Routledge Thinking about the Enlightenment: Modernity and its Ramifications

Thinking about the Enlightenment looks beyond the current parameters of studying the Enlightenment, to the issues that can be understood by reflecting on the period in a broader context. Each of the thirteen original chapters, by an international and interdisciplinary team of contributors, illustrates the problematic legacy of the Enlightenment and the continued ramifications of its thinking since the eighteenth century. Together, they consider whether modernity can see its roots in the intellectual revolution of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.The collection is divided into six sections, preceded by a comprehensive introduction to the field and the most recent scholarship on the period. Across the sections, the contributors consider modern day encounters with Enlightenment thinking, including Kant’s moral philosophy, the conflict between reason and faith, the significance of the Enlightenment of law and the gender inequality that persisted throughout the eighteenth century. By examining specific encounters with the problematic results of Enlightenment concerns, the contributors are able to illuminate and offer new perspectives on topics such as human nature, race, politics, gender and rationality. Drawing from history, philosophy, literature and anthropology, this book enables students and academics alike to take a fresh look at the Enlightenment and its legacy in the modern world. Review "This rich and stimulating volume celebrates eclecticism as a mode of thinking about and with the Enlightenment. Ranging across religion, politics and gender, and drawing on multiple disciplinary and interpretive tradition, these essays collectively challenge unitary conceptions of the Enlightenment and linear views of its legacy, and challenge us to view our contemporary relationship with the its body of thought as still dynamic and unresolved."Adam Sutcliffe, King's College London, UK About the Author Martin L. Davies is Emeritus Reader in History at the University of Leicester. His publications include Historics: Why History Dominates Contemporary Society (Routledge, 2006) and How History Works (Routledge, 2016).