The Enlightenment is a specific epoch in Western history, stretching from the late seventeenth century to the late eighteenth century (often identified as the Age of Reason);
A network of ideals (mostly reason, freedom, progress, nature) raised during the Age of Reason has, according to some scholars, universal (transhistorical validity).
Two slogans capturing the sensitivity of the Enlightenment actually became two commandments:
On one side is Horace’s Sapere Aude! (“Dare to know!”, Also meaning “Dare to think of yourself!”), Quoted by Immanuel Kant at the beginning of his essay “What is enlightenment?”.
And on the other is Voltaire’s Erasez L’infame (“Crush the disgrace! Or” Destroy the institution! “)
Postmodern sensitivity is largely a radical critique of such Enlightenment ideals as reason, freedom, progress, nature.
In the name of reason, many irrational beliefs have been defended, in the name of freedom, countless acts of tyranny have been undertaken, in the name of progress, the natural environment has been destroyed and entire cultures have disappeared. Hence, abstract appeals to those ideals that have been declared universal must be viewed with suspicion, and special attention must be paid to what is actually done by whom, for whom.
