Many US Presidents since John F. Kennedy have cited the Enlightenment as the foundation for America’s constitutional system and the values which the United States and the larger West have promoted and defended since the late 18th century. But no American president until Barack Obama has had to report that the Enlightenment’s fundamental values – described in his farewell speech on January 10, as “a faith in reason, and enterprise, the primacy of right over might …the rule of law, human rights, freedoms of religion, speech, assembly and an independent press” – are under assault in the United States and around the world.  Just weeks into the Trump administration such concerns have acquired an added urgency.