Posted on 05/06/2008 12:08:32 PM PDT by EveningStar
I would have thought the phrase "evil of Western Civilization" would have clewed you to that "the idea of the “noble savage” " was not an Enlightenment concept
It came from Rousseau who was
Stein: When we just saw that man, I think it was Mr. Myers [i.e. biologist P.Z. Myers], talking about how great scientists were, I was thinking to myself the last time any of my relatives saw scientists telling them what to do they were telling them to go to the showers to get gassed … that was horrifying beyond words, and that’s where science — in my opinion, this is just an opinion — that’s where science leads you.
Sheesh what did Voltaire ever do to you, other than tell you
It rests entirely with you to learn to think. You're born with a mind. You are a bird in the cage of the Inquisition: the Holy Office has clipped your wings, but they can grow back. Whoever doesn't know geometry can learn it; every man can tutor himself: it's shameful to put your soul in the hands of those to whom you'd never trust your money. _Dare to think for yourself. - Voltaire Freedom of Thought
I cite wiki (when I agree with it) because it's a readily available source, not because I consider it Sola scriptura .
And if you have bothered to read further you may have been troubled by
When Rousseau became known as a theorist of education and child-rearing, his abandonment of his children was used by enemies, including Voltaire, to attack him. In his defense, Rousseau explained he would have been a poor father and that the children would have a better life at the foundling home.
OK I can see where Traditionalist and their Romatic/post-Modernist allies have a problem with that.
Although they are two of the most famous of the great French philosophes, Rousseau and Voltaire hated each other (for good reason)
To return the topic to the Steinway, I recommend John Derbyshire where he quotes Voltaire's review of Rousseau's The Social Contract
I have received your new book against the human race, and thank you for it. Never was such a cleverness used in the design of making us all stupid. One longs, in reading your book, to walk on all fours. But as I have lost that habit for more than sixty years, I feel unhappily the impossibility of resuming it. Nor can I embark in search of the savages of Canada, because the maladies to which I am condemned render a European surgeon necessary to me; because war is going on in those regions; and because the example of our actions has made the savages nearly as bad as ourselves.
On Voltaire and Rousseau I'm also with Derbyshire: I like the Enlightenment, and consider "Voltaire was, like most of us, very far from perfect; but he was a much better, much more admirable man than any of those who hated him."
Fun fact: Voltaire was educated at "Louis-le-Grande", a Jesuit college in Paris, whereas Rousseau was home-schooled
--www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=daily&id=expelled.htm
Voltaire was a typical elitist. He thought the masses should be ruled by "enlightened" despots advised of course by "philosopher kings" like himself.
Of the Jews, Voltaire wrote, "They are, all of them, born with raging fanaticism in their hearts, just as the Bretons and the Germans are born with blond hair. I would not be in the least bit surprised if these people would not some day become deadly to the human race," and "''You have surpassed all nations in impertinent fables, in bad conduct and in barbarism. You deserve to be punished, for this is your destiny."
The line from the "Enlightenment" to "Deutschland Erwache" is a straight one, from Kant to Fichte and Hegel, and from Hegel to Marx and Hitler.
Sounds like you may be more comfortable with what came before the enlightenment, like the Inquisition.
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