Age of Enlightenment
The most important idea of the Enlightenment was the belief in people's reason. All people are capable of thinking for themselves. Therefore, a person should not automatically believe in what an authority claims. People do not even have to believe what the church teaches or what the priests preach. Another important thought was that a society is best developed when all its members, regardless of status, collaborated equally in its design. It was thought therefore, that the special rights and privileges of the nobility should be abolished. These were dangerous thoughts for those in power, and many enlightenment philosophers were at times imprisoned or were forced into exile.