Authors: Daniel Chirot
Publish Date: 2008/03/27
Volume: 45, Issue: 3, Pages: 257-259
Abstract
Sandall’s complaint that the Enlightenment is in danger is not new as it repeats a long standing complaint about “the betrayal of the intellectuals” But the danger today is not from either the Muslim world or from the marginalized academics who pursue an antiliberal multicultural agenda that belittles the Western liberal tradition In the United States the menace comes from the much more powerful far right that has abandoned America’s Enlightenment tradition It is time for academics to start teaching students what that tradition is all about and why it needs to be defended but spreading fear about weak and divided Muslim societies is not the way
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