Is it too early or late to judge the enlightenment?

[I and I]

Science.

Also democracy and tolerance.

Democracy has been a failure in every aspect. Democracy has never been synonymous with more freedom or liberty.

Are we more tolerant today than in the past?

[Captain Colostomy]

The answer is subjective. What one man deems enlightenment, another deems as folly. This conversation is a circle jerk from the word go.

While it is true that "enlightenment" by itself is a subjective term, when it is used with a definite article THE enlightenment, it is understood to mean the social and philosophical ideas put forward by the leading thinkers of the 18th century along with the late 17th century: people like Locke, Voltaire, Hume, etc.

500 million Buddhists would no doubt disagree. :p

---

Also democracy and tolerance.

Democracy has been a failure in every aspect. Democracy has never been synonymous with more freedom or liberty.

Are we more tolerant today than in the past?

Are you sure you want to say democracy is a failure?

[downbeatplumb]

Are you sure you want to say democracy is a failure?

I say we should have a vote to decide.

It's the best way.

[MindForgedManacle]

There's no 'right' answer to this. We don't reason in a vacuum, so ho this is answered will necessarily depend on your preferences and values.

Now, I think some of the responses ("Science." and "Democracy has been a failure in every aspect") are way too simplistic. In terms of tolerance, to say we haven't improved is self-evidently absurd. That's not to say that it has been eliminated, but to question if we've improved it at all sounds like postmodern-ish bullshit.

The philosopher Adorno once wrote a book on this very topic (Dialectic of Enlightenment), and while I didn't agree with his take (at least not entirely), I do think it was an interesting investigation. For somone like Immanuel Kant, the Enlightenment was the means by which man could break free from the shackles of mystery-inducing authority by means of illuminating the world with the light of reason in a way that all can come to understand.

What Adorno wants to do is question that narrative and delve into the history of it, and how (among other things) this apparent beacon of light to the world led to the continually increasing acts of violence, especially those in his lifetime like the Holocause and World War II. In addition, he wants to gauge whether or not what was promised to us throughout the Enlightenment and by essentially all its main contributors was just a delusion, given the nightmares it allowed and - at times - promulgated.

If you want an interesting look into this, I'd recommend checking out Adorno's book "Dialectic of Enlightenment".

[xpastor]

The philosopher Adorno once wrote a book on this very topic (Dialectic of Enlightenment), and while I didn't agree with his take (at least not entirely), I do think it was an interesting investigation. For somone like Immanuel Kant, the Enlightenment was the means by which man could break free from the shackles of mystery-inducing authority by means of illuminating the world with the light of reason in a way that all can come to understand.

What Adorno wants to do is question that narrative and delve into the history of it, and how (among other things) this apparent beacon of light to the world led to the continually increasing acts of violence, especially those in his lifetime like the Holocause and World War II. In addition, he wants to gauge whether or not what was promised to us throughout the Enlightenment and by essentially all its main contributors was just a delusion, given the nightmares it allowed and - at times - promulgated.

If you want an interesting look into this, I'd recommend checking out Adorno's book "Dialectic of Enlightenment".

I am not familiar with Adorno's book, but the thesis sounds as if it is diametrically opposed to one by Stephen Pinker, The Better Angels of our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined. I don't much like the title but these are purely metaphorical angels. Pinker does make a good case for believing that the Enlightenment has brought improvement to the world.

[I and I]

The Culture Industry by Adorno is his best work.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_industry

[Bucky Ball]

As you can see, Idiot Squared's MO is to ask inane questions, NEVER ever give his opinion, until someone takes the bait, and then jumps on them.
(He's the definition of a passive-aggressive personality). But I guess if I was 50, and lived in my mom's basement, I'd act like a dork too.


meow

[Raven]

This dude makes Strodel look good in comparison. At least with him I got a good laugh out of it.

Pathetic.

[I and I]

This dude makes Strodel look good in comparison. At least with him I got a good laugh out of it.

Pathetic.:wacky:

You have never heard of Theodore Adorno?

[Optimistic Mysanthrope]

The word and it's connotations have been used by many historians. The manner in which it is commonly used is what I am referring to. Has our ways if thinking about ourselves made us better human beings?

I would say that it's how we think about others that defines if we are "better" human beings.

Also democracy and tolerance.

Democracy has been a failure in every aspect. Democracy has never been synonymous with more freedom or liberty.

Are we more tolerant today than in the past?

Some of us are, yes.