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The Enlightenment: History of an Idea

Online ISBN:
9781400865833
Print ISBN:
9780691175768
Publisher:
Princeton University Press
Book

The Enlightenment: History of an Idea

Vincenzo Ferrone
Vincenzo Ferrone
University of Turin
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Published online:
24 May 2018
Published in print:
7 March 2017
Online ISBN:
9781400865833
Print ISBN:
9780691175768
Publisher:
Princeton University Press

Abstract

In this book, one of the world's leading historians of the Enlightenment provides a bracing and clarifying new interpretation of this watershed period. Arguing that philosophical and historical interpretations of the era have long been hopelessly confused, the author makes the case that it is only by separating these views and taking an approach grounded in social and cultural history that we can begin to grasp what the Enlightenment was—and why it is still relevant today. The book explains why the Enlightenment was a profound and wide-ranging cultural revolution that reshaped Western identity, reformed politics through the invention of human rights, and redefined knowledge by creating a critical culture. These new ways of thinking gave birth to new values that spread throughout society and changed how everyday life was lived and understood. Featuring an illuminating afterword describing how the author's argument challenges the work of Anglophone interpreters including Jonathan Israel, the book provides a fascinating reevaluation of the true nature and legacy of one of the most important and contested periods in Western history.

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