Immanuel Kant was a German Philosopher and a thinker who evolved and gave meaning to the very idea of Enlightenment. During the 18th century, the word ‘Enlightenment’ came into existence but the meaning was still not clear. Kant used to write for a large audience during those days so as his readers began to grow and get more educated under such disciplines, more and more questions began to appear with no answers. The most intriguing question to all was the age of enlightenment. So, Kant published a paper in 1784 answering that particular question and stating that enlightenment is actually being independent and thinking freely about oneself instead of relying on authorities and rules and regulations. Although this was started, it was yet to be achieved during those days as there were monarchies and political parties that ruled over the people, leading them to obey and listen to them without any questions or point of conflict. In this paper, he also thanked the monarchy system and stated his views against the point of revolutions. He believed that independence and political freedom would gradually make their way and progress through time instead of through revolutions and the violence that they bring.
The Age of Enlightenment was a philosophical movement that dominated the notion of power and legitimacy and supported values like freedom, progress, tolerance, brotherhood and constitutional governance. The idea of Enlightenment was characterised by focusing on scientific methods and interrogation while keeping the religious beliefs in mind and questioning these beliefs. This very idea had an important role in inspiring the French Revolution and it focused more on the rights of the oppressed instead of the privileged exclusive rights of the elite.