Power, Morals, and the Founding Fathers: Essays in the Interpretation of the American Enlightenment

1962 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 124
Author(s):  
J. Russell Wiggins ◽  
Adrienne Koch

1962 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 213
Author(s):  
Joseph Milton Nance ◽  
Adrienne Koch


Author(s):  
Mugambi Jouet

Millions of Americans are extraordinarily uninformed. This problem is often blamed on the poor quality of public schools, yet it largely stems from a peculiar conception of education rooted in America’s exceptional history. The birth of modern democracy in America fostered a populist mindset equating education with elitism. Although the Founding Fathers were learned men of the American Enlightenment, many 18th and 19th century Americans became convinced that common sense and folk wisdom were sufficient to succeed. Anti-intellectualism became particularly influential in the South, the nation’s poorest region. Conversely, education has been less associated with elitism in France and other European countries. This helps explain why modern America is sharply polarized, as the U.S. political debate reached astonishing levels of demagogy, propaganda, and disinformation well before Trump’s rise. Spurred by the Tea Party, Republicans routinely made ludicrous claims about Obama’s fake birth certificate and Islamism, “socialized medicine,” “death panels,” the “hoax” of climate change, the federal government’s “tyranny,” and other conspiracy theories. Such political extremism thrives on the ignorance, irrationality, and gullibility promoted by anti-intellectualism. Extremism in contemporary Europe is far less mainstream and more focused on immigration, the main concern of nativist far-right European parties.



2016 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 175-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Kidd

ABSTRACTOriginalist jurisprudence, which enjoins a faithful adherence to the values enshrined in the late eighteenth-century Constitution, has become a prominent feature of contemporary American conservatism. Recovering the original meaning of the Constitution is far from straightforward, and raises major issues of historical interpretation. How far do the assumed historical underpinnings of originalist interpretation mesh with the findings of academic historians? To what extent has the conservative invocation of the Founding Fathers obscured a lost American Enlightenment? Nor is ‘tradition’ in American Constitutional law an unproblematic matter. How far does a desire to restore the original meaning of the Constitution ignore the role of ‘stare decisis’ (precedent) in America's common law heritage? It transpires, moreover, that the various schemes of historical interpretation in American Constitutional jurisprudence do not map easily onto a simple liberal–conservative divide.





Author(s):  
Ian Sabroe ◽  
Phil Withington

Francis Bacon is famous today as one of the founding fathers of the so-called ‘scientific revolution’ of the seventeenth century. Although not an especially successful scientist himself, he was nevertheless the most eloquent and influential spokesperson for an approach to knowledge that promised to transform human understanding of both humanity and its relationship with the natural and social worlds. The central features of this approach, as they emerged in Bacon’s own writings and the work of his protégés and associates after 1605, are equally well known. They include the importance of experiment, observation, and a sceptical attitude towards inherited wisdom (from the ‘ancients’ in general and Aristotle in particular).



1985 ◽  
Vol 24 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 211-234
Author(s):  
Syed Nawab Haider Naqvi

For development economists these arc the days of great expectations. Development economics as a discipline, born only three decades ago, has come to stay, notwithstanding the threats to its existence issued openly by such friends as Schultz [63], Bauer [2], Little [44], and Lal [39]. New theoretical constructs have been devised and novel empirical studies done to comprehend better the forces of change in developing countries. While of late there may not have been great festivity in the realm of ideas, the force of circumstances has widened the problem canvas of development economics and has opened up new vistas for economists to explore- much beyond the expectations of its founding fathers. Also notwithstanding the great diversity in the experience of individual countries, development economists may legitimately draw some comfort from the thought that their ideas have changed the developing world for the better.



2020 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-27
Author(s):  
Taniya Hussain

This article addresses the problem of defining the terms ‘secularism’ and ‘religion’ and the difficulty of accepting the strict separation of religion from politics that some say is needed for a truly secular society. It offers a ‘relationship model’ for religion that sees it as the practice of balancing the responsibilities arising from the relationships between oneself, God, fellow human and living beings and the environment. Examining the attitudes of the Founding Fathers of European secularism, it argues that secular society can only exist if we face the shadows of our colonial past and the literalist theological narrative which is quickly being digested within some Muslim communities. This narrative and how it is affecting Muslim communities in Europe, as well as the shadows of the colonial past, pose a danger to secular society and affects all communities across Europe and these are conversations that need to be held.





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