Difference between revisions of "Age of Enlightenment"

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[[Discovery Institute|Some people]] sort of missed out on this period.
 
[[Discovery Institute|Some people]] sort of missed out on this period.
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Liberals and the left worship the enlightenment as if it was an inherently virtuous movement in the history of mankind. However, the relentless admiration of 'progress', as if it were one quantifiable and discernable living mass was personified by the often self delusional love of abstract ideas; one could argue that the unrestrained abstract thought of the French ''philosophes'' led directly to the great terror of 1793. The well rounded Whig humanism of [[Edmund Burke]], who predicted and prophesised much of the violence and terror and the ultimate tyranny of Napoleon that was associated with enlightenment thought is generally considered to be an 'anti enlightenment' thinker and by extension opposed to 'progress'. One of the great fallacies of modern defenders of enlightenment thought is that the doctrine of eternal progress and revolution bore no resemblance to the violence and tyranny that ensued; hence the enlightenment in effect brought about a breach in the much heralded social contract but also acted as one of the greatest periods of collective [[cognitive dissonance]] in human history.
  
 
==Notable Enlightenment philosophers==
 
==Notable Enlightenment philosophers==

Revision as of 13:06, 20 August 2010

The Enlightenment or The Age of Enlightenment was an era that occurred following the Renaissance, and describes the period when Western philosophy switched to advocating reason as a primary source of authority.

Some people sort of missed out on this period.

Liberals and the left worship the enlightenment as if it was an inherently virtuous movement in the history of mankind. However, the relentless admiration of 'progress', as if it were one quantifiable and discernable living mass was personified by the often self delusional love of abstract ideas; one could argue that the unrestrained abstract thought of the French philosophes led directly to the great terror of 1793. The well rounded Whig humanism of Edmund Burke, who predicted and prophesised much of the violence and terror and the ultimate tyranny of Napoleon that was associated with enlightenment thought is generally considered to be an 'anti enlightenment' thinker and by extension opposed to 'progress'. One of the great fallacies of modern defenders of enlightenment thought is that the doctrine of eternal progress and revolution bore no resemblance to the violence and tyranny that ensued; hence the enlightenment in effect brought about a breach in the much heralded social contract but also acted as one of the greatest periods of collective cognitive dissonance in human history.

Notable Enlightenment philosophers