"Enlightenment" is such a nice word. It's important to remember that it took time for the various strands of the enlightenment to coalesce. Case in point:
“Every good Prince ought by Gods commandment to punish even by death all such as do seek to seduce the people of God from his true worship.”
- Isaac Newton, c. 1688
However, as the blog post linked above notes, Newton's real target and intent is not entirely straightforward. It's an interesting read.
Friday, January 20, 2012
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
"When you are right you have a moral duty to impose your will upon anyone who disagrees with you."
ReplyDeleteTorquemada
IB (no relation)
Newton was also an alchemist and an occultist, who gathered all sorts of chemicals and rare substances in his experiments to transform one element into another. His hair gathered unusual amounts of magnesium in the process of his experiments, which may have altered his brain - who knows?
ReplyDeleteThe man also spent hours gazing at symbols in Jerusalem, trying to crack some secret code in them.
He was, as Keynes said, more of the age of fanciful mystics and less of the age of sterile rationalists.