Counter-Enlightenment

Isaiah Berlin: +ref

← Previous revision Revision as of 19:44, 18 April 2026 Line 22: Line 22: [[File:Johann Georg Hamann (1730 –1788).jpg|left|thumb|[[Isaiah Berlin]] traces the Counter-Enlightenment back to [[J. G. Hamann]] (shown).]] [[File:Johann Georg Hamann (1730 –1788).jpg|left|thumb|[[Isaiah Berlin]] traces the Counter-Enlightenment back to [[J. G. Hamann]] (shown).]]

Berlin argues that, while there were opponents of the Enlightenment outside of Germany (e.g. [[Joseph de Maistre]]) and before the 1770s (e.g. [[Giambattista Vico]]), Counter-Enlightenment thought did not take hold until the Germans "rebelled against the dead hand of France in the realms of culture, art and philosophy, and avenged themselves by launching the great counter-attack against the Enlightenment." This German reaction to the imperialistic universalism of the French Enlightenment and Revolution, which had been forced on them first by the francophile [[Frederick II of Prussia]], then by the armies of Revolutionary France and finally by [[Napoleon]], was crucial to the shift of consciousness that occurred in Europe at this time, leading eventually to [[Romanticism]]. The consequence of this revolt against the Enlightenment was [[Pluralism (political philosophy)|pluralism]]. The opponents to the Enlightenment played a more crucial role than its proponents, some of whom were [[monists]], whose political, intellectual and ideological offspring have been ''[[terreur]]'' and [[totalitarianism]]. Berlin argues that, while there were opponents of the Enlightenment outside of Germany (e.g. [[Joseph de Maistre]]) and before the 1770s (e.g. [[Giambattista Vico]]), Counter-Enlightenment thought did not take hold until the Germans "rebelled against the dead hand of France in the realms of culture, art and philosophy, and avenged themselves by launching the great counter-attack against the Enlightenment."<ref>{{cite book|chapter=European Unity and Its Vicissitudes|first=Isaiah |last=Berlin |author-link=Isaiah Berlin |title=The crooked timber of humanity : chapters in the history of ideas|year=2013}}</ref> This German reaction to the imperialistic universalism of the French Enlightenment and Revolution, which had been forced on them first by the francophile [[Frederick II of Prussia]], then by the armies of Revolutionary France and finally by [[Napoleon]], was crucial to the shift of consciousness that occurred in Europe at this time, leading eventually to [[Romanticism]]. The consequence of this revolt against the Enlightenment was [[Pluralism (political philosophy)|pluralism]]. The opponents to the Enlightenment played a more crucial role than its proponents, some of whom were [[monists]], whose political, intellectual and ideological offspring have been ''[[terreur]]'' and [[totalitarianism]].

=== Darrin McMahon === === Darrin McMahon ===