aufgeklärten

Aufgeklärten is the inflected form of the German adjective and past participle aufgeklärt, meaning enlightened, clarified, or educated. In use, aufgeklärten can function as an ordinary attributive adjective (for example: die aufgeklärten Bürger) or as a nominalized plural noun, die Aufgeklärten, referring to a group of people characterized by enlightenment or rational thinking. The capitalized noun form is more common in historical or literary contexts.

Historically, Aufklärung denotes the Enlightenment, the European intellectual movement of roughly the 17th to 18th centuries that promoted reason, science, and secularism. In discussions about this period, the term Aufgeklärten may appear as a label for individuals associated with these ideas, though the more common noun for such figures is Aufklärer (Enlighteners). The plural nominal form die Aufgeklärten is used selectively and often stylistically, rather than as a standard historical label.

Grammatical notes: aufgeklärt is the past participle of aufklären (to clarify or to enlighten). When used attributively before a plural noun with a definite article, the form becomes aufgeklärten: die aufgeklärten Bürger. When used as a standalone noun, it can be capitalized as Aufgeklärte or, in plural, Die Aufgeklärten, depending on whether it is treated as a common noun or a proper nominal group. In modern German, aufgeklärten commonly conveys the sense of being rational, informed, or secular, and its noun form is mostly found in formal, literary, or historical contexts.