Mesmerism and the End of the Enlightenment in France. Robert DarntonThe Geometric Spirit: The Abbé de Condillac and the French Enlightenment. Isabel F. Knight

1970 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 398-405
Author(s):  
Keith M. Baker
Keyword(s):  
The Enlightenment ◽  
French Enlightenment

Bīsotūn and the French Enlightenment

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 583-614
Author(s):  
DANIEL THOMAS POTTS
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Transmission ◽  
Republic Of Letters ◽  
Western Iran ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
French Enlightenment ◽  
Political Service

AbstractThis study examines a little-known case of Enlightenment knowledge transmission centred on the rock-cut monument of Darius I at Bīsotūn in western Iran. It discusses a report on the monument published by the cartographer and historian Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville, which originated with the Decalced Carmelite monk Emmanuel de Saint-Albert (born Jean-Claude Ballyet); who transmitted it to Isaac Bellet, a doctor involved in secret negotiations in Constantinople; who in turn sent it to Louis, Duke d'Orléans, in Paris; who passed it on to d'Anville. The collison of scholarly interest, political service and scientific personality offers a fascinating case study of the Enlightenment ‘republic of letters’ in action.

Critique

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irfan Ahmad
Keyword(s):  
Western Philosophy ◽  
Main Argument ◽  
Race Studies ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
German Enlightenment ◽  
French Enlightenment ◽  
The World ◽  
Immanent Critique

The main argument of this chapter is: the Enlightenment was an ethnic project and its conceptualization of reason highly local as it pitted itself against a series of Others, Islam included. Evidently, feminist and race studies scholarship offers a critique of the Enlightenment and its universalism. A point less stressed is that the erasure of non-Western philosophy in Enlightenment thinking construed universal as only "to all," not "from all." Consequently, non-Westerners were construed as empirical objects, not thinking subjects. As it disregarded from all, Western universalism claiming that it is for all and to all could only be missionary-like, for the only option it leaves open for those not subscribing to or already within is to convert. The blueprint for conversion stemmed from Enlightenment ideas of "civilizational infantilism" of the non-West and the obligation to "better the world." To substantiate this argument, the chapter discusses the German Enlightenment and the French Enlightenment both of which reconfigured rather than erased Christianity. Building on works, among others, of Talal Asad, the chapter alternatively outlines the possibility of analyzing Islam and reason as interwoven to show how immanent critique has been central to Islamic histories and cultures.

Montesquieu, Charles Louis de Secondat (1689–1755)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Hulliung
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Comparative Method ◽  
Natural Rights ◽  
Western World ◽  
Specific Time ◽  
American Colonies ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
French Enlightenment ◽  
Better Than

Montesquieu, one of the greatest figures of the Enlightenment, was famous in his own century both in France and in foreign lands, from Russia to the American colonies. Later generations of French philosophes took for granted his concern to reform the criminal laws, to replace the Inquisition with a reign of tolerance, and to repudiate the vicious conquests of the Spaniards in the Americas. They also accepted his finding that Protestant, commercial, and constitutionalist England and Holland represented all the best possibilities of Europe; whereas Catholic, economically backward, and politically absolutist Portugal and Spain represented the worst of the Western world and constituted a warning to the French. Although the findings and specific reforms proposed by Montesquieu were repeated by many another figure of the French Enlightenment, his work in certain respects remained unique in the circles of the most advanced thinkers. In his efforts to think systematically about politics and to do so by employing the comparative method, he stands virtually alone in his age. Other thinkers sharing his commitments resorted to the universalizing language of natural rights when they ventured into the realm of political philosophy. Or, like Voltaire, they tied their thoughts about politics to a succession of specific issues, each essay bearing so indelibly the imprint of specific time and place that there was no room for theory in their writings. Finally, as is true of Diderot or D’Alembert, many of the philosophes were slow to recognize what Montesquieu knew from the outset, that if Enlightenment does not extend to politics it is futile. Steeped in Montaigne’s scepticism, Montesquieu found that in the absence of absolutes there were good reasons to appreciate the ‘more than/less than’ and ‘better than/worse than’ judgments of comparative analysis. In his notebooks he commented that the flaw of most philosophers had been to ignore that the terms beautiful, good, noble, grand, and perfect are ‘relative to the beings who use them’. Only one absolute existed for Montesquieu and that was the evil of despotism, which must be avoided at all costs. Montesquieu wrote three great works, each teaching lessons about despotism and freedom,The Persian Letters (1721), the Considerations of the Grandeur of the Romans and the Cause of Their Decline (1734), and The Spirit of the Laws (1748).

