"Counter-Enlightenment" meaning in English

See Counter-Enlightenment in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: Counter-Enlightenments [plural]
Etymology: From counter- + Enlightenment. Etymology templates: {{prefix|en|counter|Enlightenment}} counter- + Enlightenment Head templates: {{en-noun}} Counter-Enlightenment (plural Counter-Enlightenments)
  1. Any of various strains of thought in opposition to the Enlightenment or its ideals.
    Sense id: en-Counter-Enlightenment-en-noun-lZP9Gtuy Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English terms prefixed with counter-, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries

Inflected forms

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          "ref": "2018, Steven Pinker, “Chapter 3: Counter-Enlightenments”, in Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress, Penguin, →ISBN:",
          "text": "Indeed, a common criticism of the Enlightenment project—that it is a Western invention, unsuited to the world in all its diversity—is doubly wrongheaded. For one thing, all ideas have to come from somewhere, and their birthplace has no bearing on their merit. Though many Enlightenment ideas were articulated in their clearest and most influential form in 18th-century Europe and America, they are rooted in reason and human nature, so any reasoning human can engage with them. That’s why Enlightenment ideals have been articulated in non-Western civilizations at many times in history.² But my main reaction to the claim that the Enlightenment is the guiding ideal of the West is: If only! The Enlightenment was swiftly followed by a counter-Enlightenment, and the West has been divided ever since.³ No sooner did people step into the light than they were advised that darkness wasn’t so bad after all, that they should stop daring to understand so much, that dogmas and formulas deserved another chance, and that human nature’s destiny was not progress but decline.",
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Download raw JSONL data for Counter-Enlightenment meaning in English (2.2kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-03-25 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-03-03 using wiktextract (05c257f and 9d9a410). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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