophies. With his ideas on the separation of power in a government, he essentially set the basis for the modern governing body in the United States of America and led many others to question the decisions and the worth of their leaders. -
Encyclopedie
Diederot and other philosophes created the first compilation of knowledge in all fields known today as the encyclopedia. This was influential to the Age of Reason because it was a completely secular book that explained pretty much everything based entirely off of logic and knowledge. -
Philosophical Dictionary
This was crucial in the Age of Enlightenment in that it explored philosophy, life, and human nature from a pragmatic, non-religious stance. -
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American Revolution
The American Revolution was a key event of the Age of Enlightenment because it showed off a people's ability to rise up against oppression and nationalism. -
French Revolution
The French Revolution was highly influential to this age in multiple ways. It was an attempt to overthrow an oppressive and impractical governing body by educated and newly enlightened thinkers standing up for their secular and pragmatic beliefs. However, this sort of marked the end of the great Age of Reason in Europe as this war descended into a bloody and chaotic disaster that took society years from which to recover.