In his book entitled Reclaiming the Enlightenment: toward a Politics of Radical Engagement Stephen Eric Bronner explores the problem or issue associated with the modern political life described as the disorientation of the intellectuals, as well as activism on the left. Stephen Eric Bronner argues that the usurping of theory and political history by the cultural criticism has resulted to a confusion regarding the objectives, as well as the origin or genesis of the progressive politics. In particular, Stephen Eric Bronner contend that it has increasingly becomes fashionable for the intellectual to offensively attack enlightenment simply because of its eurocentrism, imperialism, scientism, and racism and sexism of some of its critical representatives. …show more content…
However, the year 1947 witnessed a turn of events. The perspective that the enlightenment had taken was spectacularly undermined when Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer published their work entitled Dialectic of Enlightenment that alleged that Enlightenment was not only the genesis of totalitarianism but also the most horrible superfluity of modernity. However, by reclaiming enlightenment from absolutely cultural and philosophical interpretations, one can argue that Stephen Eric Bronner strive to demonstrate that the notion of political engagement is critical, in terms of not only keeping democracy alive but also fresh through the provision of practical basis for challenging infringements on the individual’s rights, promoting institutional accountability, building a cosmopolitan sensibility, and inspiring long-lasting commitment to …show more content…
108, 153). Thus, totalitarianism was not issued from a lack of Enlightenment 'dialectic,' rather it was issued from movements defining themselves in reformists’ opposition, philosophies’ laudably realistic spirit. From the onset, this spirit focused on individual autonomy worldly conditions the most fundamental being accountable power, civil liberty, as well as social
Mini-Q Essay A time period known as The Age of Reason or The Enlightenment was when philosophy, politics, science and social communications changed drastically. It helped shape the ideas of capitalism and democracy, which is the world we live in today. People joined together to discuss areas of high intellect and creative thoughts. The Enlightenment was a time period in which people discussed new ideas, and educated people, known as philosophers, all had a central idea of freedom of choice and the natural right of individuals. These philosophers include John Locke, Voltaire, Adam Smith, and Mary Wollstonecraft.
I must state at this point that much of this book’s content disturbed me, and I experienced great relief at its conclusion. Specifically, his pessimistic views on the Enlightenment,
1. In her book “Total Domination”, Hannah Arendt strongly believed that Totalitarianism is trying to achieve the idea of Total domination. She studied and analyzed how totalitarianism had always falls into the idea of total domination in which she explained how total domination works in her point of view and her own description of Totalitarian. Her purpose is to show how the leaders treated humans lesser than animals in a way of how they torture people with their cruelty. She seems to have a great ideas of her comparison that gives justice to really make me believe that totalitarian has the same idea of total dominion.
The enlightenment period was full of social and intellectual growth. This time period changed the way people thought of the world and exposed the world to different cultures. It brought the world into several revolutions that will later contribute to great change for the modern world. Travel was significant during the enlightenment due to the enlightenment ideas that knowledge and information was gained through experience. In order for the people to get a better understanding of the world and gain information about other cultures, they had to travel to these people. During this era and time period of the enlightenment, travel was significant in order to get a quality and endless education. Denis Diderot shows the significance that travel did
The Great Awaking was a time that was supposed to bring people closer to God, but instead the New Light ministers made Christianity more of a worldly idea. People are taught to feel God more emotionally through prayer but instead left people acting like deranged animals. At night, many of the villages meet up in log cabins to discuss reading and by the end of the night, one can hear the screams of cries from the people. As Charles Chauncy explained in his letter, “it is in the evening, or more late in the night, with only a few candles in a meetinghouse, that there is the screaming and shrieking to the greatest degree; and the persons thus affected are generally children, young people, and women.” It is not the older generation that are being
Niles, Patricia. “The Enlightenment.” Novaonline. Niles and C.T. Evans, 7 May 2011. Web. 13 Feb. 2012. .
Richard Hofstadter's The Age of Reform In 1955, Richard Hofstadter wrote his Pulitzer Prize winning book The Age of Reform, about the Gilded Age. Hofstadter’s arguments about the Populist and Progressive movements and their origins started debate and renewed scholarship on the Populist and Progressive movements. Many historians did not agree with Hofstadter’s arguments and published their own papers stating their conclusions based on their own research.
Intellectuals are philosophers, are writers, are artists. They are all those people who work with their minds by questioning the events that touch them and that are touched by them. To recall a Plato's famous allegory, we can say that intellectuals are those who are able to look beyond the shadows and never take concepts for granted. However, some questions as what their role is and, more specifically, whether they should be engaged in politics are still unanswerable. Over the years answers and behaviors towards the engaged culture have been various and we can assume that the intellectuals who cannot separate the two live their lives actively for they want to be part of the events that surround them and let awareness win over apathy. On the contrary, we can assume that those who let apathy win are the intellectuals that look at politics and culture as two different and specific concepts and live a solitary life far from society. However, this is not an appropriate judgment because it would be difficult to consider to which extent solitude can be regarded as cowardliness and to which extent action can be regarded as consciousness.
The Enlightenment is a unique time in European history characterized by revolutions in science, philosophy, society, and politics. These revolutions put Europe in a transition from the medieval world-view to the modern western world. The traditional hierarchical political and social orders from the French monarchy and Catholic Church were destroyed and replaced by a political and social order from the Enlightenment ideals of freedom and equality(Bristow, 1). Many historians, such as Henry Steele Commager, Peter Gay, have studied the Enlightenment over the years and created their own views and opinions.
middle of paper ... ... This comment suggests that the current idea, liberalism, may just be a phase in human ideology that has spread worldwide. Though he made a compelling argument and posed thought provoking questions that supported his argument, the flaws in his argument, after stringent analysis, contradict his main points. Works Cited Ferguson, C. (Director).
It was during the 1920’s to the 1940’s that totalitarian control over the state escalated into full dictatorships, with the wills of the people being manipulated into a set of beliefs that would promote the fascist state and “doctrines”.
Totalitarianism is the term that is used to describe the political system where the government holds total authority ove...
In modern history, there have been some governments, which have successfully, and others unsuccessfully carried out a totalitarian state. A totalitarian state is one in which a single ideology is existent and addresses all aspects of life and outlines means to attain the final goal, government is ran by a single mass party through which the people are mobilized to muster energy and support. In a totalitarian state, the party leadership maintains monopoly control over the governmental system, which includes the police, military,
During the time between World War I and World War II countries pursued security through totalitarianism. Totalitarianism began with conservative authoritarian governments. These governments were antidemocratic, they prevented any type of major change, they relied on larger entities like police and armies to control the people, and all liberal and democratic mindsets were diminished. But, conservative authoritarian governments could not control every aspect of peoples’ lives due t the lack of communication and transportation. These types of government had the ultimate goal t attain order, peace, and security which would be a forefront goal of totalitarianism during the 20th century.
For about 1000 years, Europeans maintained traditions, the most significant were the traditions held by the Roman Catholic Church, which was the protector of knowledge. Thus, traditional knowledge was embedded in the church. In order to make a transition from the early modern world into the modern world, substantial changes were needed, especially intellectual changes. Thus, it was necessary to change the way that people think about themselves, meaning a radical change in the way of using their intellectual.