The Encyclopedist and the Peruvian Princess: The Poetics of Illegibility in French Enlightenment Book Culture

PMLA ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 121 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-123
Author(s):  
Lorraine Piroux
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
History Of The Book ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
French Enlightenment ◽  
History Of ◽  
Book Culture

This study focuses on the French Enlightenment's fascination with the materiality of non-Western and nonalphabetic scripts in the broader context of the history of the book. By examining definitions of writing in the Encyclopédie as well as Françoise de Graffigny's novelistic appropriation of the Inca quipu script in Lettres d'une Péruvienne (1747), I argue that there emerges from these texts a conception of the literary sign capable of challenging the fundamental principles of the Enlightenment printed book: dematerialized textuality and absolute legibility. Shaped by the scriptural imagination of eighteenth-century book culture, literature was able to acquire full aesthetic legitimacy only insofar as it was defined as the other of the purely semantic text. (LP)

scholarly journals D’Alembert’s Contribution to the French Enlightenment

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 17
Author(s):  
Tingting Liu ◽  
Haibin Sun
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Natural Science ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
European Countries ◽  
French Mathematician ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
French Enlightenment

The French Enlightenment directly influenced and promoted the Enlightenment in other European countries. During the Enlightenment, the development of natural science and the dissemination of scientific knowledge greatly promoted the emancipation of human minds. D’Alembert is a famous French mathematician, physicist, astronomer, and philosopher. As a representative on mission during the French Enlightenment, d’Alembert made important contributions to mechanics, mathematics, and astronomy that greatly promoted the development of natural sciences.

scholarly journals Idea of common good (el bien general) in the series of etchings “The Disasters of War” (“Los Desastres de la Guerra”) by Francisco Goya (based on the Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko Museum of Art funds)

2019 ◽  
pp. 50-60
Author(s):  
Illia Levchenko ◽  
Oleksandra Kotliar ◽  
Stefaniia Demchuk
Keyword(s):  
Common Good ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Minor Role ◽  
Napoleonic Wars ◽  
Text And Image ◽  
Double Numbers ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
French Enlightenment ◽  
Francisco Goya ◽  
Comparative Historical Analysis

The ideas of the Enlightenment (first of all the French, with the most famous of its representatives – Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu and François-Marie Arouet Voltaire) not only influenced the political sphere of the Eighteenth century but also art. Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (1746-1828) was directly convinced by these ideas: he took a passive part in the Napoleonic wars and was a friend of the prominent representatives of the Spanish Enlightenment. The study aims at analyzing interactions between text and image in the series of etchings of F. Goya “The Disasters of War” and the reception of the idea of «common good» in the etching 71 “Against the common good”. We have chosen several theoretical and methodological tools to deal with narrative and visual sources. Hermeneutics and semiotics belong to the specific methods used in the process of analysis of engravings. Comprehensive approach is determined by the usage of F. Goya both extraverbial and verbal (double numbers of etchings and artionims, ekfrasis) means. The methodological basis of the study is made up wit the principles of complexity, historicism and scientific character. The main methods were iconographic and iconological; empirical, prosopographical, method of synthetic and analytical source criticism; comparative-historical analysis. Probably, Francisco Goya, who also criticized the contemporary obscurantism in Spain (which is especially reflected in the series of etchings “Los Caprichos”), turned to the ideas of the French enlightenment, which gave rise to possibly unconscious reminiscences and allusions in his work. Thus, we are interested mainly how Goya indirectly or even unconsciously borrowed ideas from the Enlightenment movement, which spread rapidly all over Europe. In this case studying direct borrowings from J.-J. Rousseau’s ideas played only minor role.

scholarly journals The Phenomenon of Culture in the Philosophy of the French Enlightenment

2020 ◽  
pp. 9-22
Author(s):  
Svetlana Georgievna Gutova
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Cultural Analysis ◽  
Cultural Development ◽  
Internal Dynamics ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
French Enlightenment ◽  
The World ◽  
Basic Concepts ◽  
Main Ideas ◽  
Brain Culture

The most relevant features of the French Enlightenment are studied in the article. One of the features is ambivalence, that was expressed in most of the theoretical judgments by representatives of the era. The main ideas of the French Enlightenment are presented through the prism of the historical formation of the basic concepts: nature, human brain, culture. It is emphasized that the main achievement of the enlighteners in the cultural reformation of society was to combat religious and moral prejudices. It is noted that the value of enlighteners is in their innovative attempt to create a progressive model of cultural development based on a naturalistic and mechanical and deterministic picture of the world. The philosophical and cultural analysis revealed the internal dynamics of the enlighteners' ideas from civilizational optimism to criticism of civilizational progress. It is concluded that the philosophical and theoretical legacy of the Enlightenment, in the framework of the development of a single paradigm, is integral, logical and actually complete, that made the most use of its methodological and heuristic potential.

