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N=270. Enlightenment (18th c) is most popular candidate for West at its Best followed by Greek antiquity. I think there’s an actual right answer here (Modernist, #3 at 25%), but only 11% think the postmodern era is the West at its Best.
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Poll: What do you consider the most fertile and productive period in the European intellectual tradition?
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I think there was some tension between "fertile" and "productive". . . If you leaned to productive, I get saying Modernist period wins. I paused between Modernist and Enlightenment, but thought of rule of law and Newtonian mechanics as particularly fertile.
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'west at it's best'? Quite an ahistorical framing of qn too. Each period saw an intellectual tradition that was a reaction to specific socio economic conditions of it's time. Just bcos 'only' 11% think it's 'fertile and productive' doesn't diminish it's *relevance* today