What is (The) Enlightenment? In conversation with Jonathan Clark

Nick Spencer speaks with Historian Jonathan Clark

The Enlightenment has become weaponised over recent years. Numerous public figures, not all of them historians, have lined up to state defiantly that it needs protecting from… postmodernity? populism? religion?… take your pick.

But what is - or was - The Enlightenment? What are we being called to defend here? Is The Enlightenment actually a thing? Was it even “a thing” in the first place? And if not, when did we start talking about it, and why?

Purchase a copy of Jonathan's book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Enlightenment-Idea-Its-History/dp/0198916280