Enlightenment

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

The confessions of Jean- Jacques Rousseau

Abstract: Widely regarded as the first modern autobiography, "The Confessions" is an astonishing work of acute psychological insight. Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-78) argued passionately against the inequality he believed to be intrinsic to civilized society. In his "Confessions" he relives the first fifty-three years of his radical life with vivid immediacy - from his earliest years, where we can see the source of his belief in the innocence of childhood, through the development of his philosophical and political ideas, his struggle against the French authorities and exile from France following the publication of "Emile". Depicting a life of adventure, persecution, paranoia, and brilliant achievement, "The Confessions" is a landmark work by one of the greatest thinkers of the Enlightenment, which was a direct influence upon the work of Proust, Goethe and Tolstoy among others.

Esalen: America and the Religion of No Religion

Abstract: Jeffrey J. Kripal here recounts the spectacular history of Esalen, the institute that has long been a world leader in alternative and experiential education and stands today at the center of the human potential movement. Forged in the literary and mythical leanings of the Beat Generation, inspired in the lecture halls of Stanford by radical scholars of comparative religion, the institute was the remarkable brainchild of Michael Murphy and Richard Price.Set against the heady backdrop of California during the revolutionary 1960s, "Esalen" recounts in fascinating detail how these two maverick thinkers sought to fuse the spiritual revelations of the East with the scientific revolutions of the West, or to combine the very best elements of Zen Buddhism, Western psychology, and Indian yoga into a decidedly utopian vision that rejected the dogmas of conventional religion. In their religion of no religion, the natural world was just as crucial as the spiritual one, science and faith not only commingled but became staunch allies, and the enlightenment of the body could lead to the full realization of our development as human beings.

The Great Map of Mankind: Perceptions of New Worlds in the Age of Enlightenment

Abstract: In 1777 Edmund Burke remarked that for his contemporaries "the Great Map of Mankind is unrolled at once." The period from the late seventeenth century to the end of the eighteenth century had seen a massive increase in Britain's knowledge of the non-European peoples of the wider world, and this was reflected in the proliferation of travel accounts of every kind. This is a history of British perceptions of the exotic peoples and lands of Asia, North America, West Africa, and the Pacific who became well-known during that great age of exploration. It shows how the contours of intellectual and cultural history changed as news poured in. Philosophers contemplated man in a state of nature; the study of religion was broadened as Hinduism, the naturalistic religions of North America, and Chinese rites and ceremonies were revealed. Racial issues like slavery and negritude, questions about advanced versus backward nations, the great Chain of Being argument, and the Unchanging East theory became concerns of educated persons. Along with the impact of explorations on men's ideas, the use of "sciences" like anthropology, ethnology, archeology, and philology came into vogue. And not incidentally, interest in empire grew, missionary zeal was strengthened, and tolerance and intolerance toward strangers struggled for dominance. It could be argued that by the end of this age of "enlightenment," investigation of the inhabitants of these distant lands had reinforced those assumptions of superiority that were an essential feature of British global expansion. To that extent this book is concerned with the intellectual foundations of the second British empire, for it seeks to show how many of the attitudes present in Britain's dealings with the world in her imperial heyday were formulated during the eighteenth century.

A History And Philosophy of Sport and Physical Education : From Ancient Civilizations to the Modern World

Abstract: The study of history and philosophy in sport and physical education. Section 1 Ancient civilizations: summer, Eygpt, and China Rome. Section 2 From the spiritual world to the secular world - changing concepts of the body: Middle Ages the Renaissance and the Reformation the age of science and enlightenment philosphical positions of the body and the development of physical education - contributions of the Germans, Swedes and Danes in 19th-century Europe. Section 3 The theoretical and professional development of American physical education: science, medicine, and the concept of health - the theoretical and professional development of physical education, 1885-1930 toward the reform of physical education - 1900-1930. Section 4 Historical and philosophical development of sport in America sport in colonial America: changing concepts of the body - sport and play in 19th-century America sport in the 20th century. Section 5 The modern Olympic Games: a selected political and social history of the Olympic Games 1896-1936 a selected political and social history of the Olympic Games, 1948-1968 a selected political and social history of the Olympic Games, 1972-1996 and beyond. Epilogue: back to the future - human movement as personal experience in the 20th century and beyond.