

Breaking the Enlightenment Spell - Petiver
http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/arts-and-books/breaking-the-enlightenment-spell-2

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tjradcliffe
The suggestion at the end of the article that very notion of the Enlightenment
has outlived its usefulness is problematic. Clearly _something_ happened in
the 18th century that involved the backfooting of faith in favour of reason
and empiricism, and the beginning of the end for absolute government in much
of the Western world.

Anti-intellectual neo-populism has set its sights on those changes for almost
200 years, and today the enemies of the Enlightenment can be found across the
political spectrum, from the post-modern Left to the populist (and equally
post-modern) Right.

As such, the division of history into a period we identify as "the
Enlightenment" is a useful tool for wrapping up a bundle of related ideas.
Sure, we could say we are defending Bayesian decision making against non-
Bayesians and anti-Bayesians, but that would be an anachronistic term to apply
to Kant or Adam Smith. So keeping the idea of the Enlightenment alive, while
recognizing it as the embryo of the Bayesian revolution, is the optimal
course.

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ende
Well said.

