What was 'enlightened' about the Age of Enlightenment?

Answer:

The Age of Enlightenment (18th century) was "enlightened" because it placed reason, science and human progress at the centre of thought, challenging tradition, superstition and arbitrary authority.

Reason and Science

• Faith in human reason as the guide to truth, inspired by the Scientific Revolution (Newton).
• Belief that natural laws govern society as they govern nature, and can be discovered by enquiry.

Challenge to Authority and Superstition

• Criticism of religious dogma and clerical power; ideas of tolerance and secularism (Voltaire).
• Attack on despotism and demand for rational, accountable government.

New Political and Social Ideas

• Concepts of natural rights, liberty, equality and the social contract (Locke, Rousseau).
• Montesquieu's separation of powers; Adam Smith's economic liberalism.
• Belief in human progress, education and reform.

Impact

• Inspired the American and French Revolutions and modern democratic and secular values.

Critical Note

• Its universalism was limited in practice — often confined to elites and blind to gender and colonial subjects.

Therefore, the Enlightenment was "enlightened" in its confidence in reason, science, natural rights and progress, which liberated thought from tradition and laid the intellectual basis of the modern world.