Enlightenment Volume 1
Published on 26. June 2013
560 pages
978-0-307-83137-8 (ISBN)
Description
The eighteenth century Enlightenment marks the beginning of the modern age when the scientific method and belief in reason and progress came to hold sway over the Western world. In the twentieth century, however, the Enlightenment has often been judged harshly for its apparently simplistic optimism. Here a master historian goes back to the sources to give us both a more sophisticated and intriguing view of the philosophes, their world and their ideas.
More details
Person
PETER GAY was Sterling Professor of History, Emeritus, at Yale University, author of thirty-two widely respected books, and winner of the National Book Award for his definitive work on the Enlightenment. He died in 2015.
Content
- Intro
- Other Books by This Author
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Preface
- Abbreviations Used in This Book
- Contents
- Overture: The Enlightenment in Its World
- 1. The Little Flock of Philosophes
- 2. Appearances and Realities
- Book One: The Appeal to Antiquity
- Chapter One: The Useful and Beloved Past
- 1. Hebrews and Hellenes
- 2. A Congenial Sense and Spirit
- 3. The Search for Paganism: From Identification to Identity
- Chapter Two: The First Enlightenment
- 1. Greece: From Myth to Reason
- 2. The Roman Enlightenment
- Chapter Three: The Climate of Criticism
- 1. Criticism as Philosophy
- 2. The Hospitable Pantheon
- 3. The Primacy of Moral Realism
- 4. Candide: The Epicurean as Stoic
- Book Two: The Tension with Christianity
- Chapter Four: The Retreat from Reason
- 1. The Adulteration of Antiquity
- 2. The Betrayal of Criticism
- 3. The Rehabilitation of Myth
- Chapter Five: The Era of Pagan Christianity
- 1. The Purification of the Sources
- 2. Ancients and Moderns: The Ancients
- 3. Ancients and Moderns: The Moderns
- Chapter Six: In Dubious Battle
- 1. The Christian Component
- 2. The Treason of the Clerks
- Chapter Seven: Beyond the Holy Circle
- 1. The Abuse of Learning
- 2. The Mission of Lucretius
- 3. David Hume: The Complete Modern Pagan
- Bibliographical Essay
- Overture: The Enlightenment in Its World
- Chapter One: The Useful and Beloved Past
- Chapter Two: The First Enlightenment
- Chapter Three: The Climate of Criticism
- Chapter Four: The Retreat from Reason
- Chapter Five: The Era of Pagan Christianity
- Chapter Six: In Dubious Battle
- Chapter Seven: Beyond the Holy Circle
- Bibliography of Works Frequently Cited
- A Note About the Author
