The Enlightenment: A Network of Ideas
This interactive visualization maps the key concepts, thinkers, and events of the Enlightenment period (roughly 1650-1800), showing how they interconnect and influence each other.
Key Themes
- Reason and Rationality: The Enlightenment's central focus on human reason as the primary source of authority and legitimacy.
- Social Contract Theory: Ideas about the relationship between individuals and the state developed by thinkers like Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau.
- Religious Tolerance: The push against religious dogmatism and for freedom of thought and belief.
- Scientific Method: The application of empirical observation and experimentation to understand the natural world.
How to Use This Visualization
- Click on any node to see detailed information about that concept, person, or event.
- Use the search box to find specific nodes.
- Filter by category using the buttons on the left.
- Drag nodes to rearrange the network.
- Use the visualization controls to adjust the network parameters.
- Click "Reset View" to return to the original layout.
Related Visualizations
This visualization is part of a series exploring key philosophical movements and thinkers. For a more complete understanding, consider exploring the related visualizations:
- Romanticism - The philosophical and artistic movement that arose in reaction to Enlightenment rationality
- Hegel - A philosopher who synthesized aspects of Enlightenment thought while transcending its limitations
- Marxism - A philosophy that critiqued the Enlightenment's bourgeois individualism while embracing its emancipatory aspects
- Nietzsche - A radical critic of both Enlightenment rationalism and conventional morality
- Bergson - A thinker who challenged Enlightenment approaches to time and consciousness
- Leninism - A revolutionary theory that built on Marxist thought while addressing practical revolutionary strategy