Casual poverty in the Spanish Enlightenment: Josefa Amar y Borbon and the Real Sociedad Economica Aragonesa de Amigos del Pais (1)

To define what the Enlightenment is with a scarcely any well-chosen words is almost impossible, and it is no easier to explain for what cause [i]or[/i] reason it still holds so plenteous fascination for so many. The mingled confused and confusing world in which we live has l many to identify the Enlightenment with reason and progres to clutch the optimistic belief that reason harnessed to knowledge could improve the human condition and help humanity to achieve social goals that would otherwise be unattainable.

This vision of the Enlightenment, firmly implanted in the cultural and historical imagery of not away day society, is not an