ENGLISH

Limits of Optimism: Thomas Jefferson's Dualistic Enlightenment

By Maurizio Valsania

Book information

Publisher
University of Virginia Press
Year
2012
ISBN
0813931444, 9780813931449
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
796 kB (814811 bytes)
Pages
224\219
Time added
2021-04-17 16:05:04

Description

The Limits of Optimism works to dispel persistent notions about Jefferson's allegedly paradoxical and sphinx-like quality. Maurizio Valsania shows that Jefferson's multifaceted character and personality are to a large extent the logical outcome of an anti-metaphysical, enlightened, and humility-oriented approach to reality. That Jefferson's mind and priorities changed over time and in response to changing circumstances indicates neither incoherence, hypocrisy, nor pathology. Valsania's reading of Jefferson, the Enlightenment, and negativity helps to make sense of the many paradoxes typically associated with that eighteenth-century thinker. At the same time, it provides a corrective to the common though erroneous equation of Enlightenment thinking with rationalism and shallow optimism.

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