In his study of William Cobbett, Chesterton makes the paradoxical remark that poor Tom Paine really believed that the Age of Reason was just beginning when in fact it was just ending. For once, Chesterton is entirely wrong. The Age of Reason did begin at the close of the eighteenth century, and, like the nineteenth century, it has gone on ever since. The two preceding centuries had paved the way. Bacon gave it a definite start by holding out the dream of escaping, by the help of Intellect, from the “mera palpatio” (mere feeling our way) which had so far been our only mode of action in politics and all human affairs. The discoverers of the seventeenth century followed, with their shining proof of what Intellect could do to dissipate darkness and substitute certainty for mere groping, in our attempts to understand the world we live in. Astronomy, chemistry, physics were in turn illuminated by an almost dazzling light; and the very genuine triumphs of Intellect in its proper sphere predisposed the political and social thinkers of the eighteenth century (who believed that they too were intelligent) to have visions of a complete reign of Intellect in all departments of thought and activity.

Bentham's disastrous philosophy was a cold attempt to realize these visions. Hope was turned into apparent certitude by the hedonistic calculus and an intellectually enlightened Democracy, for which there need be no more groping in the dark. Auguste Comte carried the claim of Intellect farther. The realm of Science—with its proved motto of “Savoir, pour prévoir, pour pouvoir”—was definitely extended to all existence, including the whole life of human society. The intelligentzia of the British world, who had already proved their intelligence by swallowing as final truth a political economy which was much less than half true, embraced the new vision with enthusiasm. The Age of Reason had arrived.