The Enlightenment by Roy Porter



The Enlightenment by Roy Porter

Information of the Book

Porter, R., “the enlightenment”, Palgrave: New York, (2001).

Reason for Choosing the Book

I have chosen this book because it directly relates to the subject of history. The age of enlightenment was the most significant era of the European history. It has discussed the ideals of enlightenments such as freedom of religion, freedom of speech, critical thinking, and importance of science, progress and reasoning. These elements still shapes the functions of the modern society. Moreover, it has expressed the fight against tyranny, power and injustice done to the labors, which were the founding pillars of French revolution. Apart from this, this book has also explored the impact and the complex turning points of the French revolution.

Why Not Other Books

The reason for not choosing other books is the complexity of the subject matter of those books. The enlightenment by Roy Porter is not only brief but, it has undoubtedly summarized the events of history flawlessly. Moreover, other books heavily emphasize on the writer's perceptions. However, in this book, the author has focused on the facts and gave clear in-text citations about the sources of information, which makes the information authenticated.

Book Review

Topic

The topic of the book is “the enlightenment” which is also called as the age of reason. The writer has briefly explained the causes of enlightenment which are tyranny, oppression, power and ignorance of that age. He has further discussed the goal of man by arguing that attributes such as love, pride; desire and ambition are not destructive. Human beings are not animals who want to satisfy the appetites. Therefore, enlightenment thinkers must focus on “the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people”.

Contents

What was the Enlightenment?

In this section, the writer has described what enlightenment means to him. He has also discussed the view of different authors on the topic of enlightenment. According to him enlightenment means to move away from ignorance and error. It is the state of mental liberation in which the man understands the nature and himself due to the advancement of knowledge.

The Goal: A Science of Man

Porter says that goal of man is to meet his desires, purpose and wishes. He argues with the traditional preachers who say that thinking about “self” and “pleasure” is selfish and sinful, respectively. He further says that a philosopher should think about the happiness of the humanity rather than focusing on the happiness of one class of society (p.16). Every man has desires for pleasures whether he belongs to any class of the society.

The Politics of Enlightenment

The writer has explained the complexities of enlightenment in this section. He has explained the root of religious ideas and rights of individuals in that regard. The author has further explained the importance of social order and hierarchy in the political system, provided that the individual rights are not violated. He says that a pure secular order cannot be established in an enlightened society because individuals are aware of their needs and ...