16th-century thinkers followed the Renaissance philosophers in placing humanity at the center of the universe and thus created an irreversible movement: Humanism.  The leaders of this movement were Montaigne (1533-1592), Descartes (1596-1650), Hobbes (1588-1679), Spinoza (1632-1677), Locke (1634-1704) and Newton (1642-1727).

The 18th century brought with it luminaries such as Montesquieu (1689-1755), Diderot (1713-1784) and Kant (1724-1804).  These thinkers carried in their wake revolutionary writers such as Voltaire (1694-1778) and the "divine" Marquis de Sade (1740-1814).