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The Enlightenment

Ronald S. Love

Book Code: GR4243

ISBN: 0-313-34243-1

ISBN-13: 978-0-313-34243-1

DOI:

256 pages, photos

Greenwood Press

Publication: 10/30/2008

List Price: $45.00 (UK Sterling Price: £25.95)

Availability: Not yet published. (Estimated publication date, 10/30/2008)

Media Type: Hardcover

Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4

Subjects:

Series Title: Greenwood Guides to Historic Events 1500-1900

Description: One of the few self-named historical movements, the Enlightenment in 18th-Century Europe was a powerful intellectual reaction to the dominance of absolutist monarchies and religious authorities. Building upon the discoveries of the Scientific Revolution, Enlightenment thinkers--philosophes--set out to improve humanity through reason, knowledge, and experience of the natural world rather than religious doctrine or moral absolutes. Their emphasis on truth through observable phenomena set the standard of thought for the modern age, deeply influencing the areas of government, the modern state, science, technology, religious tolerance and social structure The Enlightenment's legacy is particularly visible in the United States, where its ideals inspired a revolution and served as the building blocks for the Declaration of Independence and the American Constitution. This in-depth yet accessible volume provides a current perspective on this key turning point in Western ideology. Comprehensive narrative chapters explore the historical background of the movement, as well as its relationship to nature and natural philosophy, religious belief and church institutions, society and the state, and the French Revolution. Photos, biographical sketches of key figures, excerpts from important primary documents of the time, and an extensive bibliography expand the reader's understanding of the movement that ushered in the modern era.

Table of Contents:

Series Foreward by Linda S. Frey and Marsha L. Frey
Preface
Acknowledgments
Chronology of Events
Chapter I Historical Overview: Preliminaries, Principles
and Preconceptions
Chapter II Science and the Triumph of Reason: Newton,
Locke and a New Philosophy
Chapter III The Philosophes, the Church and Christianity
Chapter IV The Philosophes, Political Thought and Enlightened Despotism
Chapter V The Alternative Vision of Montesquieu and Rousseau
Biographies: Personalities of the Enlightenment
Primary Documents Relating to the Enlightenment
Glossary of Selected Terms
Annotated Bibliography

LC Card Number: 2008028522

LCC Class: B802

Dewey Class: 940


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