The German Enlightenment Era and its Most Influential Thinkers

Abstract

The sun of enlightenment rose in Europe in the eighteenth century, illuminating minds and pushing science and knowledge forward. The German Enlightenment and its intellectuals were a milestone in this era. Furthermore, the Enlightenment era cannot be perceived without those creative German thinkers and philosophers who called for: criticism, realization of the role of reason, religious tolerance, and avoidance of preconceptions. Moreover, '' Be encouraged to know'' was the slogan of the Enlightenment as being defined by Immanuel Kant. This famous definition had overturned the standards and prompted a change in all aspects of life, as well as it changed the human view of everything that exists. German Enlightenment thinkers such as: Lessing, Gellert, Gottschad and Lichtenberg illuminated the sky of science and knowledge, and their intellectual works were a precious treasure for mankind.

This research followed the historical-analytical scientific approach through collecting the scientific material focusing on German sources and references, and subjecting this information to comparison, analysis and restructuring.