what is the age of reason
The phrase “age of reason” can mean two different things, depending on context:
- Historical era (the Enlightenment)
- The Age of Reason is another name for the Enlightenment , a major intellectual movement in Europe during roughly the 17th and 18th centuries.
* Thinkers and writers in this period emphasized **reason, scientific observation, and experiment** instead of relying mainly on tradition, religious authority, or superstition.
* It deeply influenced philosophy, science, and politics, encouraging ideas like **individual rights, skepticism of absolute authority, and freedom of thought**.
- Religious / legal idea (child development)
- In canon law and some religious traditions , the “age of reason” is the age at which a child is considered able to use reason and thus personally responsible for basic moral choices.
* Many Christian contexts place this around **7 years old** , but the exact age can vary by tradition and jurisdiction.
There are also a couple of well‑known works titled The Age of Reason —for example, Thomas Paine’s deist critique of organized religion and a novel by Jean‑Paul Sartre —but in everyday use, people most often mean either the Enlightenment period or the child’s developmental milestone.
