The Birth of the Modern Mind: The Intellectual History of the 17th and 18th Centuries

By: Alan Charles Kors, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Alan Charles Kors

Revolutions in thought (as opposed to those in politics or science) are in many ways the most far-reaching of all. They affect how we grant legitimacy to authority, define what is possible, create standards of right and wrong, and even view the potential of human life. Between 1600 and 1800, such a revolution of the intellect seized Europe, shaking the minds of the continent as few things before or since. What we now know as the Enlightenment challenged previously accepted ways of understanding reality, bringing about modern science, representative democracy, and a wave of wars, sparking what Professor Kors calls, "perhaps the most profound transformation of European, if not human, life."

In this series of 24 insightful lectures, you'll explore the astonishing conceptual and cultural revolution of the Enlightenment. You'll witness in its tumultuous history the birth of modern thought in the dilemmas, debates, and extraordinary works of the 17th and 18th-century mind, as wielded by the likes of thinkers like Bacon, Descartes, Hobbes, Pascal, Newton, Locke, Hume, Voltaire, Diderot, and Rousseau.

And you'll understand why educated Europeans came to believe that they had a new understanding - of thought and the human mind, of method, of nature, and of the uses of knowledge - with which they could come to know the world correctly for the first time in human history, and with which they could rewrite the possibilities of human life.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©1998 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)1998 The Great Courses

exceptional presentation of complex subtle ideas.

Nothing is lacking. I wish every person under 30 would listen to this work! We need more deep thought.

loved the book. gave me eye opening moments

must read specialy if you are/were not a philosophy or history major ... for it provides a great insight about human evolution u would miss otherwise

Simply the Best

I have listened to dozens of Teaching Company courses. All of them are excellent but this one is simply outstanding. The professor is not incredibly knowledgeable, he teaches in an enthusiastic yet evenhanded style that makes the material compelling. Highly recommended.

Too Much Religion

True, the lectures cover history, and religion was part of the period, but it does not belong in a lecture series on enlightenment since it was THE obstruction, and an intellectual dead end. Otherwise there is a lot of good stuff here. He clarifies what ontology and epistemology are, no small task, since I had found no clear explanations anywhere yet.
Narration-wise, you will need to get used to the Jersey City accent (I just pictured an loving but overbearing Jewish aunt behind it)...

Superb.

I’ve had this course in my library for over ten years; I keep going back to it and I learn something new each time. It’s important to understand, as Dr.Kors explains in the first lecture, that this is not a course in philosophy, it is a course in intellectual history, he’s not discussing philosophy, he’s exploring the intellectual and cultural forces that brought these thinkers to write what they did, and the effects of their writings on the world of the time. This is why religion, particularly Christianity, is so prominent. The Enlightenment was an intellectual revolt against Aristotelian Christianity and its received wisdom. You can’t talk about a revolt without understanding what the revolution was about.

Nor does he neglect the “natural philosophers” scientists, who drove the empiricism of the Enlightenment, Kepler’s dogged astronomy, Galileo’s physics, Descartes’ geometry and above all,
Newton. (The story of how Newton had figured out the laws of gravity, but then lost them is almost reason enough to listen to this course.

Kors is a brilliant, entertaining, and enthusiastic lecturer (and to those who quibble about his voice, pfui: the man is from Jersey City his accent is charming. I suspect much of this complaining is about his slight lateral thrust speech impediment, but I say pfui, again: would you have him fake an Oxbridge drawl? Nonsense in the strictest meaning of the word). He loved his subject, and taught it brilliantly. Don’t miss this course!

Great way to understand modernity<br />

Totally helped me understand the breaks from antiquity, and how and why our founding fathers thought and established this county upon its ideals.

The best great courses course i've heard so far!!

For me, the best course i've heard so far!
A lot of useful information. Professor Alan's delivery is exceptional!

Clear and complete

It's a clear, accessible and complete vision of the history of western thinking in the XVII and XVIII centuries. I found it very helpful.

Fascinating Period, Brilliantly Explained

I purchased "The Birth of the Modern Mind" after being captivated by Professor Kors lectures on Voltaire. There is a little overlap with Voltaire of course, but even more helpful was the clear and fascinating description of what came before and what evolved in the 17th and 18th Centuries. Development of ideas, thought, science, big questions of religion and philosophy of the times are accessible through the professor's enthusiastic and knowledgeable presentation.

As in his Great Courses book on Voltaire, each half-hour lecture is dense with information, but easy to understand. Each lecture is an excellent companion to a walk on a nice day. And as I mentioned in my review of the Voltaire, Prof. Kors has a distinctive style of talking and accent, so much at first you might go, "oh, I'm not sure I can listen to this" - but that enthusiasm, passion, and humor makes him come alive as if you were sitting in a favorite professor's classroom. Give him a chance if you are at all interested in the history of thought, ideas, and many of the issues that still fuel our modern day discussions of truth, faith, intellect and science.

Good Enough

Good enough for a free audiobook offered though the premium membership on here. At this point I’ve listened to maybe two dozen Great Courses audiobook, and it’s clear many of them have a clear Christian biases, or at least the lecturers do. The Great Courses program seems to be aimed more towards a Christian audience. That aside, this course was pretty solid and rather informative, yet still questionable in certain parts due to the bias aforementioned.