Radical Enlightenment rests on the conviction that everything can in theory be understood
Evidence
The defining principle of Radical Enlightenment is the conviction that there is nothing that — in theory if not in fact — cannot be understood. This was the belief animating Spinoza’s philosophy, which, Israel argues, provided the foundations upon which Radical Enlightenment would grow. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 1926
Categorization
- DEFINE: Defines the operative meaning of ‘Radical Enlightenment’ that anchors the whole argument of this section.
- XREF: connects to: Radical Enlightenment critique targets religion rather than reason itself; All understanding is necessarily reductive abstraction; Renouncing access to everything is the price of coherent thought — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory: Nations, Classes, Literatures, 427 (+1 more)
Broader Connections
- Radical Enlightenment critique targets religion rather than reason itself
#qualifies(0.78) - All understanding is necessarily reductive abstraction
#complicates(0.74) - Renouncing access to everything is the price of coherent thought
#complicates(0.72) — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory, 427 - A theory’s universality is shown by its capacity to illuminate new concrete situations.
#qualifies(0.71) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 812