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/lit/ - Literature

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11127833 No.11127833[DELETED]  [Reply] [Original]

In retrospect, isnt the enlightenment overrated as fuck? Did it really solve anything aside from some scientific/technical stuff?

>> No.11127843

>>11127833

>enlightenment principles

>science and shit

>French Revolution

>behead everyone who can read or write

>behead Lavoisier, who basically discovered Oxygen and invented modern Chemistry

>and he also had sympathies with the poor of Paris and tried to help them

>and all his work was smashed setting back science decades

yeah baby gimme some of that sweet Age Of Reason

>> No.11127848

>>11127833
It was the spinchter finally giving way in humanity's push of its head up its own ass

>> No.11127858

>>11127833
The major philosophical tenants of it are flawed and most intellectuals of the movement were socialites, far removed from tangible reality.
Voltaire for instance. He was an urbanite fool, who dismissed Quebec and other North American holdings as "a few acres of snow".
They laid the groundwork for relativism and post modernism and other retard tier philosophies. The liberal pluralistic west and its dysfunctions are their hellspawn.

>> No.11127876

>>11127833

If you want the time-honoured answer to the whole "let's just be uber-rational" thing, Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France is what you're looking for.

>> No.11127881
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11127881

>>11127833
Worse still, it has duped humanity and lead us into an entitled darkness lit only by the worship of false idols.

>> No.11127889

Samuel Johnson is the only worthwhile Enlightenment figure.

>> No.11127891

>>11127848
no better description possible

>> No.11127929

Someone brought up Quebec. Quebec is France without the Enlightenment, the Revolution. Is that what you want?

>> No.11127972

>>11127929
I would rather just exterminate the Jacobins utterly and go back to the days of the Church and the aristocracy.

>> No.11128042

>>11127833
In terms of philosophical or societal progress, it's debatable, but on a personal level I've found it incredibly helpful. The idea that you can take anything in existence and break it down into smaller chunks to find the best course of action is amazing. The sense that all things run together in an unbroken chain of logic that will still guide you when your emotions and instincts fail. There's a quote out there that goes like "If you can alleviate the problem, do so; If not, accept it". From there, you can divide further still until you know how to handle all of your issues, and minimize the pointless fretting and dead ends that our minds end up in otherwise. I understand this is largely a Stoic thing too, but the Enlightenment has contributed a lot to it and it's wonderful that it has.

>> No.11128155

>>11127833
It was basically an excuse to LARP as historical figures. They were counter to any principles or philosophy espoused.

>> No.11128208

>>11127833
>isnt the enlightenment overrated as fuck?
No. The passion for knowledge that characterized them (think Diderot's encyclopedie) is admirable and their legal thought is the most advanced the world has ever known. Only trad christians and LARPers are butthurt about the enlightenment.

>> No.11128214

>>11127881
>oy vey pierre, you gotta do what you're told because it's written in the Bible

>> No.11128243

>>11128208
You fell for their propaganda. Look up the place where Voltaire was buried.