The Age of Enlightenment is a term use to describe a phase in Western philosophy and cultural life centered upon the eighteenth century. The term came into use in English during the mid-nineteenth century, with particular reference to French philosophy, as the equivalent of a term then in use by German writers, Zeitalter der Aufklärung, signifying generally the philosophical outlook of the eighteenth century. It does not represent a single movement or school of thought, for these philosophies were often mutually contradictory or divergent.