Eighteenth-Century Philosophy: THE FRENCH ENLIGHTENMENT.

A section from the sixth chapter of the book "The Columbia History of Western Philosophy," edited by Richard H. Popkin is presented. The section focuses on the rise of French Enlightenment in the 18th century, a philosophical outlook that liberated from the radical ideas of the church and the state. British philosophers such as Anthony Collins and John Toland brought their writings about the role of reason in evaluating religious knowledge to France. It is said that the first French philosopher who advocated such thought was Baron Charles Montesquieu.