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The Enlightenment: The Pursuit of Happiness, 1680-1790 Hardcover – February 23, 2021

by Ritchie Robertson (Author)

4.6 408 ratings

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A magisterial history that recasts the Enlightenment as a period not solely consumed with rationale and reason, but rather as a pursuit of practical means to achieve greater human happiness.

One of the formative periods of European and world history, the Enlightenment is the fountainhead of modern secular Western values: religious tolerance, freedom of thought, speech and the press, of rationality and evidence-based argument. Yet why, over three hundred years after it began, is the Enlightenment so profoundly misunderstood as controversial, the expression of soulless calculation? The answer may be that, to an extraordinary extent, we have accepted the account of the Enlightenment given by its conservative enemies: that enlightenment necessarily implied hostility to religion or support for an unfettered free market, or that this was “the best of all possible worlds”. Ritchie Robertson goes back into the “long eighteenth century,” from approximately 1680 to 1790, to reveal what this much-debated period was really about.

Robertson returns to the era’s original texts to show that above all, the Enlightenment was really about increasing human happiness – in this world rather than the next – by promoting scientific inquiry and reasoned argument. In so doing Robertson chronicles the campaigns mounted by some Enlightened figures against evils like capital punishment, judicial torture, serfdom and witchcraft trials, featuring the experiences of major figures like Voltaire and Diderot alongside ordinary people who lived through this extraordinary moment.

In answering the question 'What is Enlightenment?' in 1784, Kant famously urged men and women above all to “have the courage to use your own intellect”. Robertson shows how the thinkers of the Enlightenment did just that, seeking a well-rounded understanding of humanity in which reason was balanced with emotion and sensibility. Drawing on philosophy, theology, historiography and literature across the major western European languages, The Enlightenment is a master-class in big picture history about the foundational epoch of modern times.

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The Enlightenment declared the conviction that the goal of life was happiness, and that if this goal could be attained at all, it was to be found in the here and now, despite the manifold imperfections of earthly life.
Highlighted by 188 Kindle readers
Enlightenment is not a set of ideas but an intellectual practice for exploring the unknown.
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"Robertson’s far-flung thematic survey probes the work of philosophers and ideologues, among them Thomas Jefferson, Voltaire, and Immanuel Kant, and expertly interprets the period’s art and literature, including Samuel Richardson’s melodramatic novel Clarissa, which set all of Europe to weeping. Thanks to Robertson’s elegant prose and lucid analyses, this massive and deeply erudite work serves as a stimulating and accessible introduction to a watershed period in the intellectual development of the West." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Mr. Robertson is a splendid writer, astoundingly versed in European letters and gifted at vividly sketching the views of the 'Enlighteners.' . . . Robertson, armed with a prodigious knowledge of the Enlightenment’s literary output, has captured the tone and spirit of this milieu." — Wall Street Journal

"Robertson expands the conception of the Enlightenment from familiar topics like the scientific revolution to include areas as diverse as public administration and manners. He portrays not only well-known philosophers but also the many civil servants and functionaries, from Philadelphia to St. Petersburg, who gave practical shape to Enlightenment ideals. For Robertson, this period was ultimately “an age of feeling, sympathy and sensibility,” in which the goal was human happiness in this life." — The New Yorker

"Deeply impressive . . . bracingly eloquent narrative . . . a big, enthusiastic book." — Christian Science Monitor

“There’s a certain kind of book that defies a direct approach. It arrives on the doorstep, several inches thick, dense with learning. . . . Ritchie Robertson’s thousand-page The Enlightenment [is] a beautifully written account of a period that everyone has heard of but few pause to think about." — AirMail

"A long, thoroughly satisfying history of an era that was not solely about reason but was “also the age of feeling, sympathy and sensibility.” Robertson, a professor of German at Oxford, has clearly read all the original sources and most modern scholars and arrived at his own conclusions, which are alternately unsettling and stimulating and consistently engaging." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Distinguished German scholar Robertson has produced a monumental work on a monumental topic....indispensable for advanced students and readers of history, especially those wishing to learn more about this pivotal era." — Library Journal

"Fascinating . . . fresh and expansive.” — Booklist

About the Author

Ritchie Robertson is Professor of German at Oxford University, a fellow of the British Academy, and a lead reviewer for the Times Literary Supplement.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harper; First Edition (February 23, 2021)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 1008 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0062410652
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0062410658
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.61 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 2.27 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #322,796 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #195 in Philosophy of Logic & Language
- #2,968 in History of Philosophy & Schools of Thought
- #7,506 in World History (Books)

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William J. Bahr

Be Happy: Do pass Go, do collect $200!

Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2021

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Here you’ll find a very thick book numbering 1008 small-print pages. What could be more daunting, or in this case, more enjoyably enlightening?! I first found the book at the top of a best-seller list, checked it out of my local library, then liked it so much I just had to have my own Kindle copy (with pages corresponding nicely to the printed copy). Pop the book open at virtually any point, and you’re bound to find at least one fascinating gem of history.

At first, I thought the book might be a twin to Stephen Greenblatt’s excellent “The Swerve: How the World Became Modern.” But while Robertson’s book does mention Epicurus, Bracciolini, and Lucretius, it’s much more than that. The author circumscribes the Enlightenment as more or less happening during his “Long Century” of 1680-1790. He notes the nicely trimmed decades generally cover the period from Newton and “his” comet to the French Revolution. Other historians have the Enlightenment going from William and Mary’s Glorious Revolution of 1688 through Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo in 1815, while still others have it going from 1680 to 1700, 1750, 1760, 1789, or 1800. Regardless, Robertson’s time travel is both forward and backward in measures far beyond “The Swerve’s” 300 BC (Epicurus) to cover from 2000 BC and earlier (e.g., Abraham in ancient Egypt) and on into today’s jousting of what is and is not “fake news.”

The book’s subtitle is “The Pursuit of Happiness,” something this fan of reason and the “Child of the Enlightenment” American Founding finds intriguing. But take a “Look inside” tour of the book. Scan the chapters in the table of contents: 1. Happiness, Reason and Passion 2. The Scientific Revolution 3. Toleration 4. The Religious Enlightenment 5. Unbelief and Speculation 6. Science and Sensibility 7. Sociability 8. Practical Enlightenment. 9 Aesthetics 10. The Science of Society 11. Philosophical History 12. Cosmopolitanism 13. Forms of Government 14. Revolutions. Note especially the fine conclusion: The Battle over the Enlightenment, where the author offers hope as today’s threats to the Enlightenment can even make it stronger. And, along the way to the author’s conclusion, you’ll find him pursuing the concept of happiness from virtually every angle and point of reference. Explorations of the timeless concepts of truth, beauty, and character are all here and brought to life in outstanding examples from history, with emphasis on the explosion of ideas and human progress during the “Long Century.”

Read it all through immediately, or take your time. Bottom-line I think you’ll find the book is rich in wondrous, well-documented detail and chock-full of fascinating facts. An absolute treasure definitely worth many times more than the usual ("Monopoly") $200! Very highly recommended!

Of possible interest: George Washington’s Liberty Key: Mount Vernon’s Bastille Key – the Mystery and Magic of Its Body, Mind, and Soul , a best-seller at Mount Vernon. “Character is Key for Liberty!” and
Strategy Pure and Simple: Essential Moves for Winning in Competition and Cooperation

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Richard B. Schwartz

A Stunning Introduction to (and History of) the Subject.

Reviewed in the United States on April 16, 2021

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This is a very impressive history of the Enlightenment, dating it from shortly after the Restoration until 1790. Its subtitle is “The Pursuit of Happiness” and that is its principal theme: the Enlightenment is not an extended paean to Reason but rather an exploration of the ways in which humans strove to enhance their happiness. In some ways this is an unnecessary notion, since the attack on the Enlightenment as the systematic and exclusive glorification of reason and rationality is a silly oversimplification that no one should take seriously. Professor Robertson points this out, e.g., with regard to Adorno and Horkheimer, the Frankfurt School Marxists (who happily accepted corporate support for their unimpeded musings). The point could be made as well with regard to the French Nietzscheans who challenge the foundational elements of empirical science which undergird the Enlightenment in order to undercut truth claims and statistical evidence that countermand their Marxist/socialist dreams.

