What was a core principle of the Enlightenment?

The Enlightenment, an influential intellectual and cultural movement of the 17th and 18th centuries, emphasized reason and individualism rather than tradition. Thinkers of this era, like John Locke and Isaac Newton, challenged established norms and advocated for individual freedoms. A core tenet of the Enlightenment was the belief that every person should have the autonomy to form their own opinions, both politically and religiously, without undue influence from the state or religious institutions. This focus on individual liberty was revolutionary at the time. While the Enlightenment did contribute to ideas about political participation, the movement's fundamental principle was the broader right to individual belief, not specifically the right to vote for everyone. Similarly, while the Enlightenment fostered the spread of knowledge through publications, its core was not about the political independence of newspapers, but rather the freedom of thought that allowed such publications to exist in the first place.