This episode focuses on the Enlightenment in France and Germany. Whilst it shares the basic Enlightenment ideals, there are national characteristics. In France the Enlightenment was shaped by the experience of the Ancien Regime. It is strong opposition to the power of the Catholic Church and Absolute Monarchy. An outstanding achievement of the French Enlightenment is the publication of the Encyclopedia,which was forbidden in 1759.

In Germany, the emphasis is on the meaning of the Enlightenment. What does it mean to be enlightened? Immanuel Kant famously defines the Enlightenment as as the emergence from self-inflicted immaturity. The German Enlightenment philosophers also reflect on the limitation of enlightened thinking. The Prussian King Frederick the Great saw himself as an enlightened ruler; so did Catherine the Great in Russia. Both hosted enlightened philosophers and scientists.