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Books > Humanities > Philosophy > Western philosophy > Modern Western philosophy, c 1600 to the present > Western philosophy, c 1600 to c 1800

Rousseau et Locke: Dialogues critiques (Paperback): Celine Spector, Johanna Lenne-Cornuez Rousseau et Locke: Dialogues critiques (Paperback)
Celine Spector, Johanna Lenne-Cornuez
R2,549 Discovery Miles 25 490 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Surmontant une opposition souvent outree entre les deux auteurs, ce volume reevalue l'heritage de la pensee de Locke chez Rousseau, dans tous les domaines de sa philosophie (identite personnelle, epistemologie, medecine, morale, pedagogie, economie, politique). Au-dela de l'histoire intellectuelle, l'ouvrage met en lumiere le dialogue critique fecond que Rousseau entretient avec Locke, quitte a identifier les distorsions que le Citoyen de Geneve fait subir a son predecesseur. Tout en etablissant la dette de l'auteur d'Emile a l'egard du 'sage Locke', le volume discerne la pertinence des objections que Rousseau lui adresse en operant un retour a la lettre de la philosophie de Locke. En quel sens Rousseau a-t-il etabli sa philosophie sur des 'principes communs' a ceux de Locke ? Quelle subversion fait-il subir a l'Essai concernant l'entendement humain ou aux Pensees sur l'education ? Quels sont les points aveugles de la philosophie de Locke que la critique rousseauiste permet de mettre en lumiere et, a l'inverse, les limites de la critique rousseauiste de Locke ? Tels sont les axes de cet ouvrage qui reunit des specialistes, en philosophie et en litterature, de Rousseau et de Locke. -- Transcending an often outraged opposition between the two authors, this volume reassesses the legacy of Locke's thought in that of Rousseau, in all the areas of his philosophy (personal identity, epistemology, medicine, morality, pedagogy, economics, politics). Beyond an intellectual history, this collected volume highlights the fruitful critical dialogue that Rousseau maintains with Locke, while identifying the ways in which the Citizen of Geneva distorted his predecessor's thought. While establishing the author of Emile's debt to the 'sage Locke', the volume also discerns the relevance of Rousseau's objections to Lockian philosophy. In what sense did Rousseau establish his own philosophy on 'common principles' to those of Locke? How does he subvert the Essay Concerning Human Understanding or the Thoughts Concerning Education? What are the blind spots in Locke's philosophy that Rousseau highlights and, conversely, the limits of Rousseau's criticism of Locke? These are the main aspects of this volume, which brings together scholars in philosophy and literature, on Rousseau and Locke.

Theories of Ballet in the Age of the Encyclopedie (Paperback): Olivia Sabee Theories of Ballet in the Age of the Encyclopedie (Paperback)
Olivia Sabee
R2,537 Discovery Miles 25 370 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

In Enlightenment Europe, a new form of pantomime ballet emerged, through the dual channels of theorization in print and experimentation onstage. Emphasizing eighteenth-century ballet's construction through print culture, Theories of Ballet in the Age of the Encyclopedie follows two parallel paths-standalone treatises on ballet and dance and encyclopedias-to examine the shifting definition of ballet over the second half of the eighteenth century. Bringing together the Encyclopedie and its Supplement, the Encyclopedie methodique, and the Encyclopedie d'Yverdon with the works of Jean-Georges Noverre, Louis de Cahusac, and Charles Compan, it traces how the recycling and recombining of discourses about dance, theatre, and movement arts directly affected the process of defining ballet. At the same time, it emphasizes the role of textual borrowing and compilation in disseminating knowledge during the Enlightenment, examining the differences between placing borrowed texts into encyclopedias of various types as well as into journal format, arguing that context has the potential to play a role equally important to content in shaping a reader's understanding, and that the Encyclopedie methodique presented ballet in a way that diverged radically from both the Encyclopedie and Noverre's Lettres sur la danse.

