The Enlightenment, Volume 1 by Peter Gay

The philosophers despised Magical Thinking, a position I relate to closely. Īnd I learned a definition of philosophy both simple and deeply satisfying, “Philosophy is criticism.” The reader learns the generally powerless nature of the church of the 18th century, caused by the corruption of Catholics and the in-fighting of the Protestants. Gay weaves the background of the philosophes of the 1700s to their roots in classical Rome and Greece and acknowledges the preparation of the intellectual ground by the scholars of the Middle Ages. The philosophers of the 18th century were by no means the original freethinkers. Peter Gay summarizes thusly, “While the variations among the philosophes are far from negligible, they only orchestrate a single passion that bound the little flock together, the passion to cure the spiritual malady that is religion, the germ of ignorance, barbarity, hypocrisy, filth and the basest self-hatred.” As stated by Voltaire, “God, God! …once that name had been pronounced, men begin hate each other, and to cut one another’s throats.” Ah Voltaire, the humorless and devastating critic. I suppose I like to savor them - and put off coming to the end. I read this book slowly, as I tend to do with very good books. Gay is a magnificent scholar and in The Enlightenment, he weaves a stunning tapestry, linking the philosophes of the enlightenment back to the classics and the humanists of the Renaissance, who laid the groundwork for the mighty thinkers of the 1700s. I'm a decent amateur historian of the past two centuries, but remain unschooled regarding the details of the classics, the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. I did vaguely remember hearing very good things about Peter Gay and now I know why. I found this really ratty copy of The Enlightenment (1964) on my shelves – it had been snoozing there for years - I probably picked it up for 50 cents at a library sale. Current events have been bumming me out lately so I decided to read something old.

The Enlightenment, Volume 1 by Peter Gay