“Reason does not work instinctively, but requires evidence, practice and instruction to gradually progress from one level of intuition to another” (Immanuel Kant). Kant's view of reason is that it is an ever-evolving force and constantly built on previous insights. The Enlightenment is a historical period that refers to the intellectual movement that swept across Europe in the 18th century. To address this question, I will examine two texts: "An Answer to the Question: What is the Enlightenment" by Immanuel Kant, an 18th century philosopher, and "What is the Enlightenment" by Michel Foucault, a philosopher of the 20th century. The texts show that the Enlightenment was the age of reason because it allowed individuals to use reason to free themselves from the minority placed on their lives, the results of which are still influencing the world we live in today. Kant called the era in which he lived the "age" of enlightenment. He believed that human beings could often live in a state of “self-made minority.” This refers to an individual's lack of courage to use their own intellect (reason) without direction from someone else. The Oxford Dictionary defines reason as “the power of the mind to think, understand, and make judgments by a logical process.” While this is a modern definition of reason, it is similar to the Enlightenment-era definition of reason, where John Locke describes reason as “the discovery of the certainty or probability of such propositions or truths as the mind arrives at by deductions [inferences ] made from such ideas as he has obtained by the use of his natural faculties, viz. by sensation and reflection” (Locke, “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding”, IV, xvii, 4). Kant states that to have "an understanding book for me, a sp... ... half of the article ... ...d Reason and their distinct provinces." Columbia University. http://www.ilt. columbia.edu/publications/Projects/digitexts/locke/understanding/chapter0418.html (accessed 13 May 2012, Camilleri, Lesson 10: Thursday 29 March 2012: Reason (MULT10016-Stream1) Sem1_2012. Mp3, 55:01. Consulted on 29 March 2012. http://content.lecture.unimelb.edu.au:8080/ess/echo/presentation/cc84f47f-47b9-4429-b55a-c24d3af7866f "Michel Foucault. What is the Enlightenment?" MICHEL FOUCAULT , info. Pantheon Books. 1984. http://foucault.info/documents/whatIsEnlightenment/foucault.whatIsEnlightenment.en.html (accessed 7 May 2012). /definition/reason?region=us (accessed May 13, 2012). Burns, William E. Science in the Enlightenment: ABC-CLIO, 2003.