For this discussion, in 100 words consider the following from our reading from Christos Yannaras (The Culture of the Enlightenment, see pdf in Files section):
We thus arrive, of course, at a strange paradox that has been noted by students of the Enlightenment. In the name of freeing Man from metaphysical [religious or traditional] dependency, of asserting his existential autonomy and dignity, and his absolute value, Man is ultimately disparaged and depreciated. He is subjected wholly to physical dependencies and needs. He humbles himself willfully by laying claim to the existential level of animal life and of chance natural occurrence. And all this for the sake of a realism, of a coming down to reality, of a deliverance from any romantic illusion, which does not always persuade one that it is not another form of obsession (150).
Part 1: Write an original post explaining this paradox of the Enlightenment in your own words. (For example, you might first explain the realism that the Enlightenment thinkers were pursuing and then explain how that supposedly realistic view of humanity seems to undermine the dignity of man that they so passionately promoted.)