ABSTRACT
Enlightenment philosophers acknowledge the rationality of all persons and affirm that every rational individual is capable of grasping the truth. Since no person need defer to a higher authority for knowledge, Enlightenment epistemologies are egalitarian. Yet, Scheman urges that the social import of these epistemologies depends on the historical context in which they are adopted. Despite the democratic intentions of the philosophers who developed Enlightenment epistemologies, and despite the emancipatory purposes that these epistemologies served in their time, they serve retrograde ends today.
