The Age of Enlightenment was a intellectual movement in Europe arguably from the mid-1600s until the start of the 1800s. The roots of the Enlightenment included a reaction to the religious conflict ensuing from the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation, as well as new discoveries in science. These coalesced into a period of thought which emphasised the capacity of human reason to attain knowledge, and no longer needing to rely on the authority of tradition or claims to supernatural revelation. The mood of the Enlightenment can be summed up in the motto, "Sapere aude!" (Dare to know!) One precursor of the Enlightenment was Rene Descartes, a Frenchman residing in the Netherlands, who famously doubted everything apart from his own existence, affirming "I think therefore I am." He published "A discourse on method" in 1637. Another figure at the start of the movement was the German polymath Gottfried Leibniz (1646-1714). Many people consider the Enlighten...