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Books > Reference & Interdisciplinary > Interdisciplinary studies > Cultural studies > History of ideas, intellectual history
Whose job is it to teach the public about sex? Parents? The
churches? The schools? And what should they be taught? These
questions have sparked some of the most heated political debates in
recent American history, most recently the battle between
proponents of comprehensive sex education and those in favor of an
"abstinence-only" curriculum. Kristy Slominski shows that these
questions have a long, complex, and surprising history. Teaching
Moral Sex is the first comprehensive study of the role of religion
in the history of public sex education in the United States. The
field of sex education, Slominski shows, was created through a
collaboration between religious sex educators-primarily liberal
Protestants, along with some Catholics and Reform Jews-and "men of
science"-namely physicians, biology professors, and social
scientists. She argues that the work of early religious sex
educators laid the foundation for both sides of contemporary
controversies that are now often treated as disputes between
"religious" and "secular" Americans. Slominski examines the
religious contributions to national sex education organizations
from the late nineteenth century to the early twenty-first. Far
from being a barrier to sex education, she demonstrates, religion
has been deeply embedded in the history of sex education, and its
legacy has shaped the terms of current debates. Focusing on
religion uncovers an under-recognized cast of characters-including
Quaker and Unitarian social purity reformers, military chaplains,
and the Young Men's Christian Association- who, Slominski deftly
shows, worked to make sex education more acceptable to the public
through a strategic combination of progressive and restrictive
approaches to sexuality. Teaching Moral Sex highlights the
essential contributions of religious actors to the movement for sex
education in the United States and reveals where their influence
can still be felt today.
Throughout the twentieth century, scholars, artists and politicians
have accused each other of "historicism." But what exactly did this
mean? Judging by existing scholarship, the answers varied
enormously. Like many other "isms," historicism could mean nearly
everything, to the point of becoming meaningless. Yet the questions
remain: What made generations of scholars throughout the humanities
and social sciences worry about historicism? Why did even musicians
and members of parliament warn against historicism? And what
explains this remarkable career of the term across generations,
fields, regions, and languages? Focusing on the "travels" that
historicism made, this volume uses historicism as a prism for
exploring connections between disciplines and intellectual
traditions usually studied in isolation from each other. It shows
how generations of sociologists, theologians, and historians tried
to avoid pitfalls associated with historicism and explains why the
term was heavily charged with emotions like anxiety, anger, and
worry. While offering fresh interpretations of classic authors such
as Friedrich Meinecke, Karl Loewith, and Leo Strauss, this volume
highlights how historicism took on new meanings, connotations, and
emotional baggage in the course of its travels through time and
place.
Sapiens showed us where we came from. In uncertain times, Homo Deus shows us where we’re going.
Yuval Noah Harari envisions a near future in which we face a new set of challenges. Homo Deus explores the projects, dreams and nightmares that will shape the twenty-first century and beyond – from overcoming death to creating artificial life.
It asks the fundamental questions: how can we protect this fragile world from our own destructive power? And what does our future hold?
'Homo Deus will shock you. It will entertain you. It will make you think in ways you had not thought before’ Daniel Kahneman, bestselling author of Thinking, Fast and Slow
The Querelle des Anciens et des Modernes, or Battle of the Books as
it was known in England, famously pitted the Ancients on the one
side and the Moderns on the other. This book presents a new
intellectual history of the dispute, in which authors explore its
manifestations across Europe in the arts and sciences, from the
sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries. By paying close attention to
local institutional contexts for the Querelle, contributors yield a
complex picture of the larger debate. In intellectual life, authors
uncover how the debate affected the publication of antiquarian
scholarship, and how it became part of discussions in London coffee
houses and the periodical press. Authors also position the Low
Countries as the true pivot for a modernistic realignment of
intellectual method, with concomitant rather than centralised
developments in England and France. The volume is particularly
concerned with the realisation of the Querelle in the realm of
artistic and technical practice. Marrying modern approaches with
ancient sympathies was fraught with difficulties, as contributors
attest in analyses on musical writing, painting and the 'querelle
du coloris', architectural practice and medical rhetorics. Tracing
the deeper cultural resonances of the dispute, authors conclude by
revealing how it fostered a new tendency to cultural
self-reflection throughout Europe. Together, these contributions
demonstrate how the Querelle acted as a leading principle for the
configuration of knowledge across the arts and sciences throughout
the early modern period, and also emphasise the links between
historical debates and our contemporary understanding of what it
means to be 'modern'.
