The Enlightenment and the Intellectual Foundations of Modern Culture

A panoramic survey of the philosophical landscape of the Enlightenment period (1648 - 1789), covering the sense of selfhood, art and aesthetics, morality, social theory, science of history, religion and faith during that period. The advent of modern science, particularly the mechanism of Newtonian theory, knocked down many of the medieval concepts about the cosmos, Providence, creation and human's place in the world, and ushered in rationalism as the mainstream thinking of the Enlightenment period. This does not mean key thinkers in this period were of one or similar stripe. They held different, and sometimes diametrical, views. Louis Dupre summarizes and comments on the views of key philosophical figures in this period, including Locke, Hume, Diderot, Rousseau, Leibniz, Lessing, Spinoza, Kant, and many others. The text is somewhat dense, especially for the uninitiated, but it is definitely accessible. Overall, it is a very good survey of the philosophical views of the period.