The basics chacteristics of the age of enlightenment were what?

Answer 1

Roman Catholic answerThe age of enlightenment was a rejection of religious answers to questions that men had, and a rejection of the church as a guide to men's lives. Men wanted to be free of the "old system" and to think up their own answers. In rejecting ritual, they turned around and developed complicated and secret rituals of their own which were not founded in the church, such as Freemasonry. They rejected Philosophy's classical answers to the meaning of life, and tried to think of their own answers using rationalism. Many of today's problems can be traced to these characteristics of throwing out all of the old and dreaming up new answers to old questions. It went hand in hand with revolution, some historians even date the Enlightenment to the French Revolution; and of course the American revolution which came on its heels.