| 9780871404435 |
| (hardcover) |
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Summary
Summary
The author of the classic The Dream of Reason vividly explains the rise of modern thought.
Western philosophy is now two and a half millennia old, but much of it came in just two staccato bursts, each lasting only about 150 years. In his landmark survey of Western philosophy from the Greeks to the Renaissance, The Dream of Reason , Anthony Gottlieb documented the first burst, which came in the Athens of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Now, in his sequel, The Dream of Enlightenment , Gottlieb expertly navigates a second great explosion of thought, taking us to northern Europe in the wake of its wars of religion and the rise of Galilean science. In a relatively short period--from the early 1640s to the eve of the French Revolution--Descartes, Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke, Leibniz, and Hume all made their mark. The Dream of Enlightenment tells their story and that of the birth of modern philosophy.
As Gottlieb explains, all these men were amateurs: none had much to do with any university. They tried to fathom the implications of the new science and of religious upheaval, which led them to question traditional teachings and attitudes. What does the advance of science entail for our understanding of ourselves and for our ideas of God? How should a government deal with religious diversity--and what, actually, is government for? Such questions remain our questions, which is why Descartes, Hobbes, and the others are still pondered today.
Yet it is because we still want to hear them that we can easily get these philosophers wrong. It is tempting to think they speak our language and live in our world; but to understand them properly, we must step back into their shoes. Gottlieb puts readers in the minds of these frequently misinterpreted figures, elucidating the history of their times and the development of scientific ideas while engagingly explaining their arguments and assessing their legacy in lively prose.
With chapters focusing on Descartes, Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke, Pierre Bayle, Leibniz, Hume, Rousseau, and Voltaire--and many walk-on parts-- The Dream of Enlightenment creates a sweeping account of what the Enlightenment amounted to, and why we are still in its debt.
Author Notes
Anthony Gottlieb is the executive editor of The Economics and writes regularly for the New York times Book Review.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Gottlieb (The Dream of Reason), a former executive editor of the Economist, takes on the difficult task of trying to figure out what exactly the Enlightenment's greatest thinkers were thinking, and to describe their thoughts in lay terms. He draws on intellectual, political, and scientific developments in Europe from the 1630s to the French Revolution. Gottlieb begins with Descartes and progresses through Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke, Bayle, Leibniz, and Hume, concluding with Voltaire, Rousseau, and the Philosophes. Gottlieb skillfully juggles the biographical eccentricities of the philosophers and their enormous paper flow (some one million pages for Leibniz alone), but he takes on too much when he tries to show how these men, largely ill at ease with their peers and religious institutions, have been mishandled by such later thinkers as Kant and Pope John Paul II. The book overflows with information, but chapters could be better organized internally. Moreover, Gottlieb's writing can feel dull and uninspired given the material and his array of insights, including Locke's defense of serfdom and colonialism, and his possible theft of his theory on private property from a friend; Spinoza's influence on Einstein; and Hobbes's conviction that rational man would seek self-preservation and peace. The book has flaws, but Gottlieb's knowledge makes it worth reading. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Choice Review
Gottlieb's sequel to his much-lauded The Dream of Reason (CH, Jul'01, 38-6112), The Dream of Enlightenment is a well-researched, eminently readable survey of the Enlightenment era. Centering his discussion on themes of antidogmatism and progress, Gottlieb does a masterful job of describing the personal and intellectual lives of Descartes, Hobbes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Bayle, Locke, Hume, Voltaire, and Rousseau. In taking a biographical approach, Gottlieb humanizes otherwise abstract thought in a way rarely encountered in such surveys. He avoids ahistoricism: such occurrences as wars, excommunications, political scandals, natural disasters, and business ventures are deftly woven into the narrative. This book is not simply about philosophical ideas but also about the complex social factors that generated those ideas. The author subjects intellectual differences to close scrutiny, and his descriptions of the often-internecine feuds point to a far more complex "Age of Reason" than lay history would suggest. For the most part, Gottlieb skirts contemporary criticisms of the Enlightenment; his overall tone is decidedly triumphal. If there is any overarching fault with Gottlieb's book, it is that there is nothing really new about the story he tells. Thankfully, he tells it extremely well. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates; general readers. --Lane Alan Wilkinson, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Library Journal Review
Gottlieb (former executive editor, the Economist) provides a sequel to The Dream of Reason: A History of Philosophy from the Greeks to the Renaissance. Here, there are individual chapters on René Descartes, Thomas Hobbes, Baruch Spinoza, John Locke, Pierre Bayle, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, David Hume, and other French philosophers. Gottlieb attempts to understand "these pioneers" by "step[ping] back into their shoes." He unpacks their major philosophical ideas from within the contexts of their lives and times and also traces their subsequent scholarly receptions. No small task, but one accomplished with delightfully economical prose. British philosophers get the most attention, with the longest chapters going to Hobbes, Locke, and Hume. And while Gottlieb acknowledges that "all histories of philosophy are selective," his might advantageously have included more on another Brit, Francis Bacon. That would have allowed highlighting inductive thinking to accompany Descartes's rationalism, even if Gottlieb is right that Bacon was not the stock empiricist he's often made out to be. We should all look forward to his projected next volume, taking philosophy's story forward from Immanuel Kant. VERDICT An accessible introduction to Enlightenment philosophers with much to offer all educated readers. [See Prepub Alert, 2/29/16.]-Mark Spencer, Brock Univ., St. Catharines, Ont. © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
