Philosophe is the French word for "philosopher," and was a word that the French Enlightenment thinkers applied to themselves. The philosophes were well-educated intellectuals concerned with solving the real problems of the world.
They wrote on subjects ranging from current affairs to art, and they wrote in every conceivable format: novels, operas, speeches, and autobiographies. Their works were very popular, even though they were often censored/forbidden by the government and church.
(Why do you think this would be the case?)
What Was the Enlightenment?
The Enlightenment ... was a philosophical, intellectual and cultural movement of the 17th and 18th centuries. It stressed reason, logic, criticism and freedom of thought over blind religious faith and superstition. Logic wasn’t a new invention, having been used by the ancient Greeks, but it was now included in a world view which argued that empirical observation and the examination of human life could reveal the truth behind human society as well as the universe.(Read more at about.com)
Influential thinkers and writers of The Enlightenment include John Locke, Isaac Newton, Charles-Louis Montesquieu, Jean Jacques Rousseau and others.
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