The Enlightenment was an international and interdisciplinary movement in the eighteenth century that spanned most of Europe, Britain, and North America, and affected such diverse areas of thought as philosophy, science, literature, and religion. The general tenor of the culture was one based on the values of tolerance, liberality, skepticism, rationality, and taste. In aesthetics, Enlightenment writers tend to value classical models, traditional forms, balance, harmony, and wit; it was a great age of satire. In philosophy, science, and theology, Enlightenment thinkers tended to believe in the power of human reason to solve intellectual, moral, political, and theological problems by means of rational thought.