THE ENLIGHTENMENT THAT FAILED. RADICAL ENLIGHTENMENT AND THE CHALLENGE OF MODERNITY
Jonathan Israel
Princeton University
Committed enlighteners looking back on the history of the Enlightenment from the perspective of the early nineteenth century tended to agree that the Enlightenment as a broad program of social, political and educational amelioration had failed so far and after the initial success of the American Revolution (1775-83) met with nothing but setbacks and reverses. Nevertheless, the political leaders, journalists and publicists of the late Enlightenment mostly trusted that somehow the goals of the Enlightenment by which they meant better and more representative political institutions, a fair social system, less religious authority and maximum personal and social freedom, would ultimately be achieved in the future. Whether or not they were right about this, it is striking that they remained deeply divided even at this late stage into moderate and radical streams and that the two wings of the Enlightenment continued to clash at many levels.
Jonathan Israel is a British writer on Dutch history, the Age of Enlightenment and European Jewry. Israel was appointed the Modern European History Professor in the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey, U.S. in January 2001. He was previously Professor of Dutch History and Institutions at the University of London and is one of the world’s leading historians of the Enlightenment.
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