The French Revolution was the logical - indeed the inevitable - outcome of the Enlightenment Programme- Discuss

Since 1789 a debate has raged amongst historians about how much impact the Enlightenment had on the outbreak of the French Revolution. In order to assess this issue, it is important to distinguish what exactly the main principles of the Enlightenment were and what exactly the ‘philosophers’ of the Enlightenment strove to achieve and why. Whether or not the French Revolution was the logical or indeed the inevitable outcome of the Enlightenment programme depends very much on what this ‘programme’ aimed to achieve and whether there were perhaps any practical alternatives for achieving their goals.

The Enlightenment is often referred to as the ‘Age of Reason’. This age saw the emergence of new ideas concerning reasoning and rational thinking. The Enlightenment philosophers supported and promoted the concepts of equality and tolerance within society and taught people not just to accept but to question tradition. One of the main and central principles of the Enlightenment, whi...