Building a Bridge to the Eighteenth Century By: Neil
Postman
Neil Postman identifies himself as a "neo-Luddite".
What bothers Postman most is the fact that the great
innovators of this time have no frame of reference
other than their own experience, and that experience
is only that of the 20th century. Advocates of trends
such as information superhighways and economic
globalization appear to know nothing of history,
philosophy and culture; they live digitally in the
hollow present.
Postman assesses different ideas in each chapter:
Chaper One: A Bridge to the Eighteenth Century
Postman heralds the accomplishments of personalities
of the 18th Century, including Goethe, Voltaire,
Rousseau, Diderot, Kant, Hume, Gibbon, Paine,
Jefferson, Franklin, Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, and
Haydn, among many others.
Chapter Two: Progress
Postman summarizes, "The idea of progress is a
product of the Enlightenment. The eighteenth century
invented itÂ… but it also criticized......
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