The enlightenment was an age of inquiry based on REASON, not religion.
The Enlightment brought the scientific method and it was the era in which knowdledge started to be racionalized. Therefore it supposed a drastic change compared to the status quo, as most beliefs and sciences which were predominant before the Enlighment had their origins on religious beliefs and/or superstitions.
The Enlightment philosophers extended reason also to the political scenario. They opposed the absolut monarchies which ruled the feudal societies, whose power was supposed to be granted by God. They preached for the social contract, as the legimate form of goverment in which power is granted by the citizens to representatives and governors elected by sufragge. They also developed other related concepts such as the division of powers or the establishment of civil rights.
