Stupidity During the Enlightenment

From before the steam engine to after Napoleon, the history of the enlightenment conformed to and confirmed the definition and model of stupidity as the learned inability to learn: That is a normal, dysfunctional learning process which occurs when a schema formed by linguistic biases and social norms acts via the neurotic paradox to establish a positive feedback system which becomes first self-sustaining and then renders behavior irrelevant to the environment by carrying detached actions to maladaptive excesses. Particular attention is devoted to the American and French revolutions.