chapter 3 - the elightenment

the elightenment movment is what is thought to have sparked the revolution of france, the movement known as the elightenment was a europe wide movement, which found its most powerful expression through the works of such writters as Montesquieu, Voltaire, Diderot, Condorcet and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.although their ideas of change were greatly varied but all seemed to emphesise using science, progress and reason to create a more humane world. these writters were known s philosophes this is not translated into english as it losses its meaning when made into philospher they were called 'critical thinkers', they saw themsleves as 'anti-philosophers' because thye do not use abstract systems of thought but rather use reason as a means of solving the problems that face humanity.

the english writter endmand burke belived that philosophers had undermined the old regime and caused the revolution, the revolutionaries themselves had later claimed that they had been inspired by the enightenment. apparent;ly confirming Diderot's belief in the subverse power of ideas (sunverse meaning: designed to overthrow a government or other institution). very few philosophers were alive by the time the revolution
came to pass, but their ideas were adopted by the revlutionists themselves, giving authority to their reforms.
later historians such as Norman Hampson confidently stated that the elightenment was the  main cause for the revuolution to begin,(the authority of louis XIV was based on a certain unquestionability, which was steadily eroded during the 18th century (due to the elightenment).