The essentials here are, by my lights, spot on—the Enlightenment emerges from English science, praised by Voltaire and promulgated on the continent by both the French and the Dutch physicians (to whom the cognoscenti often went for medical treatment as well as Newtonian ideology). There are multiple Enlightenments represented by a diverse array of countries and individuals. While the Enlightenment emerges from scientific ideology it is reinforced by aesthetics, epistemology, political philosophy, ethical/moral philosophy and a host of other intellectual and cultural strands. These are explored in extenso and if the book deserves a criticism (aside from the expected quibbles over details) it is that it reminds oneself of Johnson’s comments on PARADISE LOST. It is an impressive accomplishment of the human mind but, alas, no one ever wished it longer. We are talking about 800 or so pages of text and approximately 200 pages of dense, supporting material. The reading behind this book was massive and impressive.

I particularly enjoyed the foregrounding of the (very appropriate) thought of Samuel Johnson, would agree as to Rousseau’s unfortunate importance and was happy to see the amount of attention given to aesthetic theory. The contrasts between the American and French revolutions are just, though Professor Robertson is a tad harsh on Burke (whose thought was never more relevant than it is today), fair with regard to Hume and Gibbon and fair with regard to both the complexity and centrality of the thought of Voltaire. I might have launched a more aggressive defense of the Enlightenment vis`a vis its critics by positioning it against the enormities of the decadent romanticism in which we now continue to wallow. (A small point—the passionate asides on the titanic challenges of climate change are gratuitous and unnecessary.)

There is a little bit of toe-digging, particularly with regard to the endless debates concerning political theory and such notions as human rights, human dignity, natural rights, the search for endless peace, and so on. I (perhaps unfairly, since these are important issues) continue to turn to Wittgenstein and see the problems of philosophy as self-creations by philosophers who play endlessly with slippery language, entrapping the poor fly in the fly bottle rather than simply acknowledging nuance, sublunary reality and moving on.

Bottom line: a magnificent accomplishment, but simultaneously a long 350,000-400,000 word haul.

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Javier Cervantes

Entrega muy rápida

Reviewed in Mexico on August 31, 2023

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El libro me llegó muy rápido y en perfecto estado

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Mike

Surpassed my expectations

Reviewed in Germany on April 16, 2024

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Well written and superbly researched.

M. Ursinus

Enlightening - warmly reccommended

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 9, 2021

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The debate over the Enlightenment began with the Enlightenment itself, and it still matters. This wonderful book is both a detailed history and a contribution to that debate which all interested readers will enjoy. It is rigorously argued without being polemical, robust without being shrill, and takes a clear position without being unfair, selective or partisan. The book is wide-ranging, eminently reasonable, enjoyable, companionable and humane. All of which are, appropriately, characteristics identified by Robinson as being essential to the Enlightenment.
The Enlightenment suffers from association with stereotypes which have been present from its own beginnings and amplified since. The caricatures are instantly recognisable – this is the period of Blake’s “dark satanic mills” and Carlyle’s deluded philosophes, the origins of free-market fundamentalism and the racial ‘science’ that soothed the consciences of brutal colonisers, the point at which working men and women were reduced to components in a machine calibrated to maximise productive profits at the expense of living humanity. Well, not quite. And just as stereotypes in the real world can’t long survive contact with actual people, they prove themselves to be always incomplete and sometimes nonsensical on deep acquaintance with what was actually said, written and done, as this book demonstrates.

Significantly, Robinson takes issue with the concept of “The Age of Reason”. Reason, rationality and the questioning of established tradition were, of course, essential components of what we now call The Enlightenment. But when the Enlighteners spoke about “reason”, they were not only referring to the cold application of mathematical logic. The idea also encompassed qualities like civility, compassion, benevolence, concern for other individuals and people in general, what we would now call “being reasonable” (the adjective) rather than “logical reasoning” (the verb). When philosopher David Hume wrote that “reason is, and ought to be, the slave of the passions” – by which he meant, simply, the emotions – he was not arguing against the Enlightenment. In fact, Robinson demonstrates, he was stating one of its most important tenets. (Certain modern-day controversialists who continually, and it must be said rather emotionally, insist that they are guided by “facts not feelings” and thus pose as guardians of an Enlightenment tradition need to go back to their Hume to refresh their memory about why that’s a completely meaningless statement – but that’s another story.)

