Query: Many Enlightenment writers and thinkers had backgrounds in the sciences and associated scientific advancement with overthrow of religion and traditional authority in favor of what?
Context: Science came to play a leading role in Enlightenment discourse and thought. Many Enlightenment writers and thinkers had backgrounds in the sciences and associated scientific advancement with the overthrow of religion and traditional authority in favour of the development of free speech and thought. Scientific progress during the Enlightenment included the discovery of carbon dioxide (fixed air) by the chemist Joseph Black, the argument for deep time by the geologist James Hutton, and the invention of the steam engine by James Watt.