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

In the wake of the Scientific Revolution, the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries saw the complete demolition of traditional structures of authority, scientific thought, and belief by the new philosophy and the philosophes, including Voltaire, Diderot, and Rousseau. The Radical Enlightenment played a part in this revolutionary process, which effectively overthrew all justification for monarchy, aristocracy, and ecclesiastical power, as well as man's dominance over woman, theological dominance of education, and slavery. Despite the present day interest in the revolutions of the eighteenth century, the origins and rise of the Radical Enlightenment have received limited scholarly attention. The greatest obstacle to the movement finding its proper place in modern historical writing is its international scope: the Racial Enlightenment was not French, British, German, Italian, Jewish or Dutch, but all of these at the same time. In this wide-ranging volume, Jonathan Israel offers a novel interpretation of the Radical Enlightenment down to La Mettie and Diderot, two of its key exponents. Particular emphasis is placed on the pivotal role of Spinoza and the widespread underground international philosophical movement known before 1750 as Spinozism. preface......Page 4 Aknowledgements......Page 7 Plates......Page 14 Library and Archive Locations......Page 17 Other Abbreviations......Page 18 PART I The Radical Enlightenment......Page 22 I Introduction......Page 24 2 Government and philosophy......Page 44 3 Society, Institutions, Revolution......Page 80 4 Women, Philosophy and Sexuality......Page 103 5 Censorship and Culture......Page 118 6 Libraries and Enlightenment......Page 140 7 The Learned Journals......Page 163 PART II The Rise of Philosophical Radicalism......Page 178 8 Spinoza......Page 180 9 Van den Enden......Page 196 10 Radicalism and the people: The Brothers Koerbagh......Page 206 11 Philosophy, the Interpreter of Scripture......Page 218 12 Miracles Denied......Page 239 13 Spinoza's System......Page 251 14 Spinoza, Science, and the Scientists......Page 263 15 Philosophy, Politics, and the Liberation of Man......Page 279 16 Publishing a Banned Philosophy......Page 296 17 The Spread of a Forbidden Movement......Page 316 PART III Europe and the "New" Intellectual Controversies 1680-1720......Page 350 18 Bayle and the "Virtuous Atheist"......Page 352 19 The Bredenburg Disputes......Page 363 20 Fontenelle and the War of the Oracles......Page 380 21 The Death of the Devil......Page 396 22 Leenhof and the "Universal Philosophical Religion"......Page 443 23 The "Nature of God" Controversy 1710-1720......Page 473 PART IV The Intellestual Counter-Offensive......Page 482 24 New Theological Strategies......Page 484 25 The Collapse of Cartesianism......Page 514 26 Leibniz and the Radical Enlightenment......Page 539 27 Anglomania: the "Triumph" of Newton and Locke......Page 552 28 The Intellectual Drama in Spain and Portugal......Page 565 29 Germany and the Baltic: the "War of the Philosophers"......Page 578 PART V The Clandestine Progress of the Radical Enlightenment 1680-1750......Page 600 30 Boulainvilliers and the Rise of French Deism......Page 602 31 French Refugee Deists in Exile......Page 612 32 The Spinozistic Novel in French......Page 628 33 English Deism and Europe......Page 636 34 Germany: The Radical Aufklarung......Page 665 35 The Radical Impact in Italy......Page 701 36 The Clandestine Philosophical Manuscripts......Page 721 37 From La Mettrie to Diderot......Page 741 38 Epilogue: Rousseau, Radicalism, Revolution......Page 751 Bibliography......Page 758 Index......Page 816 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 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. 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.