By Louis Dupre - The Enlightenment and the Intellectual Foundations of Modern Culture: 1st (first) Edition

by Louis Dupré

An eminent scholar of modern culture argues that the Enlightenment—the importance of which has been vigorously debated in recent years—was a more complex phenomenon than either its detractors or advocates assume.

“Ranging as it does over art, morality, religion, science, philosophy, social theory, and a good deal besides, [Dupré’s book] is a marvel of scholarly erudition. . . . Formidably well-researched, . . . [this] would make an excellent introduction to Enlightenment ideas for the general reader.”—Terry Eagleton, Harper’s Magazine

“This immensely readable book will cause readers to rethink the Enlightenment and to see its positive aspects. It will also add crucial historical perspective to current discussions of modernity.”—Donald Verene, Emory University

Genres: History, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Science

Paperback

First published May 11, 2004

About the author

Louis Dupre is a Catholic phenomenologist and religious philosopher. He was the T. Lawrason Riggs Professor in Yale University's religious studies department from 1973 to 1998, after which he became Professor Emeritus.[1] His work generally attempts to tie the modern age more closely to medieval and classical thought, finding precursors to Enlightenment and Reformation events that were naively viewed as revolutions. His well known works include "Passage to Modernity" and "The Enlightenment and the Intellectual Foundations of Modern Culture."

Reviews

[Shep · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found Dupré’s book to be highly beneficial in that it 1) challenges misconceptions or over-simplifications of the Enlightenment, 2) provides a helpful new lens through which to view the Enlightenment, and 3) provides a well-written history of the Enlightenment that is both academically rigorous and yet accessible to the interested layperson. Excellent and well-written.

[Aron Vallinder · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great guide to the Enlightenment: knowledgeable, opinionated, and consistently excellent in the way it situates thinkers within the broader intellectual environment, always with the bigger picture in mind. Skimmed some parts that were less interesting to me.

[Adam Carnehl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything Dupré wrote is valuable, if for no other reason than his sweeping erudition and ability to see the big picture. While some may take issue with individual interpretations of thinkers, no one can disagree that his learning is vast and his appraisals are provocative. Indeed, like his "Path to Modernity" book, this one is a giant survey of a number of thinkers Dupré places on the 'path' to modernity and secularism, though from specifically the Enlightenment period rather than the late Middle Ages and Reformation. Dupré has a number of arguments he puts forward in this one; perhaps the most intriguing is his idea, expressed in every chapter, that in the eighteenth century we can clearly see thinkers reducing God's relationship to His creation as one of efficient causality alone. Metaphysically, this would have massive consequences that stretch to the present day. In the past, in the Neoplatonic tradition, for example, creation was seen as a kind of emanation from God, or, in Aquinas's view, a continual gift flowing from His infinite goodness. There was no unbridgeable chasm between the world and God, rather, the world was conceived as being 'in' God (Acts 17:28). The world had as its final cause God, as well; creation was striving toward the Good, and humanity's role was Adamic, redemptive. If God is simply the Cause of creation (e.g., making it 'ex nihilo,' or 'winding it up' like a clock) then when material causes are discovered that offer good reasons for the movement and substance of things, then God becomes a mere idea, eventually fading away entirely. If particles 'naturally' move and 'naturally' come together to make things, then a new efficient cause replaces the Deus ex machina conception of the Creator. So, when world is seen as one thing alongside God as another thing (a powerful being, even the "Being of Beings"), then we've begun the slide toward materialism and atheism.

It was interesting to read Dupré's take on the thinkers of the eighteenth century that tried, to varying degrees of success, to return to this Thomistic or Neoplatonic/Biblical view; Berkeley, in his view, goes too far in denying the existence of matter, but he at least is more of a Platonist when it comes to metaphysics. Malebranche combines Cartesian science with Platonic mysticism in an uneasy and inconsistent alliance. Swedenborg, for all his weirdness and gnosticism, at least grasped the meaning of analogy, and the importance of 'correspondence' between earthly and heavenly realities. Hamann, who viciously attacked his opponents on all sides, he at least grasped that creation was a 'word' from God, and that humans can't find meaning through ratiocination alone, but through symbols.

I was also fascinated by Dupré's take on eighteenth century spirituality (often left out of philosophical studies and surveys!). There was a kind of retreat in spirituality; even the very notion of 'spirituality' or 'mysticism' is a product of this century! Before the Enlightenment, a typical Christian did not conceive of his spirituality as anything apart from the sacramental and liturgical life of the church. But with the slow receding of the church from public life, Christianity withdrew into interior experience. Quietism and Pietism are examples. The lives and messages of Fenelon and Guyon are very revealing, as are the works of Spener and Franck. Across Europe we see this sequestering of the spiritual into private life. "Little churches within the Church" form, and 'cells' of spiritually-minded people gather for prayer, study, and direction. What was public becomes private. What was liturgical becomes spiritual (interior).

Finally, Dupré's ending argument is that we should not be quick to condemn the Enlightenment's projects. The idea of religious freedom, for example, is one we could not possibly dispense with today in the West. We all take it for granted that we will not be tried and executed in the public square for our 'privately held' religious beliefs. Dupré notes that even when the philosophes made bad arguments, they still had good visions and goals. These visions and goals are seen today in modern democracies, tolerance, etc. We should have a more nuanced view of the Enlightenment, understanding its excesses and being thankful for its achievements.

[Turgut · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good introductory book on the Enlightenment.

[Craig Bolton]

The Enlightenment and the Intellectual Foundations of Modern Culture by Louis Dupre (2005)