Enlightenment thinking engendered liberal democracies, civil liberties, free markets, religious toleration, and free speech; it helped us move out of the abject poverty, pervasive violence, and ...

Moreover, your claim that the Enlightenment philosophers provided “rationalizations of a new form of class oppression” is grotesquely one-sided and basically false.

CULTURE CLUB/GETTY IMAGES The Enlightenment began not only with books and pamphlets, but with an earthquake. In 1755, an earthquake flattened Lisbon, set it aflame, and then caused a massive ...

If the Enlightenment did anything, it was only to accelerate a process that had been ongoing for centuries. 3. The modern age doesn't look so hot when you count abortion.

The Enlightenment provides a touchstone for our understanding of modern history and, not least, for our sense of the current moment. More than two centuries ago, a shift in outlook sought to throw ...

Enlightenment Is Impermanent One of the myths around enlightenment is that it is a durable experience that never changes. In reality, our awareness fluctuates; it is as impermanent as anything else.

In this thought-provoking book, molecular biologist Lee Silver defends science, biotechnology and post-Enlightenment values, which have come under attack by two ostensibly divergent groups in ...