The philosophers of the 18th century were by no means the original freethinkers. Peter Gay summarizes thusly, “While the variations among the philosophes are far from negligible, they only orchestrate a single passion that bound the little flock together, the passion to cure the spiritual malady that is religion, the germ of ignorance, barbarity, hypocrisy, filth and the basest self-hatred.” As stated by Voltaire, “God, God! …once that name had been pronounced, men begin hate each other, and to cut one another’s throats.” Ah Voltaire, the humorless and devastating critic. I suppose I like to savor them - and put off coming to the end. I read this book slowly, as I tend to do with very good books. Gay is a magnificent scholar and in The Enlightenment, he weaves a stunning tapestry, linking the philosophes of the enlightenment back to the classics and the humanists of the Renaissance, who laid the groundwork for the mighty thinkers of the 1700s. I'm a decent amateur historian of the past two centuries, but remain unschooled regarding the details of the classics, the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. I did vaguely remember hearing very good things about Peter Gay and now I know why. I found this really ratty copy of The Enlightenment (1964) on my shelves – it had been snoozing there for years - I probably picked it up for 50 cents at a library sale. Current events have been bumming me out lately so I decided to read something old.
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