Radical enlightenment : philosophy and the making of modernity, 1650-1750

Arguably the most decisive shift in the history of ideas in modern times was the complete demolition during the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries - in the wake of the Scientific Revolution - of traditional structures of authority, scientific thought, and belief by the new philosophy and the philosophes, culminating in Voltaire, Diderot, and Rousseau. In this revolutionary process which effectively overthrew all justicfication for monarchy, aristocracy, and ecclesiastical power, as well as man's dominance over woman, theological dominance of education, and slavery, substituting the modern principles of equality, democracy, and universality, the Radical Enlightenment played a crucially important part. Despite the present day interest in the revolutions of the late eighteenth century, the origins and rise of the Radical Enlightenment have been astonishingly little studied doubtless largely because of its very wide international sweep and the obvious difficulty of fitting in into the restrictive conventions of 'national history' which until recently tended to dominate all historiography. The greatest obstacle to the Radical Enlightenment finding its proper place in modern historical writing is simply that it was not French, British, German, Italian, Jewish or Dutch, but all of these at the same time. In this novel interpretation of the Radical Enlightenment down to La Mettie and Diderot, two of its key exponents, particular stress is placed on the pivotal role of Spinoza and the widespread underground international philosophical movement known before 1750 as Spinozism. The Radical Enlightenment Was A Revolutionary Set Of Ideas Which Helped Lay The Foundations Of The Modern World On The Basis Of Equality, Democracy, Secular Values, And Universality. This Controversial And Original Study By The Internationally Renowned Cultural Historian Jonathan I. Israel Shows How Spinoza And His Thought Set The Intellectual Current Towards The Intellectual And Political Revolutions Of The Later Eighteenth Century. The 'radical Enlightenment' -- Radical Thought In The Early Enlightenment -- The 'crisis Of The European Mind' -- Government And Philosophy -- The Advent Of Cartesianism -- Cartesianism In Central Europe -- The New Philosophy Conquers Scandinavia And The Baltic -- France: Philosophy And Royal Absolutism -- Reaction In The Italian States -- Society, Institutions, Revolution -- Philosophy And The Social Hierarchy -- Shaftesbury, Radicati, Vauvenargues -- The Revolutionary Impulse -- Women, Philosophy, And Sexuality -- The Emancipation Of Women -- Conversational Freedom; Sexual Freedom -- Censorship And Culture -- French Royal Censorship -- Philosophy And Censorship In Central Europe -- Philosophy And Censorship In Southern Europe -- Freedom Of Thought, Expression, And Of The Press -- Libraries And Enlightenment -- The Universal Library -- The Crisis Of The Universities -- Shelving The Two Enlightenments -- Lexicons And Dictionnaires -- The Early Enlightenment In National Context -- The Learned Journals -- Changing Europe's Intellectual Culture -- The Journals And The Radical Enlightenment -- The Rise Of Philosophical Radicalism -- Spinoza -- Van Den Enden: Philosophy, Democracy, And Egalitarianism -- Democratic Republicanism -- Revolutionary Conspiracy -- Radicalism And The People: The Brothers Koerbagh -- The Theologian-philosopher, Johannes Koerbagh (1634-1672) -- The Bloemhof -- The Trial Of The Brothers Koerbagh -- Philosophy, The Interpreter Of Scripture -- Lodewijk Meyer (1629-1681) -- The Philosophia. Jonathan I. Israel. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [721]-777) And Index. Arguably the most decisive shift in the history of ideas in modern times was the complete demolition during the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries - in the wake of the Scientific Revolution - of traditional structures of authority, scientific thought, and belief, by the new philosophy and the philosophies, culminating in Voltaire, Diderot, and Rousseau. In this revolutionary process which effectively overthrew all justification for monarchy, aristocracy, slavery, andecclesiastical authority, as well as man's asendancy over woman and theology's domination over education and study, substi Preface vii CHAPTER I: Progress and the Enlightenment's Two Conflicting Ways of Improving the World 1 CHAPTER II: Democracy or Social Hierarchy? The Political Rift 37 CHAPTER III: The Problem of Equality and Inequality: The Rise of Economics 92 CHAPTER IV: The Enlightenment's Critique of War and the Quest for "Perpetual Peace" 124 CHAPTER V: Two Kinds of Moral Philosophy in Conflict 154 CHAPTER VI: Voltaire versus Spinoza: The Enlightenment as a Basic Duality of Philosophical Systems 199 CHAPTER VII: Conclusion 221 Notes 243 Index 267 The Radical Enlightenment was a revolutionary set of ideas which helped lay the foundations of the modern world on the basis of equality, democracy, secular values, and universality. In this controversial and original study the renowned cultural historian Jonathan I. Israel reveals the pivotal role of Spinoza and the influence of the widespread underground international philosophical movement known before 1750 as Spinozism on the intellectual and political revolutions of the eighteenth century. This is a study of the origins and rise of the Radical Enlightenment. The book analyses the enlightenment's role in the demolition of traditional structures of authority, scientific thought and belief