For Immanuel Kant, the central theme of the Enlightenment—that great 18th century movement that emphasized the power of reason—was Sapere aude. This is usually translated as "Dare to know" or, more ...

David Hume, the pre-eminent Enlightenment philosopher, was born in Edinburgh in 1711. There he lived for many years, and there he died, perhaps the most famous Scot in history. It was thus ...

On Sunday, David Brooks discussed theories of the French and Scottish Enlightenments and their relevance to contemporary American politics. In his definitions, he lumped Edmund Burke with Scottish ...

Most people would agree that progress is a good thing, and few would deny that there has been extraordinary progress over the course of human history, or that human existence has improved in ...

Log-in to bookmark & organize content - it's free! Author Sophia Rosenfeld discussed the role that truth played in Enlightenment thinking and the development of early democracies. Author Sophia ...

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. As it turns out, The Enlightenment is the name given to The Thinker's plot to "reboot" human ...

Why is Christian Science in our name? Our name is about honesty. The Monitor is owned by The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and we’ve always been transparent about that. The church publishes the ...

A principled approach to polemics requires that the arguments of an opponent be presented accurately. The fact that you are unable to do this, that you feel compelled to mislead and misrepresent—in ...

Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations," published in 1776, advocated for a free market economy driven by competition and self-interest. Smith argued against mercantilism and government intervention, ...

In “The Coronavirus Pandemic Will Forever Alter the World Order” (op-ed, April 4), Henry Kissinger asks us to “safeguard the principles of the liberal world order,” by which he means “Enlightenment ...

Although the Enlightenment revolutionized human thought and transformed the world, it failed to produce a coherent theory of knowledge. The central reason is that the modernist systems of science and ...