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The Enlightenment: the pursuit of happiness, 1680-1790

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Publisher:
Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
Publication Date:
[2021]
Edition:
First U.S. edition
Language:
English

Description

A magisterial history that recasts the Enlightenment as a period not solely consumed with rationale and reason, but rather as a pursuit of practical means to achieve greater human happiness. One of the formative periods of European and world history, the Enlightenment is the fountainhead of modern secular Western values: religious tolerance, freedom of thought, speech and the press, of rationality and evidence-based argument. Yet why, over three hundred years after it began, is the Enlightenment so profoundly misunderstood as controversial, the expression of soulless calculation? The answer may be that, to an extraordinary extent, we have accepted the account of the Enlightenment given by its conservative enemies: that enlightenment necessarily implied hostility to religion or support for an unfettered free market, or that this was "the best of all possible worlds." Ritchie Robertson goes back into the "long eighteenth century," from approximately 1680 to 1790, to reveal what this much-debated period was really about. Robertson returns to the era's original texts to show that above all, the Enlightenment was really about increasing human happiness in this world rather than the next by promoting scientific inquiry and reasoned argument. In so doing Robertson chronicles the campaigns mounted by some Enlightened figures against evils like capital punishment, judicial torture, serfdom and witchcraft trials, featuring the experiences of major figures like Voltaire and Diderot alongside ordinary people who lived through this extraordinary moment. In answering the question "What is Enlightenment?" in 1784, Kant famously urged men and women above all to "have the courage to use your own intellect." Robertson shows how the thinkers of the Enlightenment did just that, seeking a well-rounded understanding of humanity in which reason was balanced with emotion and sensibility. Drawing on philosophy, theology, historiography and literature across the major western European languages, 'The Enlightenment' is a master-class in big picture history about the foundational epoch of modern times.

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ISBN:
9780062410658

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Grouping Information

Grouped Work ID4026f656-403f-9c94-057e-3d661f0eed6b
Grouping Titleenlightenment the pursuit of happiness 1680 1790
Grouping Authorritchie robertson
Grouping Categorybook
Grouping LanguageEnglish (eng)
Last Grouping Update2024-09-11 14:59:27PM
Last Indexed2024-12-26 02:17:51AM

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display_description
A magisterial history that recasts the Enlightenment as a period not solely consumed with rationale and reason, but rather as a pursuit of practical means to achieve greater human happiness. One of the formative periods of European and world history, the Enlightenment is the fountainhead of modern secular Western values: religious tolerance, freedom of thought, speech and the press, of rationality and evidence-based argument. Yet why, over three hundred years after it began, is the Enlightenment so profoundly misunderstood as controversial, the expression of soulless calculation? The answer may be that, to an extraordinary extent, we have accepted the account of the Enlightenment given by its conservative enemies: that enlightenment necessarily implied hostility to religion or support for an unfettered free market, or that this was "the best of all possible worlds." Ritchie Robertson goes back into the "long eighteenth century," from approximately 1680 to 1790, to reveal what this much-debated period was really about. Robertson returns to the era's original texts to show that above all, the Enlightenment was really about increasing human happiness in this world rather than the next by promoting scientific inquiry and reasoned argument. In so doing Robertson chronicles the campaigns mounted by some Enlightened figures against evils like capital punishment, judicial torture, serfdom and witchcraft trials, featuring the experiences of major figures like Voltaire and Diderot alongside ordinary people who lived through this extraordinary moment. In answering the question "What is Enlightenment?" in 1784, Kant famously urged men and women above all to "have the courage to use your own intellect." Robertson shows how the thinkers of the Enlightenment did just that, seeking a well-rounded understanding of humanity in which reason was balanced with emotion and sensibility. Drawing on philosophy, theology, historiography and literature across the major western European languages, 'The Enlightenment' is a master-class in big picture history about the foundational epoch of modern times.
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Books
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Book
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4026f656-403f-9c94-057e-3d661f0eed6b
isbn
9780062410658
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Book
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Non Fiction
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Admin and Storage
Bookmobile
Clearview Library District
Severance Library
Windsor Library
owning_location_clearview
Windsor Library
primary_isbn
9780062410658
publishDate
2021
publisher
Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
recordtype
grouped_work
subject_facet
Enlightenment
Europe
Europe -- Intellectual life -- 18th century
History
Intellectual life
Intellectual life -- History
Philosophy, Modern
Philosophy, Modern -- 18th century
Social action -- Europe
Well-being -- Europe
title_display
The Enlightenment : the pursuit of happiness, 1680-1790
title_full
The Enlightenment : the pursuit of happiness, 1680-1790 / Ritchie Robertson
title_short
The Enlightenment
title_sub
the pursuit of happiness, 1680-1790
topic_facet
Enlightenment
History
Intellectual life
Philosophy, Modern
Social action
Well-being

Solr Details Tables

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Bib IdFormatFormat CategoryEditionLanguagePublisherPublication DatePhysical DescriptionAbridged
ils:215890BookBooksFirst U.S. editionEnglishHarper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers[2021]xxii, 984 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

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