Public intellectuals that questioned government and applied reason to thinking are called

Public intellectuals that questioned government and applied reason to thinking are called Enlightment philosophers.

During the Enlightment period, the absolut monarchies on the Ancient Regime were questioned and weakeaned due to the intervention of these thinkers. Enlightment philosophers aimed to introduce reason in society, and in turn, to overturn superstitions and/or religious dogmas.

At those times, the absolut king had in his hands all the powers of the state and governed a nation at his discretion. It was believed that those powers were legitimate because God directly had granted them to him. In opposition, the Enlighment thinkers introduced the first democratic concepts: social contract (the power of a state is held by the citizens who should transfer it to political representatives through suffrage), the division of powers (three branches of goverment: legislative, executive and judiciary, in order to prevent authoritarism), etc. These new principles directly threatened the pillars of the governments of the authoritarian kings, and brought reason to the political sphere.