Three Reformers: Luther, Descartes, Rousseau

Three Reformers is a quest to identify and articulate the germinative ideas of modernity as found in the minds of Martin Luther, René Descartes, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. This trio of reformers, per Maritain, were the heirs to the Scholastic legacy in all its order and clarity. Yet, their penchant for more clearly apprehending particulars than universals led to the squandering of that inheritance in an experiment of sweeping reform. The result is their dominance of modernity, in which, as Maritain says, they “govern all the problems which torment it.” Fascinating both as biography and philosophy, written with Maritain’s typical perspicacity, Three Reformers: Luther, Descartes, Rousseau examines the inauguration of modern religion, modern philosophy, and modern morality and evinces its actual and enduring significance in dictating the currents of all modern thought.