6 - A Renaissance Man in the Age of the Enlightenment

Summary

Thomas Jefferson has been celebrated both as a “Renaissance Man” and as the embodiment of the “American Enlightenment.” One might reasonably ask how one understands these contradictory accolades and how one perceives the overlapping epochs to which they refer. A bibliography of either would require a multi-volume treatment, taxing to the persistence of most authors and to the endurance of most readers.¹ I wade gingerly into these waters, paying some attention to the less cumbersome, but often overlooked, topic of Jefferson‘s limited contact with the German Enlightenment. In prior scholarship, French influences have been exaggerated, and the few German influences almost entirely neglected. The matter seems to have attracted the attention of very few scholars, but the notable exceptions include Jeffrey High and the late Peter Nicolaisen. Professors Susan Buck-Morss and Sandra Rebok also deserve kudos in this regard, and I have touched lightly on their discussions of the later phases of the German Enlightenment.