Age of Enlightenment: When the World Got Smart and Smarmy

The Age of Enlightenment, a period in history known for both its ‘enlightened’ ideas and its surly smart-arses, spanned from the late-17th century to the late-18th century. Also known as the ‘Age of Reason’, (which makes it sound like we all just suddenly started using our brains after a long stint of brainlessness), it was a time when many great minds emerged, like Isaac Newton, Immanuel Kant, and Voltaire.

Of course, with great minds came great egos. Philosophers of the time spent hours debating and writing about important issues, but they also spent a lot of time insulting each other. One of the most famous examples is the ‘Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns’, in which some scholars argued that the greatest achievements in the arts and sciences had already been made, while others believed that the modern era was just as capable of greatness.

But the Age of Enlightenment was about more than just intellectual posturing. It was also a time of great social and political change, with thinkers like John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau exploring new ideas about individual liberty and democracy. Of course, these ideas were also used to justify colonialism and imperialism, so it wasn’t all sweetness and light.

Perhaps the most enduring image of the Age of Enlightenment is that of the salon, a gathering of intellectuals in a wealthy woman’s home where they would debate and discuss ideas while sipping on tea and nibbling on cake. This image is both romantic and ridiculous – after all, what kind of society only allows the wealthy to engage in intellectual debate?

Regardless of its flaws, the Age of Enlightenment was a time of great intellectual and cultural ferment. It laid the groundwork for many of the things we take for granted today, like democracy, the scientific method, and snarky Twitter threads. So let us raise our glasses – or our laptops – to the Age of Enlightenment, a time when the world got smart and smarmy.