Early Modern Atheism from Spinoza to d'Holbach (Paperback): Gianluca Mori Early Modern Atheism from Spinoza to d'Holbach (Paperback)
Gianluca Mori
R2,932 Discovery Miles 29 320 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Examining the birth and development of early modern atheism from Spinoza's Tractatus theologico-politicus (1670) to d'Holbach's Systeme de la nature (1770), this study considers Spinoza, Hobbes, Cudworth, Bayle, Meslier, Boulainviller, Du Marsais, Freret, Toland, Collins, Hume, Diderot, Voltaire, and d'Holbach and positions them in a general interpretive scheme, based on the idea that early modern atheism is itself an unwanted fruit of early modern metaphysics and theology. Breaking with a long-standing tradition, Descartes claimed that it was possible to have a "clear and distinct" idea of God, indeed that the idea of God was the "clearest and most distinct" of all ideas accessible to the human mind. Humans could thus obtain a scientific knowledge of God's nature and attributes. But as soon as God became an object of science, He also became the object of a thoroughgoing scientific analysis and criticism. The effortlessness with which early modern atheists managed to turn round their adversaries' arguments to their own favour is a sign that the new doctrines of God which emerged in the seventeenth-century, each based in its own way on principles and dogmas related to the new science of nature, were plunging headfirst towards the precipice under their own steam.

Persia and the Enlightenment (Paperback): Cyrus Masroori, Whitney Mannies, John Christian Laursen Persia and the Enlightenment (Paperback)
Cyrus Masroori, Whitney Mannies, John Christian Laursen
R2,545 Discovery Miles 25 450 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Since the 5th century BCE Persia has played a significant part in representing the "Other" against which European identity has been constructed. What makes the case of Persia unique in this process of identity formation is the ambivalent attitude that Europe has shown in its imaginary about Persia. Persia is arguably the nation of "the Orient" most referred to in Early Modern European writings, frequently mentioned in various discourses of the Enlightenment including theology, literature, and political theory. What was the appeal of Persia to such a diverse intellectual population in Enlightenment Europe? How did intellectuals engage with the 'facts' about Persia? In what ways did utilizing Persia contribute to the development of modern European identities? In this volume, an international group of scholars with diverse academic backgrounds has tackled these and other questions related to the Enlightenment's engagement with Persia. In doing so, Persia and the Enlightenment questions reductionist assessments of Modern Europe's encounter with the Middle East, where a complex engagement is simplified to a confrontation between liberalism and Islam, or an exaggerated Orientalism. By carefully studying Persia in the Enlightenment narratives, this volume throws new light on the complexity of intercultural encounters and their impact on the shaping of collective identities.

Digitizing Enlightenment - Digital Humanities and the Transformation of Eighteenth-Century Studies (Paperback): Simon Burrows,... Digitizing Enlightenment - Digital Humanities and the Transformation of Eighteenth-Century Studies (Paperback)
Simon Burrows, Glenn Roe
R2,937 Discovery Miles 29 370 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Digitizing Enlightenment explores how a set of inter-related digital projects are transforming our vision of the Enlightenment. The featured projects are some of the best known, well-funded and longest established research initiatives in the emerging area of 'digital humanities', a field that has, particularly since 2010, been attracting a rising tide of interest from professional academics, the media, funding councils, and the general public worldwide. Advocates and practitioners of the digital humanities argue that computational methods can fundamentally transform our ability to answer some of the 'big questions' that drive humanities research, allowing us to see patterns and relationships that were hitherto hard to discern, and to pinpoint, visualise, and analyse relevant data in efficient and powerful new ways. In the book's opening section, leading scholars outline their own projects' institutional and intellectual histories, the techniques and methodologies they specifically developed, the sometimes-painful lessons learned in the process, future trajectories for their research, and how their findings are revising previous understandings. A second section features chapters from early career scholars working at the intersection of digital methods and Enlightenment studies, an intellectual space largely forged by the projects featured in part one. Highlighting current and future research methods and directions for digital eighteenth-century studies, the book offers a monument to the current state of digital work, an overview of current findings, and a vision statement for future research. Featuring contributions from Keith Michael Baker, Elizabeth Andrews Bond, Robert M. Bond, Simon Burrows, Catherine Nicole Coleman, Melanie Conroy, Charles Cooney, Nicholas Cronk, Dan Edelstein, Chloe Summers Edmondson, the late Richard Frautschi, Clovis Gladstone, Howard Hotson, Angus Martin, Katherine McDonough, Alicia C. Montoya, Robert Morrissey, Laure Philip, Jeffrey S. Ravel, Glenn Roe, and Sean Takats.

