Enlightenment Contested

In 'Enlightenment Contested', Jonathan Israel continues the story he began in the best-selling 'Radical Enlightenment'. Focusing his attention of the first half of the eighteenth century, Israel returns to original sources to offer a groundbreakingnew perspective on the nature and development of the most important currents in modern thought. Western society prides itself on such core principles as the importance of reason, democracy, racial equality, feminism, religious toleration, sexual emancipation, and freedom of expression. But where do these principles come from? Israel traces them to their roots in the social, political and philosophical ferment of eight crucial decades from 1670 to 1752. He emphasizes the dual character of the Enlightenment, and the bitter struggle between, on the one hand, and anti-democractic mainstream, supporting the monarchy, aristocracy, and the church, and on the other, a largely repressed democratic, republican, and 'materialist' radical fringe. He also contends that the supposedly separate French, British, German, Dutch and Italian enlightenments interacted to such a degree that their study in isolation gives a hopelessy distorted picture. A work of dazzling and highly accessible scholarship, 'Enlightenment Contested' will be the definitive reference point for historians, philosophers, and anyone engaged with this fascinating period of human development.