The 18th-century Enlightenment was one of the most exciting and significant currents of European culture. Battling
against tyranny, ignorance, and superstition, it formulated the ideals of thought, religion, and expression, the
value of science, and the pursuit of progress. Enlightenment thinkers undermined the ancien regime and provided
the ideas for the French Revolution. Modern scholarship, however, has shown it was a more complex and ambiguous
movement than commonly recognized. This book, now in a fully updated second edition, sympathetically explores the
complexities of the Enlightenment. Synthesizing and evaluating the latest scholarship, it offers a new and comprehensive
vision of this many-faceted movement.
Table of Contents
Editor's Preface
A Note on References
Introduction and Acknowledgements
What was the Enlightenment?
p. 1
The Goal: A Science of Man
p. 11
The Politics of Enlightenment
p. 22
Reforming Religion by Reason
p. 29
Who was the Enlightenment?
p. 38
Unity or Diversity?
p. 47
Movement or Mentalite?
p. 56
Conclusion: Did the Enlightenment Matter?
p. 64
Reading Suggestions
p. 70
Index
p. 84
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