Paura e meraviglia. Storie filosofiche del XVIII secolo

The essays collected here examine the role of fear and wonder as conceptualized within the context of 18th-century philosophical histories. These theories prepared critiques of beliefs and testimonies, proposed conjectures where facts could not provide interpretations, and applied comparisons where the assumption of the equality of human nature intersected with and conflated the diversity among peoples and men. In this regard, those who wrote philosophical histories in the 18th century exhibited a tendency to oscillate between intellectual unscrupulousness and cultural-historical bias. Nevertheless, the intellectual and philosophical unscrupulousness that characterizes his thought coexists with a devaluing and pessimistic conception of the other. However, perhaps it is precisely such peculiar coexistences that offer the opportunity to revisit that era that was so pivotal in Western thought and, despite everything, remains so relevant, namely the Enlightenment.