The Dream of Enlightenment: The Rise of Modern Philosophy (Review)

I sought out “Dream of the Enlightenment” because I wanted a better understanding of how the Enlightenment Era influenced the philosophy of the Founding Fathers and the structures that came to shape the early United States. This book seemed like a good primer on the subject—particularly given that I have scarcely considered these philosophers since college. Anthony Gottlieb discussed the following individuals:

1. René Decartes
2. Thomas Hobbes
3. Baruch Spinoza
4. John Locke
5. Pierre Bayle
6. Gottfried Leibniz
7. David Hume
8. Voltaire
9. Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Gottlieb devoted a chapter to each individual, though Bayle’s section was a brief interlude, and Voltaire and Rousseau were mere mentions in the final and summarizing chapter. I found the book worthwhile and interesting, but I would have welcomed the author turning this 300-page book into a longer tome. “Dream of the Enlightenment” provides a strong skeleton with a bit of tissue, and it is a good read for anyone wanting a big-picture look at the famed thinkers who represent the era. But the book is in many ways a teaser to read more about the individuals—either their own writings or biographies—to better understand their lives.

In Ron Chernow’s introduction to Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr, he noted that past biographies of Rockefeller failed to synthesize his life into a fully embodied picture of who he was and how his personal life shaped his work. As I read Dream of the Enlightenment, I found myself wanting more about the philosophers’ personal lives and how the experiences shaped their thinking. To be clear, this was not Gottlieb’s objective; the book is a primer on the beliefs of the individual thinkers and how they fit together in the nebulous Enlightenment Era. I only offer this observation to provide clear expectations for Gottleib’s book. It is more textbook—albeit an engaging one—than a collection of brief biographies.

As it relates to my original objective of better understanding on how the Enlightenment Era philosophers affected the thinking of the Founding Fathers, Gottleib spent plenty of time discussing the political ideas of the day. Yet Gottleib’s summary of the Enlightenment as a whole is likely more telling about how the Era fits together with the development of America’s republic. He offered the following conclusion toward the end of his book:

“It has become common to gather all manner of broadly progressive thinkers, from many corners of the world, into a somewhat nebulous intellectual movement. A typical anthology of Enlightenment texts includes some authors who were born in the late 1500s and others who were still alive in the 1830s. The bloated conception of the Enlightenment makes it all too easy to misjudge the thinkers concerned.”

My sense of the Enlightenment’s influence on the Founding Fathers is that there was influence and effect, but—like the philosophers covered in Gottleib’s book—it is important not to overstate the connection as something concrete and responsible for came to pass. Instead, it seems more like an idea for further exploration. This is perhaps appropriate given a reoccurring theme in Dream of the Enlightenment: think clearly with reason and continue exploring. If this is a task you enjoy and you are not already well-versed in the Enlightenment Era, then I think you’ll also enjoy Gottleib’s book.