BOOK REVIEW
THE ENLIGHTENMENT VISION
By Stuart Jordan (2012 Prometheus Books)

The Enlightenment was an ethically secular and humanistic intellectual movement that swept through Europe and America from the mid-seventeenth century. Using the twin weapons of science and reason, it sought to improve life for everyone through the optimistic adoption of universal values such as freedom, equality, democracy and individuality. It launched the modern world as we know it today.

This volume is an evaluation of the validity, feasibility, success and prospect of the Enlightenment vision. Jordan's verdict is that the goals of Enlightenment are the correct ones but the surprising delay to their realization is caused by widespread ignorance of things already established and well-known but not properly transmitted. Since all reality is amenable to scientific investigation, all we need is more research in order to complete our human knowledge.

Since science is the investigation of the natural world through a process of imagination, observation, experimentation and rational thought, it will yield reliable knowledge about the probable outcomes of human action and guide our choices for the maximization of human welfare. That way, scientific knowledge can help to inform our ethics.

So far, Enlightenment's successes are many including the increased general well-being in most parts of the world, the advent of valuable technologies and the advances in democracy and human rights. On the other hand, the unjust economic distribution of wealth, the use of destructive technology and the damaged ecosystem tell us that the vision still has some way to go.

To the author, the eventual achievement of the vision's goals can by hastened by reforming education. Instead of providing mere training for the masses and reserving genuine education for the elites, all citizens should be given the opportunity to develop their capacity for critical thinking. He believes that our strong human survival instincts will drive us to make the right choices including the rejection of superstitions and unreasonable religious beliefs.