Final answer:
The Enlightenment was an intellectual movement emphasizing reason, individual rights, and the separation of church and state, challenging the traditional divine right monarchies by advocating for constitutional governments. It included rationalism, progressivism, and cosmopolitanism, ultimately influencing revolutionary events like the American and French revolutions.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Enlightenment was a pivotal movement in European history that highlighted the power of human reason over tradition and superstition. Its advocates championed liberty, progress, tolerance, fraternity, constitutional government, and the separation of church and state. These ideas were radical departures from the age-old divine right monarchies, spurring constitutional monarchies or republics that valued the individual's natural rights and reasoned self-governance.
Rationalism and empiricism were key tenets, positing that knowledge could be acquired through reason and experience, respectively. Progressivism held that society was capable of improvement through these faculties, while cosmopolitanism encouraged a worldview that transcended local prejudices. Philosophers such as Spinoza, Locke, Rousseau, and Voltaire, among others, laid the groundwork for what would become a transformative period leading to events such as the American and French revolutions.
Two distinct lines of thought emerged within the Enlightenment: the radical strand, which called for democracy and the elimination of religious authority; and a moderate strand that sought to reform rather than completely overthrow existing systems. Prominent ideas discussed included the importance of the individual, equality under the law, and natural rights, all contributing to the notion that the moral authority of kings was derived from the will of the people, not divine mandate.