Not by Reason Alone

Interweaving political, religious, and historical themes, "Not By Reason Alone" reinterprets early modern thought. Rather than assuming that it is founded upon the primacy of reason, Mitchell argues that the thought of Luther, Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau is an attempt to locate politics within an authoritative history that cannot be grasped by reason alone. Devoting an extensive chapter to each of these four figures, Mitchell demonstrates that reason's deference to faith (Luther), to revelation (Hobbes and Locke), or to the wisdom of the heart (Rousseau) must be placed at the centre of our effort to understand the early modern project. In this view, early modern thinking is not seen as bending toward either an ephemeral foundationalism or a destructive anti-foundationalism.