Which 17th-century intellectual movement sought to limit the abuses of absolute power?

• A. Romanticism
• B. Enlightenment
• C. Humanism
• D. Rationalism

Answer: (B)

The main idea here is recognizing a movement that challenged absolute authority and pushed for limits on political power through reason and rights. The Enlightenment fits this focus. Think of it as a shift toward questioning traditional rulers' unchecked control, arguing that governments should be built on rational principles, laws, and the consent of the governed. Thinkers like Locke argued that people have natural rights and that governments exist to protect those rights, with powers limited by law. This later laid groundwork for ideas such as the social contract and, over time, checks and balances in government.

Romanticism centers on emotion, individual feeling, and imagination, not the specific political aim of restraining absolute power. Humanism harks back to Renaissance concerns with human value and learning, earlier in history. Rationalism emphasizes the use of reason as a method, often within broader Enlightenment thinking, but it isn’t by itself the movement aimed at curbing tyranny.