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Enlightenment

About: Enlightenment is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 6845 publications have been published within this topic receiving 116832 citations.


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Book
01 Jan 2003
TL;DR: The Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment as mentioned in this paper is a reference work on the entire range of philosophic and social changes wrought by the Enlightenment, including increasing secularisation and a critical attitude toward inherited authority, the extension of scientific method beyond the physical sciences to law and economics, a broadened commitment to the ethical criterion of utility, a disdain for sectarian religious strife and for its diversely perceived causes, and an elevation of the theme of 'toleration' among the concerns of the Western conscience.
Abstract: Comprising more than seven hundred articles totalling more than one million words, the Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment is a unique and comprehensive reference work on the entire range of philosophic and social changes wrought by the Enlightenment. It is available in both print and as an e-reference text from Oxford's Digital Reference Shelf. The Enlightenment is here defined as the 'long eighteenth century', from the rise of Descarte's disciples in 1670 to the Restoration of the Bourbon monarchy in France in 1815, including themes central to the ongoing history of Europe and the United States. These include increasing secularisation and a critical attitude toward inherited authority, the extension of scientific method beyond the physical sciences to law and economics, a broadened commitment to the ethical criterion of utility, an expansion of the dimensions of human life deemed subject to reform and human control, a disdain for sectarian religious strife and for its diversely perceived causes, and an elevation of the theme of 'toleration' among the concerns of the Western conscience. The four volumes draw together the resources of a select group of editors, advisers, and contributors and provides fresh perspectives on recent scholarship in such areas as gender history and the history of popular culture. Clearly written and well balanced this reference work offers students, scholars, and other readers an up-to-date reference tool that, for the first time, places the entire range of Enlightenment studies into an authoritative encyclopedic format. This work brings together the people and places that played a role in the Enlightenment, explains the movement's concepts and themes, and describes its impact on areas as diverse as politics, religion, science, philosophy, society, and art. This definitive work presents and assesses the subject in many thematic and geographical areas, including: BLTransnational communication, including such topics as the diffusion of texts, the Republic of Letters, languages and translation, censorship and press freedom, and the Grand Tour. BLThe Enlightenment in Iberian, Ibero-American, Scandinavian, Jewish, Russian, and Eastern European culture. BLMaterial culture, especially the 'history of the book', and the resonance of the Enlightenment in more popular culture. BLThe impact of world exploration and contact on eighteenth-century life and letters. BL'Secondary' and 'provincial' centres of intellectual and cultural activity, such as Milan, Saint Petersburg, and Philadelphia. BLThe history of Enlightenment studies, including recent theoretical and methodological approaches, and the scope of current interpretations and debates. These dramatic developments inform the more than one hundred articles that comprise the encyclopedia and are reflected in the work's synoptic outline, which covers such conceptual categories as biographies, cities, concepts, education, major schools of thought, and nations and states. Intended for the non-specialist as well as the specialist, with both wide-ranging and up-to-date coverage, the encyclopedia will prove a powerful reference tool for undergraduates, graduate students, advanced scholars, and general readers alike. An extensive system of cross-references, a synoptic outline of contents, and a comprehensive topical index provide easy access to networks of related articles. Each entry is signed by the contributor and the work is illustrated with photographs, line drawings, and maps. Authoritative, comprehensive, and accessible, the Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment is an invaluable and indispensable addition to personal, public, academic, and research libraries.

40 citations

Book
14 Jul 1988
TL;DR: The religious thought of the philosopher John Locke (1632-1704) is examined in this article, which focuses in particular on his view of original sin and its consequences for education in the early Enlightenment.
Abstract: The religious thought of the philosopher John Locke (1632-1704) is examined in this book, which focuses in particular on his view of original sin and its consequences for education in the early Enlightenment. The author argues that Locke has been wrongly accused of denying original sin, ignoring the atonement, and preaching moralism, and that in fact he was much closer to traditional Protestant teaching on human sinfulness than is generally recognized. While education might serve as an effective counterweight to man's innate propensity to overturn God's laws, he recognised that it could never reduce the importance of the central drama: Christ's work of salvation.

40 citations

Book
01 Jan 2007
TL;DR: In this article, the authors consider the following: introduction 1. Transgression or transformation 2. Metaphysics after Auschwitz 3. Heidegger and Adorno in reverse 4. Globalizing Dialectic of Enlightenment 5. Autonomy reconfigured 6. Ethical turns.
Abstract: Thinking otherwise: introduction 1. Transgression or transformation 2. Metaphysics after Auschwitz 3. Heidegger and Adorno in reverse 4. Globalizing Dialectic of Enlightenment 5. Autonomy reconfigured 6. Ethical turns.

40 citations

Book Chapter
01 Jan 2012
TL;DR: A comprehensive and accessible companion to Kant's historical and philosophical context, philosophical concerns, major works and enduring influence features more than 100 specially commissioned entries, written by a team of experts in the field, covering every aspect of his philosophy as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Book synopsis: Immanuel Kant is widely considered to be the most important and influential thinker of modern Europe and the late Enlightenment. His philosophy is extraordinarily wide-ranging and his influence has been pervasive throughout eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth-century thought, in particular in the work of the German Idealists, and also in both Analytic and Continental philosophy today. This comprehensive and accessible companion to Kant's historical and philosophical context, philosophical concerns, major works and enduring influence features more than 100 specially commissioned entries, written by a team of experts in the field, covering every aspect of his philosophy. The Companion presents a comprehensive overview of the historical and philosophical context in which Kant wrote and the various features, themes and topics apparent in his thought. It also includes extensive synopses of all his major published works and a survey of the key lines of reception and influence. It concludes with a thoroughly comprehensive bibliography of English language secondary literature. This is an essential reference tool for anyone working in the field of eighteenth-century German philosophy.

40 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors argue that we are experiencing a turn to a culture of life in a broad and encompassing sense that is comparable to the way in which human-centred ideas once dominated our thinking.
Abstract: The Enlightenment age celebrated the human ideals of rationality, potential, freedom, equality and justice. These ideals included the belief in science as a means to improve human existence. They lie at the root of the belief in the perfectibility of, and salvation by, society—the moral underpinning of the social sciences. By contrast, what the biological sciences promise is the perfectibility of life in the form of life enhancement and extension. Whereas the concepts of humanity and humanism have inspired intellectual elites and scientific disciplines for centuries, today the notion of life replaces the notion of the human as a concept that bridges developments in several sciences and in practical discourses. > …what the biological sciences promise is the perfectibility of life in the form of life enhancement and extension ‘Life’ stands for an open‐ended series of biological, psychological, economic and even phenomenological significations and processes. What it does not stand for is the further expansion of Enlightenment ideals of human reason and social salvation. I argue that we are experiencing a turn to a ‘culture of life’ in a broad and encompassing sense that is comparable to the way in which human‐centred ideas once dominated our thinking. This development coincides with historical changes through which the culture of the human and of society that was based on Enlightenment ideals empties out into a postsocial era. I also claim that these ideas are deeply rooted in the biological sciences from which they draw motivation. Although a culture of life stems from biology, it is also nourished and sustained by a large number of processes and transitions. I also briefly argue that the concept of a promise that underlies a culture of life entails shifts in responsibility and temporal orientation that need to be discussed. Some of these shifts are already apparent in …

40 citations


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Performance
Metrics
No. of papers in the topic in previous years
YearPapers
20241
2023965
20222,158
202181
2020179
2019214