Critique of Leibniz by VoltaireThe Age of Enlightenment, or Age of Reason, was a time of great intellectual and moral growth for humanity. Partly because of the growing effect of the Protestant Reformation, people began to look to reason for answers to life's questions, rather than to the dogmas of the Catholic Church. Scientific research became widespread and accepted as the standard for investigating the nature of the universe. The scientific method was developed. For the first time in art history, perspective was used in painting. (Now people who were further away were looking further away). Great advances have been made in medicine, in part thanks to pioneers like Leonardo da Vinci, who studied the human body inside and out and used reason to discover what secrets it kept hidden, rather than to accept (as was common at the time) ancient Greek principles. idea that disease was caused by an imbalance of the four elements of the body. The Enlightenment also marked the advent of capitalism, an economic system that, in theory, is a meritocracy in which skilled producers and traders rise to the top of the economic spectrum through their own efforts. Capitalism contrasts sharply with the pre-Enlightenment economic situation, in which the rich tended to come from the aristocracy, the poor were serfs tied to a certain part of the territory, and opportunities for economic progress for the majority were limited of non-aristocratic individuals was severely limited. During the Age of Reason, several important philosophical ideas were also developed. Among the most important, which still influence the daily lives of Westerners, are the political doctrines developed in Europe in ...... middle of article ...... references Abernathy, George L. and Thomas A. . Langford. Introduction to Western philosophy: from the pre-Socratics to Mill. Belmont: Dickenson, 1970. “Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz.” Classics of Western Philosophy. Ed. Steven M. Cahn. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1995. “Government.” Barron's Concise Student Encyclopedia. 1993. Hawton, Hector. Philosophy of pleasure. New York: Prime Minister, 1956 “World History”. Barron's Concise Student Encyclopedia. 1993.Lavine, TZ From Socrates to Sartre: The philosophical quest.. New York: Bantam, 1989.Leibnitz, Gottfried Wilhelm. Monadology in the Classics of Western Philosophy Ed. Steven M. Cahn. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1995. Lowers, James. Candide: Notes. Lincoln: Cliff's Notes, Inc., 1995. “Philosophy.” Barron's Concise Student Encyclopedia. 1993.Voltaire. Candid. New York: Dover, 1991.