The place of religion in the Enlightenment has been keenly debated
for many years. Research has tended, however, to examine the
interplay of religion and knowledge in Western countries, often
ignoring the East. In Enlightenment and religion in the Orthodox
World leading historians address this imbalance by exploring the
intellectual and cultural challenges and changes that took place in
Orthodox communities during the eighteenth century. The two main
centres of Orthodoxy, the Greek-speaking world and the Russian
Empire, are the focus of early chapters, with specialists analysing
the integration of modern cosmology into Greek education, and the
Greek alternative 'enlightenment', the spiritual Philokalia.
Russian experts also explore the battle between the spiritual and
the rational in the works of Voulgaris and Levshin. Smaller
communities of Eastern Europe were faced with their own particular
difficulties, analysed by contributors in the second part of the
book. Governed by modernising princes who embraced Enlightenment
ideals, Romanian society was fearful of the threat to its
traditional beliefs, whilst Bulgarians were grappling in different
ways with a new secular ideology. The particular case of the
politically-divided Serbian world highlights how Dositej
Obradovic's complex humanist views have been used for varying
ideological purposes ever since. The final chapter examines the
encroachment of the secular on the traditional in art, and the
author reveals how Western styles and models of representation were
infiltrating Orthodox art and artefacts. Through these innovative
case studies this book deepens our understanding of how Christian
and secular systems of knowledge interact in the Enlightenment, and
provides a rich insight into the challenges faced by leaders and
communities in eighteenth-century Orthodox Europe.
The Enigma of Justice: Freedom and Morality in the Work of Immanuel
Kant, G.W.F Hegel, Agnes Heller, and Axel Honneth offers a novel
perspective on the idea of justice. Claire Nyblom argues that
justice is a cultural and historical constant, routinely summoned
as if it were a foundational concept to legitimate or challenge
social arrangements. Instead, justice is characterized by a
plurality of theories, containing regulative and critical
dimensions that are in tension. Nyblom argues that the categorical
imperative can be positioned as a strong evaluative standard that
mediates plurality, creating a revisable idea of justice resistant
to relativism. After identifying the originating architecture of
Immanuel Kant and G.W.F Hegel, the discussion engages with the work
of Agnes Heller and Axel Honneth, using the "pivots of justice" as
an analytic lens focused on commonalities rather than differences.
This framework leads to a dialogue between Heller and Honneth that
strengthens their respective positions. The Enigma of Justice
provides a valuable study and insight into the contemporary nature
of justice. The book provides a useful orientation for students and
scholars interested in debates about justice, and to those working
in the areas of European philosophy, social and political theory,
sociology, and the law.
Histoire des deux Indes, was arguably the first major example of a
world history, exploring the ramifications of European colonialism
from a global perspective. Frequently reprinted and translated into
many languages, its readers included statesmen, historians,
philosophers and writers throughout Europe and North America.
Underpinning the encyclopedic scope of the work was an extensive
transnational network of correspondents and informants assiduously
cultivated by Raynal to obtain the latest expert knowledge. How
these networks shaped Raynal's writing and what they reveal about
eighteenth-century intellectual sociability, trade and global
interaction is the driving theme of this current volume. From
text-based analyses of the anthropology that structures Raynal's
history of human society to articles that examine new archival
material relating to his use of written and oral sources,
contributors to this book explore among other topics: how the
Histoire created a forum for intellectual interaction and
collaboration; how Raynal created and manipulated his own image as
a friend to humanity as a promotional strategy; Raynal's
intellectual debts to contemporary economic theorists; the
transnational associations of booksellers involved in marketing the
Histoire; the Histoire's reception across Europe and North America
and its long-lasting influence on colonial historiography and
political debate well into the nineteenth century.
