Includes bibliographical references (pages 224-239) and index
Julie Candler Hayes surveys the past fifty years of philosophical reflection on the Enlightenment, and takes issue both with traditional liberal and with contemporary critical accounts. Through close analysis of philosophical, scientific, and literary texts, she emphasizes the urgency of maintaining a dialogue between past and present, Enlightenment and modernity
Introduction: the critique of systematic reason -- 'Système': origins and itineraries -- The epistolary machine -- Physics and figuration in Du Châtelet's Institutions de physique -- Condillac and the identity of the other -- Diderot: changing the system -- Conclusion: Labyrinths of Enlightenment
