The "Enlightenment" designates a period of great intellectual activity in the cause of general knowledge and culture, as well as emancipation from prejudice, convention and tradition. In England, Locke and Newton are considered part of the movement.
In Germany, the term Enlightenment - "Aufklärung" in German - is applied primarily to the 18th-century movement which was inspired by the earlier popular philosophy of Lessing, Mendelssohn, Reimarus, and others.
