![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() In Enlightenment Now, the Harvard cognitive scientist Steven Pinker defends those ideals, arguing that "we can apply reason and sympathy to enhance human flourishing." He also worries that many of us take for granted the Enlightenment ideals and institutions that have made our relatively peaceful and prosperous world possible. This is usually translated as "Dare to know" or, more loosely, "Have the courage to use your own understanding." Enlightenment thinking engendered liberal democracies, civil liberties, free markets, religious toleration, and free speech it helped us move out of the abject poverty, pervasive violence, and appalling ignorance that marked most of human history. Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress, by Steven Pinker, Viking, 556 pages, $35 Vikingįor Immanuel Kant, the central theme of the Enlightenment-that great 18th century movement that emphasized the power of reason-was Sapere aude. ![]()
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