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The Enlightenment: The Pursuit of Happiness,…
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The Enlightenment: The Pursuit of Happiness, 1680-1790 (originale 2020; edizione 2021)

di Ritchie Robertson (Autore)

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296388,833 (4.22)4
History. Nonfiction. HTML:

A magisterial history that recasts the Enlightenment as a period not solely consumed with rationale and reason, but rather as a pursuit of practical means to achieve greater human happiness.

One of the formative periods of European and world history, the Enlightenment is the fountainhead of modern secular Western values: religious tolerance, freedom of thought, speech and the press, of rationality and evidence-based argument. Yet why, over three hundred years after it began, is the Enlightenment so profoundly misunderstood as controversial, the expression of soulless calculation? The answer may be that, to an extraordinary extent, we have accepted the account of the Enlightenment given by its conservative enemies: that enlightenment necessarily implied hostility to religion or support for an unfettered free market, or that this was "the best of all possible worlds". Ritchie Robertson goes back into the "long eighteenth century," from approximately 1680 to 1790, to reveal what this much-debated period was really about.

Robertson returns to the era's original texts to show that above all, the Enlightenment was really about increasing human happiness ?? in this world rather than the next ?? by promoting scientific inquiry and reasoned argument. In so doing Robertson chronicles the campaigns mounted by some Enlightened figures against evils like capital punishment, judicial torture, serfdom and witchcraft trials, featuring the experiences of major figures like Voltaire and Diderot alongside ordinary people who lived through this extraordinary moment.

In answering the question 'What is Enlightenment?' in 1784, Kant famously urged men and women above all to "have the courage to use your own intellect". Robertson shows how the thinkers of the Enlightenment did just that, seeking a well-rounded understanding of humanity in which reason was balanced with emotion and sensibility. Drawing on philosophy, theology, historiography and literature across the major western European languages, The Enlightenment is a master-class in big picture history about the foundational epoch of modern times… (altro)

Utente:PedrBran
Titolo:The Enlightenment: The Pursuit of Happiness, 1680-1790
Autori:Ritchie Robertson (Autore)
Info:Harper (2021), 1008 pages
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The Enlightenment: The Pursuit of Happiness, 1680-1790 di Ritchie Robertson (2020)

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*3.5 ( )
  Fortunesdearest | Feb 1, 2024 |
The Enlightenment: The Pursuit of Happiness, 1680-1790 by Ritchie Robertson is a very clearly written look at this important period with a shift of emphasis from the pursuit of knowledge to the pursuit of happiness.

This is as much a history as it is a work about the philosophical works of the time. Robertson offers excellent readings of the major works as well as many of the minor works, but most importantly he weaves these ideas into the history. Many books will touch on events in illustrating the importance of these works, but they often concentrate on one or two major events that most clearly show whatever aspect of the work they are emphasizing. Robertson certainly chooses events that support his readings but he chooses far more widely than most.

The idea of happiness needs, for the reader, to be separated from what we often think of as happiness in contemporary society. Happiness now is largely commodified and measured in luxury and/or leisure time and objects. Happiness during the Enlightenment(s) was far more concerned with making life better for more people, making the world so that everyone might find some enjoyment from their time here.

I don't know that the general idea of happiness being an important element in what Enlightenment thought was about is entirely new, I seem to remember Pagden touching on the same basic theme, though perhaps without using the word happiness as much. But Robertson makes a much stronger case through both textual analysis and historical interpretation. As such, this book stands alone in my reading in broadening my concept of what the thinkers of the time were seeking and trying to accomplish.

I would highly recommend this to readers regardless of their background in Enlightenment texts. I think Robertson explains the works well enough for anyone to grasp the main ideas and situate those ideas in the bigger picture. For those who haven't read many of the works I also think this will help you to decide which texts you might find interesting and which you might want to skip. For those who have read many of the works I think reading any good interpretations is beneficial in that it makes us think and revisit what we may have taken for granted or forgotten. We don't have to agree to get value from reading this, though I think it is hard to find fault in most of what is presented.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley. ( )
1 vota pomo58 | Sep 29, 2020 |
Mostra 2 di 2
Mr. Robertson is no harrumphing apologist. A professor of German literature at Oxford University, he is splendidly erudite. Generally admiring of the intellectuals he styles (somewhat unhappily) the “Enlighteners,” he nevertheless surveys their failures with a clear eye... Though overly voluble at times, Mr. Robertson is a splendid writer, astoundingly versed in European letters and gifted at vividly sketching the views of the “Enlighteners.” He has produced a book that will work best when sampled, with each chapter read as a free-standing essay.
aggiunto da ndara | modificaWall Street Journal, Jeffrey Collins (sito a pagamento) (Mar 12, 2021)
 

» Aggiungi altri autori

Nome dell'autoreRuoloTipo di autoreOpera?Stato
Ritchie Robertsonautore primariotutte le edizionicalcolato
Guinn, AndreaDesignerautore secondarioalcune edizioniconfermato
Wright, JosephImmagine di copertinaautore secondarioalcune edizioniconfermato
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The Enlightenment declared the conviction that the goal of life was happiness, and that if this goal could be attained at all, it was to be found in the here and now, despite the manifold imperfections of earthly life.
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History. Nonfiction. HTML:

A magisterial history that recasts the Enlightenment as a period not solely consumed with rationale and reason, but rather as a pursuit of practical means to achieve greater human happiness.

One of the formative periods of European and world history, the Enlightenment is the fountainhead of modern secular Western values: religious tolerance, freedom of thought, speech and the press, of rationality and evidence-based argument. Yet why, over three hundred years after it began, is the Enlightenment so profoundly misunderstood as controversial, the expression of soulless calculation? The answer may be that, to an extraordinary extent, we have accepted the account of the Enlightenment given by its conservative enemies: that enlightenment necessarily implied hostility to religion or support for an unfettered free market, or that this was "the best of all possible worlds". Ritchie Robertson goes back into the "long eighteenth century," from approximately 1680 to 1790, to reveal what this much-debated period was really about.

Robertson returns to the era's original texts to show that above all, the Enlightenment was really about increasing human happiness ?? in this world rather than the next ?? by promoting scientific inquiry and reasoned argument. In so doing Robertson chronicles the campaigns mounted by some Enlightened figures against evils like capital punishment, judicial torture, serfdom and witchcraft trials, featuring the experiences of major figures like Voltaire and Diderot alongside ordinary people who lived through this extraordinary moment.

In answering the question 'What is Enlightenment?' in 1784, Kant famously urged men and women above all to "have the courage to use your own intellect". Robertson shows how the thinkers of the Enlightenment did just that, seeking a well-rounded understanding of humanity in which reason was balanced with emotion and sensibility. Drawing on philosophy, theology, historiography and literature across the major western European languages, The Enlightenment is a master-class in big picture history about the foundational epoch of modern times

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