Description
Book SynopsisWith the same sense of historical responsibility and veracity he has exemplified in his studies on Voltaire, Ira O. Wade turns now to Voltaire's milieu and begins an account of the French Enlightenment which will explain its genesis, its nature and coherence, and its diffusion in the modern world. To understand the movement of ideas that produced t
Table of Contents*Frontmatter, pg. i*Contents, pg. vii*Introduction, pg. ix*1. The Changing Picture of the Enlightenment, pg. 3*2. Some Attempts at Definition, pg. 15*3. Theories on the Origins of the Enlightenment, pg. 28*4. The Challenge of the Renaissance, pg. 61*5. The Response of Renaissance Man, pg. 77*6. The Conditions of Baroque Thought, pg. 131*7. The Intellectual Response of Baroque Man, pg. 169*8. The Conditions of French Classicism, pg. 349*9. Travel Fiction and the Drive for Continuity, pg. 361*10. Two Classical Free-Thinkers, pg. 392*11. The Structuring of Enlightenment Attitudes, pg. 418*Conclusion: The Making of a Spirit, pg. 644*Bibliography, pg. 661*Index, pg. 669
