Enemies of the Enlightenment

Last updated
Enemies of the Enlightenment: The French Counter-Enlightenment and the Making of Modernity
Enemies of the Enlightenment.jpg
Author Darrin McMahon
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Publisher Oxford University Press
Publication date
2001
Pages262
ISBN 978-0-19-515893-9

Enemies of the Enlightenment: The French Counter-Enlightenment and the Making of Modernity is a book about the Counter-Enlightenment, which challenged the ideas of the Enlightenment at the end of the early modern period. It was written by the American historian Darrin McMahon and published by Oxford University Press in 2001. McMahon rejects interpretations of the Counter-Enlightenment as a merely reactive force, instead presenting it as in possession of its own revolutionary ideology that needs be studied on its own merits. [1] [2] [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guerrilla warfare</span> Form of irregular warfare

Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians including recruited children, use ambushes, sabotage, terrorism, raids, petty warfare or hit-and-run tactics in a rebellion, in a violent conflict, in a war or in a civil war to fight against regular military, police or rival insurgent forces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Age of Enlightenment</span> 17th- to 18th-century European cultural movement

The Age of Enlightenment was the intellectual and philosophical movement that occurred in Europe in the 17th and the 18th centuries. The Enlightenment featured a range of social ideas centered on the value of knowledge learned by way of rationalism and of empiricism and political ideals such as natural law, liberty, and progress, toleration and fraternity, constitutional government and the formal separation of church and state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Augustin Barruel</span> French publicist and Jesuit priest

Augustin Barruel was a French journalist, intellectual, and Jesuit priest. He is now mostly known for setting forth the conspiracy theory involving the Bavarian Illuminati and the Jacobins in his book Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism published in 1797. In short, Barruel wrote that the French Revolution was planned and executed by the secret societies.

Modernity, a topic in the humanities and social sciences, is both a historical period and the ensemble of particular socio-cultural norms, attitudes and practices that arose in the wake of the Renaissance—in the Age of Reason of 17th-century thought and the 18th-century Enlightenment. Some commentators consider the era of modernity to have ended by 1930, with World War II in 1945, or the 1980s or 1990s; the following era is called postmodernity. The term "contemporary history" is also used to refer to the post-1945 timeframe, without assigning it to either the modern or postmodern era.

Postmodernity is the economic or cultural state or condition of society which is said to exist after modernity. Some schools of thought hold that modernity ended in the late 20th century – in the 1980s or early 1990s – and that it was replaced by postmodernity, and still others would extend modernity to cover the developments denoted by postmodernity. The idea of the postmodern condition is sometimes characterized as a culture stripped of its capacity to function in any linear or autonomous state like regressive isolationism, as opposed to the progressive mind state of modernism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph de Maistre</span> Savoyard philosopher, writer, lawyer, and diplomat (1753–1821)

Joseph Marie, comte de Maistre was a Savoyard philosopher, writer, lawyer, and diplomat who advocated social hierarchy and monarchy in the period immediately following the French Revolution. Despite his close personal and intellectual ties with France, Maistre was throughout his life a subject of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which he served as a member of the Savoy Senate (1787–1792), ambassador to Russia (1803–1817), and minister of state to the court in Turin (1817–1821).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antoine de Rivarol</span> French writer (1753–1801)

Antoine de Rivarol was a Royalist French writer and translator who lived during the Revolutionary era. He was briefly married to the translator Louisa Henrietta de Rivarol.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Counter-Enlightenment</span> Various intellectual stances against mainstream attitudes of the 18th-century Enlightenment

The Counter-Enlightenment refers to a loose collection of intellectual stances that arose during the European Enlightenment in opposition to its mainstream attitudes and ideals. The Counter-Enlightenment is generally seen to have continued from the 18th century into the early 19th century, especially with the rise of Romanticism. Its thinkers did not necessarily agree to a set of counter-doctrines but instead each challenged specific elements of Enlightenment thinking, such as the belief in progress, the rationality of all humans, liberal democracy, and the increasing secularisation of society.

Early modern philosophy The early modern era of philosophy was a progressive movement of Western thought, exploring through theories and discourse such topics as mind and matter, is a period in the history of philosophy that overlaps with the beginning of the period known as modern philosophy. It succeeded in the medieval era of philosophy. Early modern philosophy is usually thought to have occurred between the 16th and 18th centuries, though some philosophers and historians may put this period slightly earlier. During this time, influential philosophers included Descartes, Locke, Hume, and Kant, all of whom contributed to the current understanding of philosophy.