scholarly journals OS EMBATES DA NORMATIZAÇÃO: GÊNERO E CULTURA NO ILUMINISMO FRANCÊS * THE CLASHES OF NORMALIZATION: GENDER AND CULTURE IN FRENCH ENLIGHTENMENT

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 204
Author(s):  
Flora Morena Maria Martini de Araujo
Keyword(s):  
Gender Bias ◽  
European Society ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Western Society ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
French Enlightenment ◽  
Traditional Structures

Se observarmos com cuidado notamos o quanto o Iluminismo foi, e ainda é, um objeto de estudo constante na historiografia. Muitos historiadores e historiadoras têm sido seduzidos pelos encantos deste movimento que sacudiu as estruturas tradicionais da sociedade europeia moderna e acabou transformando a sociedade ocidental. Por sua complexidade e riqueza, seja de objetos ou por sua disseminação, são incalculáveis trabalhos que tratam do Iluminismo a partir das abordagens mais diversas. A partir disto, neste artigo buscamos abordar este tema a partir dao viés analítido de gênero, atentando para de que maneira os prerrupostos dos filósofos, médicos e pedagogos vão delimitar as subjetividades, educação e locais de atuação feminina a partir do que consideravam “os parâmetros da organização natural".*Through a critical and careful point of view, it is possible to notice how much the Enlightenment was, and still is, an object of constant study in historiography. Many historians have been seduced by the charms of this movement that shook the traditional structures of modern European society and eventually transformed Western society. Because of their complexity and richness, there are incalculable works that deal with the Enlightenment from the most diverse approaches. From this aspect, in this article we seek to approach this theme from the analytical gender bias, looking at how the assumptions of philosophers, physicians and pedagogues tried to delimit subjectivities, education and places of feminine action from what they considered “the parameters of natural organization”.

Insight and the Enlightenment: Why Einsicht in Chapter Six of Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit?

2016 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-197
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Reid
Keyword(s):  
Phenomenology Of Spirit ◽  
Philosophical Debate ◽  
Faith And Reason ◽  
Knowledge Of God ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
French Enlightenment

AbstractHegel uses the term Einsicht (‘insight’) throughout several key subsections of Chapter Six of the Phenomenology of Spirit (notably in ‘Faith and Pure Insight’ and ‘The Struggle of the Enlightenment with Superstition’). Nowhere else in his work does the term enjoy such a sustained treatment. Commentators generally accept Hegel’s use of the term in the Phenomenology as simply referring to the type of counter-religious reasoning found in the French Enlightenment. I show how Hegel derives the term, through the lens of Kant’s essay, ‘What Does It Mean to Orient Oneself in Thinking?’ from the Pantheismusstreit, the philosophical debate between Mendelssohn and Jacobi about knowledge of God. The Aufklärung provenance of Einsicht shows how a deep complicity between faith and reason, in the form of immediate knowing, leads beyond the Terror to a happier outcome in the Morality section. Finally, passing reference to Einsicht in the Vorbegriff of the Encyclopaedia Logic confirms its role in the ethical and political vocation of Hegel’s Science.

D’Alembert, Jean Le Rond (1717–83)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul F. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Single Point ◽  
Denis Diderot ◽  
Mathematical Structure ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Natural Order ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
French Enlightenment ◽  
European Science ◽  
Mathematical Techniques ◽  
Serial Publication

Mathematician, scientist and man of letters, Jean D’Alembert is a central figure of the French Enlightenment. As a young man he made significant contributions to the refinement of mathematical techniques, and later was actively engaged in the theoretical controversies which surrounded the gradual assimilation of Newtonian mechanics into the mainstream of European science. For twelve years (1746–58) he was co-editor, with Denis Diderot, of the Encyclopedia, the serial publication of which was one of the defining events of the Enlightenment period as a whole. D’Alembert frequented the various Paris salons where much of the intellectual fervour and high-spiritedness of the age was cultivated and given shape. As Secretary of the French Academy he worked assiduously to advance the cause of human knowledge. D’Alembert’s philosophy is characterized by an abiding commitment to the clarity and precision which attends mathematical abstraction. He believed that in its essence the natural order is internally structured by laws whose operation can be articulated under the principles of geometry. All natural phenomena are to be explained under the terms of those basic mathematical principles that govern the scientific domain in which they are located (chemistry or astronomy for example), and all scientific domains could be brought ultimately to perfect consistency and systematic order within a comprehensive theory. The events and processes which constitute the natural order reflect the reality of the mathematical structure which underlies them. As he says in the Preliminary Discourse (1751) to the Encyclopedia (1751–65), ‘The universe would only be one fact and one great truth for whoever knew how to embrace it from a single point of view’.

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