In Praise of Enlightenment

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In Praise of Enlightenment by Albert Salomon
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In the tradition of Emerson's Representative Men, Albert Salomon discusses the lives and work of a variety of important figures in the history of ideas — Epictetus, Erasmus, Grotius, Saint-Simon, Fontanelle, Montesquieu, Goethe, Adam Smith, Dürkheim, Tocqueville, Burckhardt, Péguy — seeing them as independent minds dedicated to enlightenment and the life of reason. He pictures them as men who, though defeated in their historical moment, were victorious in their accurate anticipations of the future. Each is seen in the context of his historical situation, and the analysis brought to bear on their ideas testifies to the author's wide range of learning and to his profound humanism. This is a book that can be limited only with difficulty to any particular academic discipline: it is full of stimulating insights not only for those interested in the history of ideas, history, and sociology but also to students of philosophical, political,... Tovább

Fülszöveg

In Praise of Enlightenment by Albert Salomon
¦
In the tradition of Emerson's Representative Men, Albert Salomon discusses the lives and work of a variety of important figures in the history of ideas — Epictetus, Erasmus, Grotius, Saint-Simon, Fontanelle, Montesquieu, Goethe, Adam Smith, Dürkheim, Tocqueville, Burckhardt, Péguy — seeing them as independent minds dedicated to enlightenment and the life of reason. He pictures them as men who, though defeated in their historical moment, were victorious in their accurate anticipations of the future. Each is seen in the context of his historical situation, and the analysis brought to bear on their ideas testifies to the author's wide range of learning and to his profound humanism. This is a book that can be limited only with difficulty to any particular academic discipline: it is full of stimulating insights not only for those interested in the history of ideas, history, and sociology but also to students of philosophical, political, and religious ideas in an epoch of crisis.
Professor Salomon, one of the many European scholars whose departure from Nazi Germany has enriched American intellectual life, is an influential writer, lecturer, and teacher at the New School for Social Research, where he is now Professor of Sociology Emeritus. In this remarkable collection of eighteen essays, he displays the originality and depth of a first-rate mind confronting great men and ideas of the past.
AN ORIGINAL MERIDIAN BOOK

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