Exit
THE
GILDED AGE
BY
GREGORY
BEYER
HUFFINGTON
12.02.12
Lesser Figures of the
Enlightenment
IMMANUEL
PORTOFINO
If God exists, and God
is love, why is there
cruelty in the world?
Unable to reconcile these
thoughts, Portofino
arrived at the belief that
some circumstance or accident had prevented God from Old
Testament-style intervention. His theory, published in a 1478
treatise, The Celestial Bathroom, argued that God existed,
but was locked in. A band of disciples carried his theory
forward well into the 18th century, debating such questions
as, “If God is locked in the bathroom, and God is all-powerful,
wouldn’t he be able to create a key that would fit the lock?”
and “Does He use Q-tips?”
VIVEAU
The diplomat, lawyer
and economist Claude
Maria St. Montalban de
Viveau, known to us today
simply as “Viveau,” lived
a privileged life in the
court of King Louis XV. At
the end of his life Viveau published Critique Societe, which
examines a fictional society called “Teaneck, New Jersey,”
but fails to address the questions of corruption, income
inequality and unusually rapid soil erosion that plagued
France in Viveau’s time.
ILLUSTRATIONS BY CHRISTOPH HITZ
JEAN-DAVID
MANSEUR AND
PIERRE PLUTEAU
The individual
contributions of these
French economists are
considered marginal, yet
they are remembered
because of a single incident in 1801. When Pluteau arrived at
his favorite restaurant to find Manseur seated at his regular
table, he became enraged, even though several other tables
were available. After a lengthy philosophical argument the men
fought a duel on the muddy banks of the Seine. Both drowned.
A community council was convened to prevent future needless
deaths, and today Manseur and Pluteau are jointly credited with
the notion of call-ahead reservations.
JOHN FOOTE
John Foote is little
remembered today, but
he almost became one of
history’s great martyrs.
A mid-level cleric in the
Church of England, Foote
worked tirelessly on
scientific inventions deemed blasphemous by church elders.
Sentenced to death, Foote at the very last minute renounced his
inventions, pledged allegiance to the church and was released.
For the rest of his life, he refused to attach his name to any one
philosophy, but did quite well as a consultant.