Genealogy and Social Status in the Enlightenment (Paperback): Stephane Jettot, Jean-Paul Zuniga Genealogy and Social Status in the Enlightenment (Paperback)
Stephane Jettot, Jean-Paul Zuniga
R2,543 Discovery Miles 25 430 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Genealogy and Social Status in the Enlightenment is at the crossroads of the history of science and the social history of cultural practices, and suggests the need for a new approach on the significance of genealogies in the Age of Enlightenment. While their importance has been fully recognised and extensively studied in early modern Britain and in the Victorian period, the long eighteenth century has been too often presented as a black hole regarding genealogy. Enlightened values and urban sociability have been presented as inimical to the praise of ancestry and birth. In contrast, however, various studies on the continental or in the American colonies, have shed light on the many uses of genealogies, even beyond the landed elite. Whether it be in the publishing industry, in the urban corporations, in the scientific discourses, genealogy was used, not only as a resilient social practice, but also as a form of reasoning, a language and a tool to include newcomers, organise scientific and historical knowledge or to express various emotions. This volume aims to reconsider the flexibility of genealogical practices and their perpetual reconfiguration to meet renewed expectations in the period. Far from slowly vanishing under the blows of rationalism that would have delegitimized an ancient world based on various forms of hereditary determinism, the different contributions to this collective work demonstrate that genealogy is a pervasive tool to make sense of a fast-changing society.

Reframing Rousseau's Levite d'Ephraim - The Hebrew Bible, Hospitality, and Modern Identity (Paperback): Barbara... Reframing Rousseau's Levite d'Ephraim - The Hebrew Bible, Hospitality, and Modern Identity (Paperback)
Barbara Abrams, Mira Morgenstern, Karen Sullivan
R2,921 Discovery Miles 29 210 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Le Levite d'Ephraim, Rousseau's re-imagining of the final chapters of the Book of Judges, contains major themes of Rousseau's oeuvre and lays forth central concerns of his intellectual projects. Among the themes highlighted in the concentrated narrative are: the nature of signs and symbols and their relationship to the individual and society that produce them; the role of hospitality in constituting civil society; the textually-displayed moral disorder as foreshadowing political revolution; and finally, the role of violence in creating a unified polity. In Le Levite d'Ephraim, Rousseau explores the psychological and communal implications of violence and, through them, the social and political context of society. The incarnation of violence on the bodies of the women in this story highlights the centrality of women in Rousseau's thought. Women are systematically dismembered, both literally and figuratively, and this draws the reader's attention to the significance of these women as they are perennially re-membered inside and outside the text. This study of these themes in Le Levite d'Ephraim places it in relation to the biblical text at its origins and to Rousseau's own writings and larger cultural concerns as he grapples with the challenges of modernity.

Vico and China (Paperback): Daniel Canaris Vico and China (Paperback)
Daniel Canaris
R2,925 Discovery Miles 29 250 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

While the resonance of Giambattista Vico's hermeneutics for postcolonialism has long been recognised, a rupture has been perceived between his intercultural sensibility and the actual content of his philological investigations, which have often been criticised as being Eurocentric and philologically spurious. China is a case in point. In his magnum opus New Science, Vico portrays China as backward and philosophically primitive compared to Europe. In this first study dedicated to China in Vico's thought, Daniel Canaris shows that scholars have been beguiled by Vico's value judgements of China without considering the function of these value judgements in his theory of divine providence. This monograph illustrates that Vico's image of China is best appreciated within the contemporary theological controversies surrounding the Jesuit accommodation of Confucianism. Through close examination of Vico's sources and intellectual context, Canaris argues that by refusing to consider Confucius as a "filosofo", Vico dismantles the rationalist premises of the theological accommodation proposed by the Jesuits and proposes a new functionalist valorisation of non-Christian religion that anticipates post-colonial critiques of the Enlightenment.

Modern Europe and the Enlightenment (Hardcover): Modern Europe and the Enlightenment (Hardcover)
R3,444 Discovery Miles 34 440 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

In June 2019, in an interview given to the Financial Times, Russian President Vladimir Putin baldly declared that the liberal idea had outlived its purpose as the public turned against immigration, open borders and multiculturalism. If liberalism has indeed come into conflict with the interests of the overwhelming majority of the population then evidence should show that it is in retreat. Ipso facto, so should Enlightenment values that underpin liberal democracy. A key aim of the book is to garner evidence. Is the liberal idea characterised by Putin accurate or rather a caricature divorced from reality? Modern Europe and the Enlightenment explores whether the policy stance on the issues outlined above, and a host of similar topics being tackled by European governments, are consonant with Enlightenment values. The Enlightenment covered an array of issues on every aspect of life wherein reason was rigorously applied to solve problems, gain understanding and discover facts. It was a successor to the scientific revolution. The assumption is that the Enlightenment left a profound legacy on Western Europe, which lingers till the present day. The following broad areas of Enlightenment values are covered: reason, human rights, religion and secularism, freedom of expression, political and economic open-mindedness, race, and womens issues. The book examines the extent to which Enlightenment values are adhered to in various parts of modern Europe delineated into Western Europe, the progenitor of the Enlightenment; former communist countries that have joined the European Union; and former communist countries that are not in the EU. Discussion also focuses on the modern Counter-Enlightenment movement.

