Issue 57: Dossier

You could get invited to an eighteenth-century salon at any time. Be prepared.

Illustration by Rose Wong



Cartesian doubt

The systematic application of skepticism to one’s own beliefs.

Consent of the governed

The idea that a government’s legitimacy and authority proceeds from the consent of the people over whom power is exercised.

Deism

The philosophical position of belief in a supreme being that proceeds not from divine revelation but from rational thought and observation of the natural world.

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