In sociology, the term rationalization was coined by Max Weber, a German sociologist, jurist, and economist. Rationalization is the replacement of traditions, values, and emotions as motivators for behavior in society with concepts based on rationality and reason. The term rational is seen in the context of people, their expressions, and or their actions. This term can be applied to people who can perform speech or in general any action, in addition to the views of rationality within people it can be seen in the perspective of something such as a worldview or perspective (idea). An example of rationalization can be seen in the implementation of bureaucracies in government is a kind of rationalization, as is the construction of high-efficiency living spaces in architecture and urban planning. A potential reason as to why rationalization of a culture may take place in the modern era is the process of globalization. Countries are becoming increasingly interlinked, and with the rise of technology, it is easier for countries to influence each other through social networking, the media and politics. An example of rationalization in place would be the case of witch doctors in certain parts of Africa. Whilst many locals view them as an important part of their culture and traditions, development initiatives and aid workers have tried to rationalize the practice in order to educate the local people in modern medicine and practice.

Jonathan Irvine Israel is a British historian specialising in Dutch history, the Age of Enlightenment, Spinoza's Philosophy and European Jews. Israel was appointed as Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey, in January 2001 and retired in July 2016. He was previously Professor of Dutch History and Institutions at the University College London.

Islam and modernity is a topic of discussion in contemporary sociology of religion. The history of Islam chronicles different interpretations and approaches. Modernity is a complex and multidimensional phenomenon rather than a unified and coherent one. It has historically had different schools of thought moving in many directions.

Darrin M. McMahon is a historian, author, public speaker, and currently a professor of history at Dartmouth College, where he is Mary Brinsmead Wheelock Professor of History. Prior to joining the Dartmouth Faculty, he was Ben Weider Professor and distinguished research professor at Florida State University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yves-Alexandre de Marbeuf</span>

Yves-Alexandre de Marbeuf was a French bishop of Autun and archbishop of Lyon, and statesman. He was an opponent of the European Enlightenment thinking, and of Jansenism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Modern Greek Enlightenment</span> 18th-century national revival and educational movement in Greece

The Modern Greek Enlightenment was the Greek expression of the Age of Enlightenment. Greek Enlightenment was an intellectual and philosophical movement that occurred in the Greek community. Most of the Greek people were scattered all over the Ottoman Empire. Some lived on the Ionian Islands, Venice, and other parts of Italy. One of the early proponents of Greek Independence was Leonardos Philaras ironically the Modern Greek enlightenment began shortly after his death. There were constant uprisings throughout the Ottoman Empire countless Greeks lived in Venice and fought for the Venetian Empire against the Ottomans. Some Greek painters living in Venice who fought in the war included: Victor (painter), Philotheos Skoufos, and Panagiotis Doxaras. Greek painting dramatically shifted during the Modern Greek Enlightenment. The traditional Byzantine Venetian style that was prevalent in the Cretan School faded in the Heptanese School. Painters such as Doxaras drastically shifted the traditional style. He integrated oil painting, replacing the egg tempera technique.

<i>Three Critics of the Enlightenment</i> Book by Isaiah Berlin

Three Critics of the Enlightenment: Vico, Hamann, Herder is a collection of essays in the history of philosophy by 20th century philosopher and historian of ideas Isaiah Berlin. Edited by Henry Hardy and released posthumously in 2000, the collection comprises the previously published works Vico and Herder: Two Studies in the History of Ideas (1976) – an essay on Counter-Enlightenment thinkers Giambattista Vico and Johann Gottfried Herder – and The Magus of the North: J. G. Hamann and the Origins of Modern Irrationalism (1993), concerning irrationalist Johann Georg Hamann.

<i>Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism</i> Book by Abbé Augustin Barruel

Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism is a book by Abbé Augustin Barruel, a French Jesuit priest. It was written and published in French in 1797–98, and translated into English in 1799.

This article focuses on Grub Street in France.

Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment is a monographic series which has been published since 1955. Originally edited by Theodore Besterman, the series now comprises more than 600 books - edited volumes and monographs, in either English or French - on diverse topics related to the Enlightenment or the eighteenth century. Successors to Besterman as editor have been Haydn Mason, Antony Strugnell, Jonathan Mallinson, and the current General Editor, Gregory S. Brown, who took up the post at the start of 2016.

Margaret Candee Jacob is an American historian of science and Distinguished Professor of Research at UCLA. She specializes in the history of science, knowledge, the Enlightenment and Freemasonry.

References

  1. Rosenfeld, Sophia (2003). "Enemies of the Enlightenment: The French Counter‐Enlightenment and the Making of Modernity". The Journal of Modern History . 75 (3): 685. doi:10.1086/380254.
  2. Censer, Jack R. (2002). "Enemies of the Enlightenment: The French Counter-Enlightenment and the Making of Modernity. By Darrin M. McMahon (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. xii plus 262 pp.)". Journal of Social History . 36 (2): 528–530. doi:10.1353/jsh.2003.0008.
  3. "Enemies of the Enlightenment: The French Counter-Enlightenment and the Making of Modernity". Publishers Weekly . 23 July 2001. Retrieved 1 May 2023.