Book Description

Excerpt from The Rise of Intellectual Liberty From Thales to Copernicus Wishing to show how thought was set free and new truth brought to light, during the twenty-two hundred years from the age of Thales to that of Copernicus and Servetus, I have tried to collect the important facts, especially such as had not been stated in English, to arrange them in their his toric relations, not yet fully delineated in any language, and then to let them tell their own story, without needless com ment. I did not start with the intention of proving any thing; and it was only when I was ready to write the last chapter, that I found myself justified in drawing the conclusions set forth. Authorities differ widely, especially about medieval his tory, and dates of publication are often given incorrectly - that, for instance of the Involuntary Servitude by La Boetie being put in half-a.dozen different years by as many of the standard books of reference. Oversights are almost unavoidable in any comprehensive work, and I shall be grateful for help in cor recting my own, but I trust I shall not be hastily charged with inaccuracy on account of not having followed a popular guide. I hope ere long to publish a continuation extending as far as the French Revolution. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."