Enlightenment Thought. An Anthology of Sources

306 Pages·2019·5.42 MB·English

by  Margaret L. King

ENLIGHTENMENT
THOUGHT
An Anthology of Sources
Edited and Translated, with an Introduction, by
MARGARET L. KING
Enlightenment Thought
An Anthology of Sources
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Enlightenment Thought
$ $ $
An Anthology of Sources
Edited and translated, with an Introduction, by
M L. K
argaret ing
Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.
Indianapolis/Cambridge
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Copyright © 2019 by Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.
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Cover design by Rick Todhunter
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Library in Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: King, Margaret L., 1947– editor, translator.
Title: Enlightenment thought : an anthology of sources / edited and translated, with
an introduction, by Margaret L. King.
Description: Indianapolis : Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., [2019] | Includes index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018035094| ISBN 9781624667534 (pbk.) |
ISBN 9781624667541 (cloth)
Subjects: LCSH: Enlightenment—Sources.
Classification: LCC B802 .E5456 2019 | DDC 190.9/032—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018035094
Adobe PDF ebook ISBN: 978-1-62466-755-8
For my grandson Henry—
may he live in an age of light
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CONTENTS
Chronology xii
Introduction xvii
Chapter One
Casting Out Idols: 1620–1697 1
Idols, or false notions
Francis Bacon, The New Instrument (1620) 4
I think, therefore I am
René Descartes, Discourse on Method (1637) 8
God, or Nature
Baruch Spinoza, Ethics (1677) 11
The system of the world
Isaac Newton, Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1687) 14
He searched for truth throughout his life
Pierre Bayle, Historical and Critical Dictionary (1697) 18
Chapter Two
The Learned Maid: 1638–1740 23
A face raised toward heaven
Anna Maria van Schurman, Whether the Study of Letters Befits a
Christian Woman (1638) 26
The worlds I have made
Margaret Cavendish, The Blazing World (1666) 30
A finer sort of cattle
Bathsua Makin, An Essay to Revive the Ancient Education of
Gentlewomen (1673) 34
I warn you of the world
Madame de Maintenon, Letter: On the Education of the Demoiselles
of Saint-Cyr (August 1, 1686), and Instruction: On the World (1707) 38
The daybreak of your reason
Émilie Du Châtelet, Fundamentals of Physics (1740) 41
Chapter Three
A State of Perfect Freedom: 1689–1695 44
The chief criterion of the True Church
John Locke, Letter on Toleration (1689) 49
vii
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viii Contents
Freedom from any superior power on earth
John Locke, Second Treatise on Civil Government (1689) 52
A white paper, with nothing written on it
John Locke, Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689) 58
Let your rules be as few as possible
John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education (1693) 60
From death, Jesus Christ restores all to life
John Locke, The Reasonableness of Christianity, as
Delivered in the Scriptures (1695) 63
Chapter Four
All Things Made New: 1725–1784 67
In the wilderness, they are reborn
Giambattista Vico, The New Science (1725/1730/1744) 72
Without these Names, nothing can be known
Carl Linnaeus, System of Nature (1735) 76
All the clouds at last are lifted
Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, The Successive Advancement of the
Human Mind (1750) 80
A genealogical or encyclopedic tree of knowledge
Jean le Rond d’Alembert, Preliminary Discourse (1751) 83
Dare to know!
Immanuel Kant, What Is Enlightenment? (1784) 88
Chapter Five
Mind, Soul, and God: 1740–1779 91
The narrow limits of human understanding
David Hume, An Abstract of a Book Lately Published (1740) 95
The soul is but an empty word
Julien Offray de La Mettrie, Man a Machine (1747) 98
All is reduced to sensation
Claude Adrien Helvétius, On the Mind (1758) 101
An endless web of fantasies and falsehoods
Paul-Henri Thiry, baron d’Holbach, Common Sense (1772) 104
Let each believe that his own ring is real
Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Nathan the Wise (1779) 106
Chapter Six
Crush That Infamous Thing: 1733–1764 111
This is the country of sects
Voltaire, Philosophical Letters (1733) 114
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Contents ix
Disfigured by myth, until enlightenment comes
Voltaire, The Culture and Spirit of Nations (1756) 118
The best of all possible worlds
Voltaire, Candide (1759) 120
Are we not all children of the same God?
Voltaire, Treatise on Tolerance (1763) 123
If a book displeases you, refute it!
Voltaire, Philosophical Dictionary (1764) 127
Chapter Seven
Toward the Greater Good: 1748–1776 132
Things must be so ordered that power checks power
Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu, The Spirit
of the Laws (1748) 136
Complete freedom of trade must be ensured
François Quesnay, General Maxims for the Economic
Management of an Agricultural Kingdom (1758) 140
The nation’s war against the citizen
Cesare Beccaria, On Crimes and Punishments (1764) 143
There is no peace in the absence of justice
Adam Ferguson, An Essay on the History of Civil Society (1767) 146
Led by an invisible hand
Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth
of Nations (1776) 149
Chapter Eight
Encountering Others: 1688–1785 154
Thus died this great man
Aphra Behn, Oroonoko: or The Royal Slave (1688) 158
Not one sins the less for not being Christian
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Embassy Letters (1716–1718) 162
Do you not restore to them their liberty?
Guillaume-Thomas Raynal, Philosophical and Political History of
European Colonies and Commerce in the Two Indies (1770) 165
Some things which are rather interesting
Captain James Cook, Voyage towards the South Pole, and Round
the World (1777) 169
The inner genius of my being
Johann Gottfried von Herder, Ideas for a Philosophy of the History of
Humankind (1785) 171
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