Systemic and political hostility against the 'left', real and
contrived, has been a key, yet under-recognized aspect of the
history of the modern world for the past two hundred years. By the
1820s, the new, exploitative and destabilizing character of
capitalist industrial production and its accompanying market
liberalizations began creating necessities among the working
classes and their allies for the new, self-protective politics of
'socialism'. But it is evident that, for the new economic system to
sustain itself, such oppositional politics that it necessitated had
to be undermined, if not destroyed, by whatever means necessary.
Through the imperialism of the later 19th century, and with
significant variations, this complex and often highly destructive
dialectical syndrome expanded worldwide. Liberals, conservatives,
extreme nationalists, fascists, racists, and others have all
repeatedly come aggressively and violently into play against
'socialist' oppositions. In this book, Philip Minehan traces the
patterns of such hostility and presents numerous crucial examples
of it: from Britain, France, Germany and the United States; the
British in India; European fascism, the United States and Britain
as they operated in China and Indochina; from Kenya, Algeria and
Iran; and from Central and South America during the Cold War. In
the final chapters, Minehan addresses the post-Cold War, US-led
triumphalist wars in the Middle East, the ensuing refugee crises,
neo-fascism, and anti-environmentalist politics, to show the ways
that the syndrome within which anti-leftist antagonism emerges, in
its neoliberal phase since the 1970s, remains as self-destructive
and dangerous as ever
What was the Scottish Enlightenment? Long since ignored or
sidelined, it is now a controversial topic - damned by some as a
conservative movement objectively allied to the enemies of
enlightenment, placed centre stage by others as the archetype of
what is meant by 'Enlightenment'. In this book leading experts
reassess the issue by exploring both the eighteenth-century
intellectual developments taking place within Scotland and the
Scottish contribution to the Enlightenment as a whole. The Scottish
experience during this period forms the underlying theme of early
chapters, with contributors examining the central philosophy of the
'science of man', the reality of 'applied enlightenment' in
Scotland, and the Presbyterian hostility to the spread of
'heretical' ideas. Moving beyond Scotland's borders, contributors
in later chapters examine the wider recognition of Scotland's
intellectual activity, both within Europe and across the Atlantic.
Through a series of case studies authors assess the engagement of
European intellectuals with Scottish thinkers, looking at the
French interpretation of Adam Smith's notion of sympathy, divergent
approaches to the writing of history in Scotland and Germany, and
the variety of Neapolitan responses to Scottish thought; the final
chapter analyses the links between the 'moderate Enlightenment' in
Scotland and America. Through these innovative studies this book
provides a rich and nuanced understanding of Enlightenment thought
in Scotland and its impact in Europe and North America,
highlighting the importance of placing the national context in a
transnational perspective.
An iconic figure in the movement for Greek independence, Adamantios
Korais (1748-1833) also played a major role in the development and
transmission of Enlightenment ideals. From his early education in
Amsterdam and medical studies in Montpellier, he moved to Paris
where he developed distinctive ideas of political liberalism and
cultural change against the backdrop of the French Revolution. In
Adamantios Korais and the European Enlightenment a team of
specialists explore the multiple facets of Korais' life and
thought. Following a detailed examination of his formative years
and pan-European education, contributors analyse his: translations
and editions of the classics, through which his own early political
ideas took shape views on linguistic reform and its importance for
a sense of national identity liberal critique of the French
Revolution and his evolving conception of political liberty In
Adamantios Korais and the European Enlightenment contributors
present a timely reevaluation of a major figure in the foundation
of modern Greece, and provide a fresh perspective on the
interaction of cultures in the European Enlightenment.
