a picture held us captive

The enlightenment was the period during which the modern identity was forged.

It was based on the idea of autonomy. We human beings decide for ourselves what actions we are going to perform.

The enlightenment decided that human beings are the final goal of human action. The saving of humanity was no longer the aim. The happiness of humanity became the goal.

The population at large does aspire to emancipation, to progress, to more freedom, to more equality and universality.

It is a kind of ideology within modernity.

Tzvetan Todorov on the Enlightenment
[transcribed from philosophy bites]

Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-incurred immaturity. Immaturity is the inability to use one’s own understanding without the guidance of another. This immaturity is self-incured if its cause is not lack of understanding, but lack of resolution and courage to use it without the guidance of another. The motto of enlightenment is therefore Sapere aude! [dare to be wise] Have courage to use your own understanding.

Laziness and cowardice are the reasons why such a large proportion of men, even when nature has long emancipated them from alien guidance, nevertheless gladly remain immature for life, and why it is so easy for others to establish themselves as their guardians. It is so easy to be immature.

Immanuel Kant,
An Answer to the Question, What Is Enlightenment?