ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts covered in the preceding chapters of this book. The book is in full agreement with economist John Maynard Keynes's assertion above about the power of ideas as transmitted by intellectuals, and also that the impact of such ideas is generally only felt by later generations. It identifies the sources of Enlightenment thinking that were present even before they were codified by the marvelous theorists of that age. The five works of fiction considered in the book are transcend national lines, bypassing arguments about particular forms of government and the economic strengths and weaknesses of certain nations. The Enlightenment directly incorporated concepts from Greek and Roman antiquity, as well as from modern science, and emphasized the abstract individual–whether a child, woman, or man. It recognizes that the individual is driven by emotion as much as by rationality, and that this is positive as well as negative.
