A magisterial history that recasts
the Enlightenment as a period not solely consumed with rationale and reason,
but rather as a pursuit of practical means to achieve greater human happiness.
One of the formative periods of European and world history, the Enlightenment
is the fountainhead of modern secular Western values: religious tolerance, freedom
of thought, speech and the press, of rationality and evidence-based argument.
Yet why, over three hundred years after it began, is the Enlightenment so
profoundly misunderstood as controversial, the expression of soulless
calculation? The answer may be that, to an extraordinary extent, we have
accepted the account of the Enlightenment given by its conservative enemies: that
enlightenment necessarily implied hostility to religion or support for an
unfettered free market, or that this was “the best of all possible worlds”.
Ritchie Robertson goes back into the “long eighteenth century,” from
approximately 1680 to 1790, to reveal what this much-debated period was really
about.
Robertson returns to the era’s
original texts to show that above all, the Enlightenment was really about
increasing human happiness – in this world rather than the next – by promoting
scientific inquiry and reasoned argument. In so doing Robertson chronicles the
campaigns mounted by some Enlightened figures against evils like capital
punishment, judicial torture, serfdom and witchcraft trials, featuring the
experiences of major figures like Voltaire and Diderot alongside ordinary people
who lived through this extraordinary moment.
In answering the question 'What is
Enlightenment?' in 1784, Kant famously urged men and women above all to “have
the courage to use your own intellect”. Robertson shows how the thinkers of the
Enlightenment did just that, seeking a well-rounded understanding of humanity
in which reason was balanced with emotion and sensibility. Drawing on
philosophy, theology, historiography and literature across the major western
European languages, The Enlightenment is a master-class in big picture
history about the foundational epoch of modern times.
A magisterial history that recasts
the Enlightenment as a period not solely consumed with rationale and reason,
but rather as a pursuit of practical means to achieve greater human happiness.
One of the formative periods of European and world history, the Enlightenment
is the fountainhead of modern secular Western values: religious tolerance, freedom
of thought, speech and the press, of rationality and evidence-based argument.
Yet why, over three hundred years after it began, is the Enlightenment so
profoundly misunderstood as controversial, the expression of soulless
calculation? The answer may be that, to an extraordinary extent, we have
accepted the account of the Enlightenment given by its conservative enemies: that
enlightenment necessarily implied hostility to religion or support for an
unfettered free market, or that this was “the best of all possible worlds”.
Ritchie Robertson goes back into the “long eighteenth century,” from
approximately 1680 to 1790, to reveal what this much-debated period was really
about.
Robertson returns to the era’s
original texts to show that above all, the Enlightenment was really about
increasing human happiness – in this world rather than the next – by promoting
scientific inquiry and reasoned argument. In so doing Robertson chronicles the
campaigns mounted by some Enlightened figures against evils like capital
punishment, judicial torture, serfdom and witchcraft trials, featuring the
experiences of major figures like Voltaire and Diderot alongside ordinary people
who lived through this extraordinary moment.
In answering the question 'What is
Enlightenment?' in 1784, Kant famously urged men and women above all to “have
the courage to use your own intellect”. Robertson shows how the thinkers of the
Enlightenment did just that, seeking a well-rounded understanding of humanity
in which reason was balanced with emotion and sensibility. Drawing on
philosophy, theology, historiography and literature across the major western
European languages, The Enlightenment is a master-class in big picture
history about the foundational epoch of modern times.
The Enlightenment: The Pursuit of Happiness, 1680-1790
The Enlightenment: The Pursuit of Happiness, 1680-1790
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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781094118970 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | HarperCollins |
| Publication date: | 02/23/2021 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.30(w) x 7.50(h) x (d) |
| Age Range: | 18 Years |