Enlightenment

Last updated September 25, 2025

Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to:

History

Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual and cultural history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing:
- England: Midlands Enlightenment, period in 18th-century England
- German states: German Enlightenment, 18th-century period in modern-day Germany
- Greece: Modern Greek Enlightenment, an 18th-century national revival and educational movement in Greece
- Habsburg Empire: Austrian Enlightenment and Hungarian Enlightenment, 18th-century period in modern-day Austria and Hungary
- Italy: Italian Enlightenment, period in 18th-century Italy
- Jewish: Haskalah, Jewish Enlightenment, movement among European Jews in the late 18th century
- Poland: Polish Enlightenment, ideas of the Age of Enlightenment in Poland
- Russia: Russian Enlightenment, 18th-century period of active government encouragement of proliferation of arts and sciences in Russia
- Scotland: Scottish Enlightenment, period in 18th-century Scotland
- Spain: Enlightenment in Spain, came to Spain with a new dynasty, the Bourbons, subsequent reform and 'enlightened despotism'
- United States: American Enlightenment, intellectual culture of the British North American colonies and the early United States
Nahda, cultural movement of Arab-populated regions of the Ottoman Empire during the 19th and early 20th centuries
China: May Fourth Movement, in the 1920s, and the New Enlightenment, in the 1980s

Enlightenment (philosophical concept), the concept of enlightenment in modern and contemporary Western philosophy
Enlightenment philosophy, the philosophy produced during the Enlightenment (late 17th and 18th centuries)

Enlightenment (window manager), an X Window System window manager
Enlighten (radiosity engine), code to do real-time calculation of indirect lighting ("radiosity") in video
Enlightenment Foundation Libraries, a set of graphics libraries

Enlighten Canberra, an annual arts and cultural festival in Canberra, Australia
"Enlightenment", the main artistic performance in the 2012 Summer Paralympics opening ceremony

Ionian Enlightenment, the origin of ancient Greek advances in philosophy and science
Dark Enlightenment, an anti-democratic and reactionary movement that broadly rejects egalitarianism and Whig historiography
Enlightenment Intensive, a group retreat designed to enable a spiritual enlightenment
Enlightenment Movement (Afghanistan), a Hazara grassroots civil disobedience group created in Afghanistan in 2016
Project Enlightenment, an educational program