Final answer:
The Scientific Revolution, with its emphasis on observation and reason, set the stage for the Enlightenment. It challenged traditional beliefs and inspired new ways of thinking about the natural world and human institutions, paving the way for significant societal transformations.
Step-by-step explanation:
The event that set the stage for the Enlightenment was The Scientific Revolution. The key principles of the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Scientific Revolution established a view of the universe as orderly and rational. These principles inspired the critical exploration of traditional structures, such as religion and the monarchy, which led to the robust exchange of ideas that became known as the Enlightenment. Philosophers such as John Locke, who were influenced by these scientific developments, put forth ideas that helped to shape political revolutions to come, including the American Revolution.
By the beginning of the eighteenth century, the Scientific Revolution's challenges to traditional justifications for social hierarchies based on Christianity and its notions of the nature of the cosmos propelled the Enlightenment movement forward. The Scientific Revolution encouraged a worldview grounded in empirical observation and reason rather than metaphysical or spiritual explanations, providing a model for rationally analyzing human institutions as well as natural phenomena.