Age of Reason From the Wars of Religion to the French Revolution, 15701789 Book

"It is not all the evil but all the good things of the world which Pandora had in her box (...) When Epimetheus rashly opened the it the good things flew out and away: Hope alone was saved and still remains with us."

The main treaty of this book ("On Religion: A Dialogue") is that most sacred form of philosophy, the Socratic dialogue, where two epitomes of philosophical arguments arrogantly disagree with each other with huge leaps of logic until the one the author dislikes surrenders in shame. As much as I love Plato's work, it can get quite biased.

The missing star comes from that same bias. I have to preface that I agree with almost all of the arguments made by Schopenhauer. But to have Philatethes, the champion of reason, call for the end of religious freedom, is hypocrisy at his finest. And the reason? Religion is the proxy truth for the unwashed masses, to be extinguished with the rise of intellectualism.

Historically, atrocities have been committed in the name of religion, and indeed scientific and social progress was often slumped by persecution from one religion or the other. But to simply state that religion only has a place as the 'opium of the masses' is shortsighted.

If philosophy is indeed the quest for truth and knowledge, then it must accommodate all possibilities, as we strive to do in science and in the arts, and keep an open mind. If someone can find consensus between truth and their beliefs, they should be welcome to - they may not be antagonistic, and they may even be complimentary. Although this is not my personal experience, this work does a lousy job at attempting to bridge the two; and in failing to do so, it becomes incredibly one sided.

Other than that, it is a very good read in terms of the history and philosophical basis for many different religions, and has some interesting treaties on psychology and on Greek mythology.