Modern Europe and the Enlightenment (Paperback): Modern Europe and the Enlightenment (Paperback)
R963 Discovery Miles 9 630 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

In June 2019, in an interview given to the Financial Times, Russian President Vladimir Putin baldly declared that the liberal idea had outlived its purpose as the public turned against immigration, open borders and multiculturalism. If liberalism has indeed come into conflict with the interests of the overwhelming majority of the population then evidence should show that it is in retreat. Ipso facto, so should Enlightenment values that underpin liberal democracy. A key aim of the book is to garner evidence. Is the liberal idea characterised by Putin accurate or rather a caricature divorced from reality? Modern Europe and the Enlightenment explores whether the policy stance on the issues outlined above, and a host of similar topics being tackled by European governments, are consonant with Enlightenment values. The Enlightenment covered an array of issues on every aspect of life wherein reason was rigorously applied to solve problems, gain understanding and discover facts. It was a successor to the scientific revolution. The assumption is that the Enlightenment left a profound legacy on Western Europe, which lingers till the present day. The following broad areas of Enlightenment values are covered: reason, human rights, religion and secularism, freedom of expression, political and economic open-mindedness, race, and womens issues. The book examines the extent to which Enlightenment values are adhered to in various parts of modern Europe delineated into Western Europe, the progenitor of the Enlightenment; former communist countries that have joined the European Union; and former communist countries that are not in the EU. Discussion also focuses on the modern Counter-Enlightenment movement.

Tragedy and Nation in the Age of Napoleon (Paperback): Clare Siviter Tragedy and Nation in the Age of Napoleon (Paperback)
Clare Siviter
R2,935 Discovery Miles 29 350 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Napoleon's biographers often note his fondness for theatre, but as we approach the bicentenary of the Emperor's death, little remains known about the nature of theatre at the time. This is particularly the case for tragedy, the genre in which France considered itself to surpass its neighbours. Based on extensive archival research, this first sustained study of tragedy under Napoleon examines how a variety of agents used tragedy and its rewriting of history to make an impact on French politics, culture and society, and to help reconstruct the French nation after the Revolution. This volume covers not just Napoleon's efforts, but also those of other individuals in government, the theatrical world, and the wider population. Similarly, it uncovers a public demand for tragedy, be it the return of Corneille, Racine, and Voltaire to the Comedie-Francaise, or new hits like Les Templiers (1805) and Hector (1809). This research also sheds new light on Napoleonic propaganda and censorship, exposing their incoherencies and illustrating how audiences reacted to these processes. In short, Tragedy and Nation in the Age of Napoleon argues that Napoleonic tragedy was not simply tired and derivative; it engaged its audiences, by chomping at the poetic bit, allowing for a retrial of the Revolution, and offering a vision of the new French nation.

Enlightenment Virtue, 1680-1794 (Paperback): James Fowler, Marine Ganofsky Enlightenment Virtue, 1680-1794 (Paperback)
James Fowler, Marine Ganofsky
R2,925 Discovery Miles 29 250 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

In a speech delivered in 1794, roughly one year after the execution of Louis XVI, Robespierre boldly declared Terror to be an 'emanation of virtue'. In adapting the concept of virtue to Republican ends, Robespierre was drawing on traditions associated with ancient Greece and Rome. But Republican tradition formed only one of many strands in debates concerning virtue in France and elsewhere in Europe, from 1680 to the Revolution. This collection focuses on moral-philosophical and classical-republican uses of 'virtue' in this period - one that is often associated with a 'crisis of the European mind'. It also considers in what ways debates concerning virtue involved gendered perspectives. The texts discussed are drawn from a range of genres, from plays and novels to treatises, memoirs, and libertine literature. They include texts by authors such as Diderot, Laclos, and Madame de Stael, plus other, lesser-known texts that broaden the volume's perspective. Collectively, the contributors to the volume highlight the central importance of virtue for an understanding of an era in which, as Daniel Brewer argues in the closing chapter, 'the political could not be thought outside its moral dimension, and morality could not be separated from inevitable political consequences'.