The book is excellent on the history of ideas, not only summarising the most important thinkers (Locke, Hume, Montesquieu, Diderot, the generally unsummariseable Goethe, Rousseau – who was not an Enlightener – and Voltaire, whom Robinson much prefers) but also locates them in context, detailing not only what they wrote but what was done in response to those writings. Thus there are numerous intriguing sections on the lived experience and concrete applications of the theories discussed, mostly but not exclusively collected in a chapter on “Practical Enlightenment”. We explore Enlightenment as it related to – among other things – family life and education, experimental science, medicine, trade, the environment, policing and criminal justice, law and government, agriculture and the arts. Robinson, unlike many authors, isn’t dazzled by the idea of ‘Enlightened’ aristocratic salons – he frankly admits that they sound a bit pretentious and boring – but he brings to life the much more dynamic, egalitarian and frankly much more fun atmosphere of the 18th Century coffee house. This book is as bracing and entertaining as one imagines an afternoon at Will’s or the Café Procope must have been, constantly bumping up against new ideas, new personalities, new things to learn.

So, what about the ‘dark side’ of the Enlightenment? Was it really the foundation for systematic racism and the most inhumane excesses of industrial capitalism? Robinson thinks not. First of all, the very fact that we object to those things and have a vocabulary for thinking about and expressing our objections, identify us as inheritors of Enlightenment ideas. The concepts of liberty, human rights, equality before the law and every individual’s right to pursue their own happiness, whatever that may mean for them, are absolutely rooted in that discourse. Second, it was Enlightened philosophers who first used those concepts to protest against the very conditions that the Enlightenment has been blamed for. Mary Wolstonecraft’s Vindication of the Rights of Woman still bears reading today. Robinson notes that Toussaint L’Ouverture was inspired partly by Denis Diderot’s ferocious attack on colonialism in the Histoire des Deux Indes (and a recent biography of Toussaint, by Sudir Hazareesingh, places that book at the centre of his developing political thought). This is a history book – a richly detailed and deeply insightful one – and not a political polemic, but in his concluding chapter the author confronts these issues directly and sensibly.

Weak points are difficult to identify. The illustrations in the book are mostly title pages of important publications; interesting, but I would like to have seen more images of the various charts, diagrams and what we would probably now call ‘mind maps’ which the Encyclopedists used in their gloriously over-ambitious project to organise the totality of human knowledge. These sound fascinating, although admittedly from Robinson’s description they also sound utterly unwieldy and it is difficult to see how they could be made to fit into a book like this without major alterations to the format. (The original publishers struggled.) And he does quote the bewilderingly overrated Better Angels of our Nature by Stephen Pinker in the last chapter, though fortunately none of his arguments relies on it. But this is a positively microscopic peeve. This book is warmly recommended as both deeply interesting and highly enjoyable for anyone interested in the history of ideas and why we think the way we do.

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Frederick (Madrid)

Fascinating journey in the world of reason and the hope for common happiness

Reviewed in Spain on January 29, 2021

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This book is both a delight and a challenge: it does not reduce the period of Enlightenment to a philosophical approach but rather redefines it as a significant historical wave where mankind can strive to be happy. By understanding how things work, thinkers of the time approached the world as something to preserve, protect and improve. Hence the encyclopedic efforts of Diderot et al. ramify into how such knowledge can be applied towards improving the human lot. But there is so much more... Enlightenment goes into different directions where the building stones were set for many breaks with tradition or superstition which helped society and science jump into a more modern age. And it definitely paved the way for our modern concept of the pleasure principle. We can discover the contributions of well known thinkers and lesser known ones, their confrontations, their contradictions... but above all their belief that reason can make us free, happy and by unbinding the individual could contribute to a grander scheme.
Lots of pages... not enough!

Jorg Illi

Pure Gold

Reviewed in Australia on November 7, 2022

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The book "The Enlightenment: The Pursuit of Happiness 1680-1790" by Ritchie Robertson is truly an enlightening read. The perspective from which he analyses this important era of human development is interesting, especially if one loves not only philosophy and science but also the Arts and especially Literature. It helped me to understand the development of pre- and post enlightenment thinking about humanity as a whole and as an individual and threw some important light on the development of the Romantic writers and the early Victorian authors (I'm thinking especially of Anthony Trollop's "Palliser Novels" and the description of the British palamentary elections therein) to whom I am very much beholden. Although the book is long it is worth reading every page. History at its best.

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The Enlightenment: The Pursuit of Happiness, 1680-1790 Hardcover – February 23, 2021

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