I said Lakoff didn't mention the 18th Century in his interview but of course his book's subtitle is why we can't use 18th century thinking.  On that point, I think Lakoff is looking at the Age of Enlightenment with too narrow vision, and so he was wrong to characterize the Age of Enlightenment as one that seperated reason from emotion. The 18th Century was one that questioned tradition and held up reason as the authority to decide questions not the revelation of scripture or popes or the emotion of mobs or demogogues. In that way the problem today is that we have forgotten what was good about the 18th Century, not that we are thinking like the 18th Century.  

by Gregory Wonderwheel on 06/21/2008 05:32:22 PM EST

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