Download or read book The Enlightenment Tradition written by Robert Anchor and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1979-03-09 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Historians use the term "enlightenment" as both a noun and an adjective. Used as a noun, the term designates a period of exceptionally consistent cultural creativity that lasted from the English Revolution of 1688 to the French Revolution of 1789. When used as an adjective, however, as in the "enlightenment tradition," the term denotes a specific attitude of mind that gradually gained ascendancy among European intellectuals during that period.