Wednesday, May 4, 2011

What is Enlightenment?

If I understood it correctly, I fell in love with the way Foucault attacked what we think of as "Enlightenment." If I understand it as he does, "enlightenment" is merely the rejection or the ignoring of, not necessarily what is UNreasonable (or maybe it is), but what is beyond reason. Without saying it directly, he points out the arrogance of humanity of wanting to squeeze everything within the limits of "reason."

When people thought (or think) of themselves (ourselves?) as enlightened by reason alone, was it not by reason alone that people once assumed the earth was flat? At that time, that only sounded reasonable.

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