WEST-E Social Studies Practice Test 2025 – Comprehensive All-in-One Study Guide for Exam Success

The Enlightenment was a pivotal movement in the 17th and 18th centuries that emphasized the importance of reason, scientific inquiry, and individual rights. This movement significantly shifted the way people viewed governance, authority, and society. The promotion of reason as a source for authority over tradition fundamentally challenged existing norms and hierarchical structures, leading individuals to question long-held beliefs and practices.

The thinkers of the Enlightenment, such as Voltaire, Locke, and Rousseau, advocated for reasoned debate and the application of rational thought to human affairs. Their ideas encouraged people to view monarchs and established authorities not as divine representatives but as entities that should be held accountable to the public. This intellectual shift laid the groundwork for political revolutions and movements towards democracy, which sought to replace traditional authority with a system grounded in reason, consent, and individual rights.

The other options highlight ideas that are counter to the Enlightenment's core principles. The reliance on traditional spells and rituals was characteristic of earlier belief systems, not a hallmark of Enlightenment thinking. The power of absolute monarchs increasingly came into question during this period, as thinkers promoted individual rights and governance by consent. Lastly, the Enlightenment marked a decline, rather than an expansion, of feudal systems,