The primary theme of the Enlightenment period was the emphasis on reason, individualism, and skepticism of traditional authority. This intellectual movement, which flourished in the 17th and 18th centuries, championed values such as liberty, progress, and scientific inquiry. Enlightenment thinkers like Voltaire, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau questioned established norms and proposed ideas of democracy, human rights, and secular governance that profoundly influenced modern political thought.