Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. Preface ix
4. PART ONE. The Collapse of the Modern Enlightenment
5. Chapter 1. The Contemporary Consensus 3
6. Chapter 2. The Project of Enlightenment and the Foundation of Modern Political Rationalism: Notes on Bayle and Montesquieu 13
7. Chapter 3. On the Possibility of a Return to Premodern Rationalism: Alasdair MacIntyre and Leo Strauss 45
8. PART TWO. An Introduction to the Ancient Enlightenment
9. Chapter 4. Politics and the Divine in the Ancient Community: On Thucydides’ War of the Peloponnesians and Athenians 65
10. Chapter 5. The Original Understanding of Enlightenment: On the ‘Cave’ in Plato’s Republic 107
11. Chapter 6. The Limits of Enlightenment: Aristotle’s Politics 125
12. Conclusion 187
13. Notes 195
14. References 211
15. Index 219