Vacillating between the longue duree and microhistory, between
ideological critique and historical sympathy, between the contrary
formalisms of close and distant reading, literary historians
operate with such disparate senses of what the term "history" means
that the field risks compartmentalization and estrangement. The
Romantic Historicism to Come engages this uncertainty in order to
construct a more robust, more capacious idea of history. Focusing
attention on Romantic conceptions of history's connection to the
future, The Romantic Historicism to Come examines the complications
of not only Romantic historicism, but also our own contemporary
critical methods: what would it mean if the causal assumptions that
underpin our historical judgments do not themselves develop in a
stable, progressive manner? Articulating history's minimum
conditions, Jonathan Crimmins develops a theoretical apparatus that
accounts for the concurrent influence of the various
sociohistorical forces that pressure each moment. He provides a
conception of history as open to radical change without severing
its connection to causality, better addressing the problem of the
future at the heart of questions about the past.
The Fable of the bees and the Treatise of human nature were written
to define and dissect the essential components of a 'civil
society'. How have early readings of the Fable skewed our
understanding of the work and its author? To what extent did
Mandeville's celebrated work influence that of Hume? In this
pioneering book, Mikko Tolonen extends current research at the
intersection of philosophy and book history by analysing the two
parts of the Fable in relation to the development of the Treatise.
Focussing on the key themes of selfishness, pride, justice and
politeness, Tolonen traces the evolution of Mandeville's thinking
on human nature and the origins of political society to explore the
relationship between his Fable and Hume's Treatise. Through a close
examination of the publishing history of the Fable and F. B. Kaye's
seminal edition, Tolonen uncovers hitherto overlooked differences
between Parts I and II to open up new approaches in Mandeville
scholarship. As the question of social responsibility dominates the
political agenda, the legacy of these key Enlightenment
philosophers is as pertinent today as it was to our predecessors.
The exchange of ideas between nations during the Enlightenment was
greatly facilitated by cultural ventures, commercial enterprise and
scientific collaboration. But how were they exchanged? What were
the effects of these exchanges on the idea or artefact being
transferred? Focussing on contact between England, France and
Ireland, a team of specialists explores the translation,
appropriation and circulation of cultural products and scientific
ideas during the Enlightenment. Through analysis of literary and
artistic works, periodicals and official writings contributors
uncover: the key role played by literary translators and how they
adapted, naturalized and sometimes distorted plays and novels to
conform to new cultural norms; the effects of eighteenth-century
anglomania, and how this was manifested in French art; how the
vagaries of international politics and conflict affected both the
cultural products themselves and the modes of dissemination; how
religious censorship engendered new Irish Catholic and French
Huguenot diasporas, with their particular intellectual pursuits and
networks of exchange; the significance of newspapers and
periodicals in disseminating new knowledge and often radical
philosophical ideas. By exploring both broad areas of cultural
activity and precise examples of cultural transfer, contributors to
Intellectual journeys reveal the range and complexity of
intellectual exchange and its role in the formation of a truly
transnational Enlightenment.
The Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment series,
previously known as SVEC (Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth
Century), has published over 500 peer-reviewed scholarly volumes
since 1955 as part of the Voltaire Foundation at the University of
Oxford. International in focus, Oxford University Studies in the
Enlightenment volumes cover wide-ranging aspects of the eighteenth
century and the Enlightenment, from gender studies to political
theory, and from economics to visual arts and music, and are
published in English or French.
Historians of eighteenth-century thought have implied a clear
distinction between mystical or occult writing, often termed
'illuminist', and better-known forms of Enlightenment thinking and
culture. But where are the boundaries of 'enlightened' human
understanding? This is the question posed by contributors to this
volume, who put forward a completely new way of configuring these
seemingly antithetical currents of thought, and identify a grey
area that binds the two, a 'Super-Enlightenment'. Through articles
exploring the social, religious, artistic, political and scientific
dimensions of the Super-Enlightenment, contributors demonstrate the
co-existence of apparent opposites: the enlightened and the
esoteric, empiricism and imagination, history and myth, the
secretive and the public, mysticism and science. The Enlightenment
can no longer be seen as a sturdy, homogeneous movement defined by
certain core beliefs, but one which oscillates between opposing
poles in its social practices, historiography and even its
epistemology: between daring to know, and daring to know too much.
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