The OED's "e/Enlilghtenment, sense 2

Joel S. Berson Berson at ATT.NET
Thu Sep 9 15:43:28 UTC 2010


Jesse,

Do the editors still maintain just the single
definition of "Enlightenment" with a capital E of
the 1933 and 1989 editions?  Namely (quoting 1989):

"2. Sometimes used [after Ger. Aufklärung,
Aufklärerei] to designate the spirit and aims of
the French philosophers of the 18th c., or of
others whom it is intended to associate with them
in the implied charge of shallow and pretentious
intellectualism, unreasonable contempt for tradition and authority, etc."

With just two quotations:

1865 J. H. STIRLING Secret of Hegel p. xxvii,
Deism, Atheism, Pantheism, and all manner of isms
due to Enlightenment. Ibid. p. xxviii, Shallow
Enlightenment, supported on such
semi-information, on such weak personal vanity,
etc. 1889 CAIRD Philos. Kant I. 69 The
individualistic tendencies of the age of Enlightenment.

Seems a bit disparaging.

Joel

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