Enlightenment Contested
Philosophy, Modernity, and the Emancipation of Man 1670-1752
Published on 6. November 2008
Book
Paperback/Softback
1024 pages
978-0-19-954152-2 (ISBN)
Description
Jonathan Israel presents the first major reassessment of the Western Enlightenment for a generation. Continuing the story he began in the best-selling Radical Enlightenment , and now focusing his attention on the first half of the eighteenth century, he returns to the original sources to offer a groundbreaking new perspective on the nature and development of the most important currents in modern thought.
Israel traces many of the core principles of Western modernity to their roots in the social, political, and philosophical ferment of this period: the primacy of reason, democracy, racial equality, feminism, religious toleration, sexual emancipation, and freedom of expression. He emphasizes the dual character of the Enlightenment, and the bitter struggle between on the one hand a generally dominant, anti-democratic mainstream, supporting the monarchy, aristocracy, and ecclesiastical authority, and on the other a largely repressed democratic, republican, and 'materialist' radical fringe. He also contends that the supposedly separate French, British, German, Dutch, and Italian enlightenments interacted to such a degree that their study in isolation gives a hopelessly distorted picture.
A work of dazzling and highly accessible scholarship, Enlightenment Contested will be the definitive reference point for historians, philosophers, and anyone engaged with this fascinating period of human development.
Israel traces many of the core principles of Western modernity to their roots in the social, political, and philosophical ferment of this period: the primacy of reason, democracy, racial equality, feminism, religious toleration, sexual emancipation, and freedom of expression. He emphasizes the dual character of the Enlightenment, and the bitter struggle between on the one hand a generally dominant, anti-democratic mainstream, supporting the monarchy, aristocracy, and ecclesiastical authority, and on the other a largely repressed democratic, republican, and 'materialist' radical fringe. He also contends that the supposedly separate French, British, German, Dutch, and Italian enlightenments interacted to such a degree that their study in isolation gives a hopelessly distorted picture.
A work of dazzling and highly accessible scholarship, Enlightenment Contested will be the definitive reference point for historians, philosophers, and anyone engaged with this fascinating period of human development.
Reviews / Votes
Review from previous edition 'Brilliantly presented and dense with learning.' * - Simon Blackburn, THES * 'An enormously impressive piece of scholarship. The breadth and depth of the author's reading are breathtaking and Enlightenment Contested is set to become the definitive work for philosophers as well as historians on this extraordinary period.' * - Keith Richmond, Tribune * 'Mr Israel's groundbreaking interpretation looks set to establish itself as the one to beat.' * - The Economist * 'Evocative and compelling.' * - John Dunn, Literary Review * 'Enlightenment Contested is full of wonderful things' * - John Dunn, Literary Review *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
16 pp plates, 3 in-text halftones
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 55 mm
Weight
1519 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-954152-2 (9780199541522)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Jonathan I. Israel
Enlightenment Contested
Philosophy, Modernity, and the Emancipation of Man 1670-1752
Book
10/2006
Oxford University Press
€119.60
Shipment within 15-20 days
Jonathan I. Israel
Enlightenment Contested
Philosophy, Modernity, and the Emancipation of Man 1670-1752
E-Book
10/2006
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€65.99
Available for download
Person
Jonathan Israel is Professor of Modern European History, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton.
Content
I: INTRODUCTORY ; 1. Early Enlightenment, Revolution, and the Modern Age ; 2. Philosophy and the Making of Modernity ; II: THE CRISIS OF RELIGIOUS AUTHORITY ; 3. Faith and Reason: Bayle versus the Rationaux ; 4. Demolishing Priesthood, Ancient and Modern ; 5. Socinianism and the Social, Psychological, and Cultural Roots of Enlightenment ; 6. Locke, Bayle, and Spinoza: A Contest of Three Toleration Doctrines ; 7. Germany and the Baltic: Enlightenment, Society, and the Universities ; 8. Newtonianism and Anti-Newtonianism in the Early Enlightenment: Science, Philosophy, and Religion ; III: POLITICAL EMANCIPATION ; 9. Anit-Hobbesianism and the Making of 'Modernity' ; 10. The Origins of Modern Democratic Republicanism ; 11. Bayle, Boulainvilliers, Montesquieu: Secular Monarchy versus the Aristocratic Republic ; 12. 'Enlightened Despotism': Autocracy, Faith, and Enlightenment in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe 1689-1755 ; 13. Popular Sovereignty, Resistance, and the 'Right to Revolution' ; 14. Anglomania, anglicisme, and the 'British Model' ; 15. The Triumph of the 'Moderate Enlightenment' in the United Provinces ; IV: INTELLECTUAL EMANCIPATION ; 16. The Overthrow of Humanist Criticism ; 17. The Recovery of Greek Thought ; 18. The Rise of 'History of Philosophy' ; 19. From 'History of Philosophy' to Histoire de l'Esprit humain ; 20. Italy, the Two Enlightenments, and Vico's 'New Science' ; V: THE PARTY OF HUMANITY ; 21. The Problem of Equality ; 22. Sex, Marriage, and the Equality of Women ; 23. Race, Radical Thought, and the Advent of Anti-Colonialism ; 24. Rethinking Islam: Philosophy and the 'Other' ; 25. Spinoza, Confucius, and Classical Chinese Philosophy ; 26. Is Religion Requisite for a Well-Ordered Society? ; VI: RADICAL PHILOSOPHES ; 27. The French Enlightenment prior to Voltaire's Lettres Philosophiques (1734) ; 28. Men, Animals, Fossils: French Hylozoic materialisme before Diderot ; 29. Realigning of the parti philosophique: Voltair, Voltairemanie, antivoltairianisme 1733-1747 ; 30. From Voltaire to Diderot ; 31. The 'Unvirtuous Atheist' ; 32. The parti philosophique Embraces the Radical Enlightenment 1747-1752 ; 33. The 'War of the Encyclopedie: The First Stage 1745-1752 ; 34. Postscript ; Bibliography ; Index