Reviews for The portable age of reason reader

The average rating for The portable age of reason reader based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-04-27 00:00:00 Ahmad Ali It is no idle compliment to say this collection is perhaps as good as a collection of the sort possibly could be. Crane Brinton himself notes the difficulty of compiling a collection centered on the "Age of Reason." Compared to the other volumes in the VPL's Reader series, the self-imposed bounds of the 17th and 18th Centuries seem oppressive and claustrophobic. We are set in the midst of a universe composed by the Blind Watchmaker, and the processes of thought, so familiar as they are, seem as mechanical as the cogs of any machine. But with the limitations of the subject matter in mind, the volume is very good. Brinton is rightly wary and cynical about the material he is working with. The bookends of the project, the Cartesian proclamation of narcissism, and the Festival of Reason in the usurped Notre Dame, provide more poetic commentary than most of the Enlightenment authors could muster for themselves. The age of empiricism was characterized by a lack of self-awareness, a failure to follow through with logical conclusions. We read Diderot's tract on atheism only to find that he is readily prepared to flee back to the Church if given the opportunity on his deathbed, and we get the feeling that none of these people are really serious. This is appropriate for what Will Durant calls the "Age of Voltaire." How sad that any compiler is forced to center work around such a pathetic character. Taken as an 18th Century Kurt Vonnegut, his work is enjoyable; as a philosophe, he is pathetic. The selections of the Encyclopedia provided here are proof of this; every serious inquiry is ended with a smirk. The man's pathetic character is to be discovered in this volume; a commentary by his friend Frederick II exposes an ugly man who adored every country by his native France; who was acquainted with many science, but "were it not for his own wit, he would not have distinguished himself in any of them." The far more scrupulous Hume gets a better eulogy from Adam Smith, and even an opponent of Hume (like myself) can't help but think it is better deserved. Hume's philosophy may have been insane, but it was a logically cohesive insanity. Opposing a serious heretic like Hume can be worthwhile, even to his enemies; opposing a smirking imp like Voltaire is simply a waste of time. The best parts of the volume are those passages that are not really characteristic of the Age of Reason: The pastoral reveries, the investigations of character. Other selections are of academic interest, but that interest is great: Passages from Hume, Locke, Rousseau. Johnathon Edwards does not fit in the volume by any reason but chronology, but any reader should be glad his fire-and-brimstone sermon. Dr. Johnson should be read next to Edmund Burke, whom the editor acknowledges cannot be placed in this collection'but who will argue against being in the company of Johnson? Brinton's ability to place the Age of Reason thinkers within history is what distinguishes this volume. Made omniscient by the passage of ages, he gains wisdom that his subject lack; for so many Enlightenment thinkers thought they had discovered the hidden currents of existence that they could abjure any sense of their own humble place. Brinton recognizes this naivety; he is more generous to his subjects than almost they deserve. But he is still appreciative of what made his subjects great. The Portable Library's new volume, retitled the ENLIGHTENMENT Reader, is lacking of such wisdom. One section in that is labeled "Race and Gender," proof positive that the spirit of narcissism so well cultivated during the Age of Reason has not died.

Review # 2 was written on 2008-10-27 00:00:00 ron jaworski نه صرفا یک کتاب، که تجربه ای معنوی...قدم زدن در تاریخی نه‌ پر از اندیشه های پراکنده‌ و درهم، که چنان کلی زنده که هر دقیقه اش در حال بالیدن و پیش رفتن است. باید دست آقای موقن را بوسید به خاطر چنین ترجمه ای...اون هم در زمانی که یک سری تبهکار با نام مترجم! از هر طرف می خواهند آشغال هایی با نام ترجمه! به خوردمان بدهند.