This essay will examine the key concepts of the Enlightenment, also known as the "Age of Reason", which occurred beginning in the 16th and 17th centuries, before considering how in which he helped shape the sociological view of societies and how it is linked to the birth of sociology. Before doing so I will provide a brief historical context. All the profound questions that arose during the Enlightenment arose from the weakening of the old Catholic authority over all social truths, brought about by the Reformation when Luther (1483 –1546) and others challenged this general authority with the idea that each of us had the own personal relationship with God. This meant that we had to turn inward and use our reason to decide what was moral, what was good, right, rational, and so on. And suddenly some very deep questions about self and society emerged, as if we were examining these issues for the first time since ancient Greece. (Scott, 2005 pp. 9–11). Religious discussions offered opportunities to raise new secular questions: as Porter (1990, p.73) wrote, “The Enlightenment was the era that saw the emergence of a secular intelligentsia large enough and powerful enough for the first time since challenge the clergy." Mostly, these questions were rational questions about ethics, politics, society, knowledge, the self, and their natural rights. The Enlightenment was famously the age of reason and the rational foundations of many things were considered. Descartes asked the skeptical question: How do I know that I exist? After some questioning he famously concluded, “I think therefore I am” (Discourse on the method and principles of philosophy - Mediations), while Imma...... half of the sheet ......55-76 .Durkheim, E (1895 ). The rules of the sociological method. Paris: The Free Press.Foucault, M. (2007). The politics of truth. Lotringer, Sylvère (ed.), London: Semiotext(e).Garrad, G. (2006). American behavioral scientist. The Enlightenment and its enemies. 49(5), 664-680. Hall, S., & Gieben, B. (1992). Formations of modernity. Basingstoke: Polity Press.Hyland, P, Gomez, O, Greensides, F, (2006). The Enlightenment, source and reader. Routledge: Oxen. Available at: Internet Encyclopaedia of Philosophy http://www.iep.utm.edu/soc-cont/ (accessed December 10, 2011). Levine, F.H., (2006). Social class and stratification: classic statements and theoretical debates. 2nd edition. Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, INC. Schech, S., & Haggis, J. (2000). Thinking about culture and development. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.