The European intellectual movement of the 17th and 18th centuries that applied reason to the social and political world was the Enlightenment.
The Enlightenment, or Age of Reason, was based on concepts concerning reason, humanity, and nature. It developed new forms of art, politics and philosophy. The main objective of this movement was to achieve knowledge, happiness and freedom.
The most known figures of this movement were: John Locke, Voltaire, Immanuel Kant, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Thomas Jefferson among others.