The Enlightenment The eighteenth century's most exciting intellectual movement is called the Enlightenment. ... The turn toward what became known by 1750 as the Enlightenment began in the late seventeenth century. ... This ideal fired the imagination of the leaders of the Enlightenment, who gradually became known as philosophes, simply French for "philosophers." But regardless of national origin, the name took hold for thinkers as diverse as the French writer Voltaire, the American scientist and statesman Benjamin Franklin, and the German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804). ...

• Word Count: 862
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate