A central tenet of the current Eurosceptic case resides in the contrast between English pragmatists, blessed with an instinctive distrust of the systems concocted by philosophers, and dreamy Continentals whose chequered histories bear witness to a dangerous addiction to fresh starts, a priori blueprints, legal codification and all the other follies of political rationalism. This caricature has its roots in a compelling myth of English exceptionalism. England missed out on the Enlightenment, from which on the Continent the miseries of chronic political instability followed. Not only had England avoided an Enlightenment, and its inevitable sequel, a democratic revolution, it had also acted as the mainstay of the European counter-revolution, and instead approached liberal modernity by a detour, progressing quietly and more efficiently under the aegis of its otherwise irrational traditions and precedents. Variants of this national myth exert a grip far beyond the ranks of Eurosceptics: even among professional historians, the expression 'English Enlightenment' still offends the ear.

LRB 8 March 2001 | PDF Download