Mention Of Books Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity 1650-1750
Title | : | Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity 1650-1750 |
Author | : | Jonathan I. Israel |
Book Format | : | Paperback |
Book Edition | : | First Edition |
Pages | : | Pages: 834 pages |
Published | : | September 12th 2002 by Oxford University Press, USA (first published 2001) |
Categories | : | Philosophy. History. European History. Nonfiction. Science. Religion. Literature. 18th Century |
Jonathan I. Israel
Paperback | Pages: 834 pages Rating: 4.19 | 288 Users | 37 Reviews
Explanation Conducive To Books Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity 1650-1750
In the wake of the Scientific Revolution, the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries saw the complete demolition of traditional structures of authority, scientific thought, and belief by the new philosophy and the philosophers, including Voltaire, Diderot, and Rousseau. The Radical Enlightenment played a part in this revolutionary process, which effectively overthrew all justification for monarchy, aristocracy, and ecclesiastical power, as well as man's dominance over woman, theological dominance of education, and slavery. Despite the present day interest in the revolutions of the eighteenth century, the origins and rise of the Radical Enlightenment have received limited scholarly attention. The greatest obstacle to the movement finding its proper place in modern historical writing is its international scope: the Radical Enlightenment was not French, British, German, Italian, Jewish or Dutch, but all of these at the same time.In this wide-ranging volume, Jonathan Israel offers a novel interpretation of the Radical Enlightenment down to La Mettie and Diderot, two of its key exponents. Particular emphasis is placed on the pivotal role of Spinoza and the widespread underground international philosophical movement known before 1750 as Spinozism.
Describe Books Toward Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity 1650-1750
Original Title: | Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity 1650-1750 |
ISBN: | 0199254567 (ISBN13: 9780199254569) |
Edition Language: | English |
Literary Awards: | Leo Gershoy Award (2001) |
Rating Of Books Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity 1650-1750
Ratings: 4.19 From 288 Users | 37 ReviewsWrite-Up Of Books Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity 1650-1750
This detailed intellectual history contrasts the "radical" Enlightenment of Spinoza with the moderate version represented by John Locke. The author documents a five-way battle for the minds of modern people and shows how the most radical ideas of the era found their way into the High Enlightenment. The focus is on Europe, but the implications for the new American state are obvious, helping us over here sort out what is meant by the expression that the United States is a "product of theStupendously detailed and very much a deep dive into the interconnectedness of the Early Enlightenment. Israel's work helped me define more clearly the international nature of the "Republic of Letters" with clandestine philosophical manuscripts changing hands frequently at book fairs. Israel also introduces a whole cast of secondary philosophes I had never encountered previously: Fontenelle, Van den Enden, La Mettrie, and so on. These figures were influential in communicating the ideas of the
I abandoned this book after a few hundred pages. It makes me increasingly angry. Its also unenlightening.How can one write a book about the enlightenment that is so unwilling to enlighten? Im baffled how so much erudition and scholarship can be poured into a tome that reads like a PhD thesis with an audience of 1. Mind you, I like books that are challenging and flatter the readers intelligence. But Id rather have my groin pummeled by Spinozas femur than subject myself to yet another page of
Spinoza, Enlightenment, And The Love Of LearningIn "Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity", Jonathan Israel has written an erudite, extensive, and inspiring study on a seminal moment in Western thought, commonly known as the Age of Enlightenment .In short, the Enlightenment marks a change from a thought and society that was theologically focused to thought and society that were secular and scientific in character. This period and this transition has been much studied, but
This book is dedicated to three propositions: (1) There were two Enlightenments, one radical and the other moderate (2) the Radical branch does not have its origins in England (as we have all been taught in Philosophy 101 in the English-speaking world) (3) the Radical branch has its origin in Spinoza. This is all ultimately debatable. It is all a matter of emphasis. How important was Hobbes on the continent vs. Spinoza? How important was Diderot vs. Rousseau for the French revolution? Recent
Unimpeachable, magisterial scholarship. A dense, and deep intellectual examination of modern enlightenment. That being said, it can be difficult to read and digest; the prose is articulate, but at times tedious with sentences that should end sooner, and many passages of quotations in French that are not translated (oddly enough, translations are presented when other languages are quoted). When all said and done however, I enjoyed it, and recognize its importance despite its flaws.
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