What concepts were valued immediately prior to the romantic era?

- Reason and rationality: the Enlightenment emphasized the power of reason and science to improve society.

- Order and symmetry: the Classical style in art, architecture, and music emphasized balance, proportion, and symmetry.

- Universal morality: the Enlightenment philosophers believed that there were universal moral principles that applied to all people, regardless of their culture or background.

- Progress and perfectibility: the Enlightenment philosophers believed that society could be perfected through the use of reason and science.

- Materialism: the dominant philosophical school of the 18th century was materialism, which held that all reality is composed of matter and that there is no such thing as a soul or a separate mind.