What was the enlightmenment and who were some of the key contributors and their ideas

Enlightnment was humanity's growth into intellectual maturity.

some key contributors:

Hobbes - wrote Leviathan, strong gov. ensures orderly society

Montesquieu -  believed in separation of powers

Voltaire  - Freedom of Thought

Hobbes  - wrote Leviathan, strong gov. ensures orderly society

Diderot  - freedom of expression

social contract theory, nearly as old as philosophy itself, is the view that persons' moral and/or political obligations are dependent upon a contract or agreement among them to form the society in which they live