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During this Christmas holiday, I’ve been reading Anthony Gottlieb’s breezy and enjoyable history of modern philosophy, entitled The Dream of Enlightenment.
Throughout his treatment of such figures as Descartes, Hobbes, Locke, and Voltaire, Gottlieb reveals his own rather strong bias in favor of the rationalism and anti-supernaturalism advocated by these avatars of modern thought.
To the editor:
I am in agreement with Bishop Robert Barron in part two of “Christian apologists, wake up!” In all, that is, but one point. I do not believe the Enlightenment philosophers, Voltaire, Diderot, and Spinoza, set out to undermine religion.
Each did have an encounter with the Catholic Church. Diderot had considered becoming a priest, Voltaire had been educated by the Jesuits (1704-1711).
