The 18th century proved to be an intellectual as well as cultural movement in Europe, which reached its peak around 1750. At its center stood three main notions: natural science could and should be used to examine and understand all aspects of life, the scientific method was capable of discovering laws of human society as well as those of nature, and, armed with reason, it is possible for humans to create a better society and better people. The Enlightenment surfaced as writers like Bernard de Fontenelle popularized science, skeptics such as Michel de Montaigne and Pierre Bayle questioned established truths, foreign travel allowed Europeans to encounter different cultural customs, and the writing of John Locke stating that the human mind is tabula rasa (blank slate) and human nature is improvable and maybe even perfectible.

The movement was led by a group of French thinkers called philosophes. France encountered the...