Two Revolutions and Enlightenment Legacies

Emanuel Leutze, Washington Crossing the Delaware (1851)

In the penultimate chapter of his book The Enlightenment, Ritchie Robertson turns to the subject of revolutions, specifically the American and French revolutions. Robertson writes that these revolutions “might be seen as the climax of this book. Both, after all, famously invoked the ideal of human happiness.” [p. 706]

Making History, Enlightenment Style

Jean Huber, Voltaire Presiding at a Dinner of Philosophers (18th C.) (Numbered in ink: 1 Voltaire, 2 Père Adam. 3 L’Abbé Mauri. 4 D’Alembert. 5 Condorcet./ 6 Diderot. 7 Lah/arpe)

One of the epigrams for Richard Cohen’s book Making History is Hilary Mantel’s observation that “[b]eneath every history, there is another history—there is, at least, the life of the historian.” There is much in Robertson’s chapter, “Philosophical History,” from his book The Enlightenment, that bears out that statement.

Vain Hope!

Jacques Bertaux, “The storming of the Tuileries Palace on 10 August 1792” (1793)

“Vain hope! The moral possibility is lacking, and a moment so prodigal of opportunity finds a generation unprepared to receive it.”—Friedrich Schiller

A recent Times Literary Supplement opened with a review by Ritchie Robertson entitled “Liberty in danger: The failure of enlightened hopes.” Within it, Robertson offers the observation that the French Revolution “did not bring freedom because the people conducting it were not free.” [TLS, 2/2/24, p.4]

“A new knowledge of reality”

“It was like/A new knowledge of reality”—Wallace Stevens

Caspar David Friedrich, Wanderer above the Sea of Fog (1817)

Ritchie Robinson begins his chapter on the Enlightenment’s approach to aesthetics with the phrase, “[c]onsistent with its emphasis on happiness.” [p. 464] Funnily enough, I have found little addressing the “pursuit of happiness” that forms the subtitle of his book. And just when I think Robertson might be embarking on a demonstration of that pursuit, it morphs.

Human Sensibility, Enlightenment-Style

Taking up where I left off, the thing is, Hume had some blind spots (understatement). It also bears mentioning that when he wrote A Treatise on Human Nature he was in his twenties.