"Enlightenment is the ideological firstborn of the bourgeoisie in its course of ascent. In its actual concreteness and specificity, Enlightenment serves the purposes of the bourgeois order that gave it birth as sedulously as the mediaeval Papacy served the feudal order." – Michael J. Smith in an entry from last year to his blog, Stop Me Before I Vote Again.
Just so we're clear: we're talking European philosophical Enlightenment, not the Buddhist nivanic type. It's food for thought, though I'm not sure where to go with it. But it struck me as I read it – it was an aha moment.