The Enlightenment Archives

Transcending Race

A Review of Kenan Malik’s Not So Black and White: A History of Race from White Supremacy to Identity Politics (Hurst Publishers, 2023) Race remains one of society’s great delusions. It is modern civilisation’s most enduring superstition.…

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9 min

Philosophy

Why Is Reason Controversial?

Reason, again, is solely directed to the attainment of truth, and careless of money and reputation. In accordance with the difference of men’s natures, one of these three principles is…

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11 min

A Stout Heart: Thomas Paine and His Legacy

Tom Paine is a paradoxical figure. He was one of the great men whose fierce scribblings made an indelible mark on the course of several major events: most notably, the…

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13 min

Did the Enlightenment Endorse Slavery?

The counter-Enlightenment is alive and well. Students of the Enlightenment are often confronted by more or less crude defamations of it. Sometimes it is caricatured by postmodernists (ignorant of the…

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5 min

Politics

Enlightenment Thought: A Very Brief Primer

The controversy surrounding Steven Pinker’s latest book, Enlightenment Now, has led to a scurry of casual pronouncements on Enlightenment philosophy, some of which are misguided. While this is far too expansive…

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18 min

Features

Enlightenment Contested

Steven Pinker’s new book is drawing criticism. But is it justified?

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36 min

Features

A Manifesto Against the Enemies of Modernity

This document is very long and detailed so a brief bulleted summary is provided below for those who don’t have the hour it takes for a careful read. Modernity, in…

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17 min

Features

How French “Intellectuals” Ruined the West: Postmodernism and Its Impact, Explained

Postmodernism presents a threat not only to liberal democracy but to modernity itself. That may sound like a bold or even hyperbolic claim, but the reality is that the cluster…

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The Enlightenment

Transcending Race

Why Is Reason Controversial?

A Stout Heart: Thomas Paine and His Legacy

Did the Enlightenment Endorse Slavery?

Enlightenment Thought: A Very Brief Primer

Enlightenment Contested

A Manifesto Against the Enemies of Modernity

How French “Intellectuals” Ruined the West: Postmodernism and Its Impact, Explained

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