Published in two volumes (1876 and 1881), this encyclopedic work championed rationalism and led the Victorian revolt against social orthodoxy. Tracing religious thought from 1688 to 1750, Stephen reviews the Deist controversy and the intuitional and utilitarian schools. His wide-angle lens creates a portrait of a turbulent century—including thinkers such as Locke, Hume, Rousseau, and Burke, among many more.
Om författaren
Sir Leslie Stephen (1832-1904) was a British biographer, journalist, literary critic, and avid mountaineer. His works include The Playground of Europe (1871), Essays on Free Thinking and Plain Speaking (1873), The Utilitarians (1900), and biographies of Johnson, Pope, Swift, Eliot, and Hobbes. He was the father of Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell.