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How did Enlightenment thinkers connect progress with knowledge and technology?

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Singapore — modernization An example of a thoroughly modernized, industrial city.

Enlightenment thinkers fundamentally connected progress with knowledge and technology by championing the application of human reason to understand the universe and improve the human condition. By moving away from reliance on traditional or religious authority, they established a worldview where rigorous methodology—particularly in science and mathematics—served as a reliable tool for discovering truth.1

This intellectual shift fostered a deep faith in the capacity of humans to attain knowledge, viewing the universe as a mechanism governed by discoverable laws. Thinkers such as Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot, the marquis de Condorcet, and Adam Smith advanced theories linking the advancement of human knowledge and technology to continuous progress. This perspective held that history is a record of general improvement, driven by causes immanent in human society rather than divine intervention. Ultimately, this commitment to rational inquiry and the practical application of knowledge became a cornerstone of modern social development and the transition toward an industrial society.1234