Rousseau on Stage: Playwright, Musician, Spectator 2017 (Paperback): Maria Gullstam, Michael O'Dea Rousseau on Stage: Playwright, Musician, Spectator 2017 (Paperback)
Maria Gullstam, Michael O'Dea
R2,911 Discovery Miles 29 110 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Following his opposition to the establishment of a theatre in Geneva, Jean-Jacques Rousseau is often considered an enemy of the stage. Yet he was fascinated by drama: he was a keen theatre-goer, his earliest writings were operas and comedies, his admiration for Italian lyric theatre ran through his career, he wrote one of the most successful operas of the day, Le Devin du village, and with his Pygmalion, he invented a new theatrical genre, the Scene lyrique ('melodrama'). Through multi-faceted analyses of Rousseau's theatrical and musical works, authors re-evaluate his practical and theoretical involvement with and influence on the dramatic arts, as well as his presence in modern theatre histories. New readings of the Lettre a d'Alembert highlight its political underpinnings, positioning it as an act of resistance to external bourgeois domination of Geneva's cultural sphere, and demonstrate the work's influence on theatrical reform after Rousseau's death. Fresh analyses of his theory of voice, developed in the Essai sur l'origine des langues, highlight the unique prestige of Italian opera for Rousseau. His ambition to rethink the nature and function of stage works, seen in Le Devin du village and then, more radically, in Pygmalion, give rise to several different discussions in the volume, as do his complex relations with Gluck. Together, contributors shed new light on the writer's relationship to the stage, and argue for a more nuanced approach to his theatrical and operatic works, theories and legacy.

John Millar and the Scottish Enlightenment - Family Life and World History (Paperback): Nicholas B. Miller John Millar and the Scottish Enlightenment - Family Life and World History (Paperback)
Nicholas B. Miller
R2,910 Discovery Miles 29 100 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

During the long eighteenth century the moral and socio-political dimensions of family life and gender were hotly debated by intellectuals across Europe. John Millar, a Scottish law professor and philosopher, was a pioneer in making gendered and familial practice a critical parameter of cultural difference. His work was widely disseminated at home and abroad, translated into French and German and closely read by philosophers such as Denis Diderot and Johann Gottfried Herder. Taking Millar's writings as his basis, Nicholas B. Miller explores the role of the family in Scottish Enlightenment political thought and traces its wider resonances across the Enlightenment world. John Millar's organisation of cultural, gendered and social difference into a progressive narrative of authority relations provided the first extended world history of the family. Over five chapters that address the historical and comparative models developed by the thinker, Nicholas B. Miller examines contemporary responses and Enlightenment-era debates on polygamy, matriarchy, the Amazon legend, changes in national character and the possible futures of the family in commercial society. He traces how Enlightenment thinkers developed new standards of evidence and crafted new understandings of historical time in order to tackle the global diversity of family life and gender practice. By reconstituting these theories and discussions, Nicholas B. Miller uncovers hitherto unexplored aspects of the Scottish contribution to European debates on the role of the family in history, society and politics.

Intellectual Journeys - The Translation of Ideas in Enlightenment England, France and Ireland (English, French, Paperback):... Intellectual Journeys - The Translation of Ideas in Enlightenment England, France and Ireland (English, French, Paperback)
Lise Andries, Frederic Ogee, John Dunkley, Darach Sanfey
R3,004 Discovery Miles 30 040 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

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.

Mandeville and Hume - Anatomists of Civil Society (Paperback, New ed.): Mikko Tolonen Mandeville and Hume - Anatomists of Civil Society (Paperback, New ed.)
Mikko Tolonen
R2,927 Discovery Miles 29 270 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

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.

Invaluable Trees - Cultures of Nature, 1660-1830 (Paperback, New ed.): Laura Auricchio, Elizabeth Heckendorn Cook, Giulia Pacini Invaluable Trees - Cultures of Nature, 1660-1830 (Paperback, New ed.)
Laura Auricchio, Elizabeth Heckendorn Cook, Giulia Pacini
R2,925 Discovery Miles 29 250 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Trees and tree products have long been central to human life and culture, taking on intensified significance during the long eighteenth century. As basic raw material they were vital economic resources, objects of international diplomatic and commercial exchange, and key features in local economies. In an age of ongoing deforestation, both individuals and public entities grappled with the complex issues of how and why trees mattered. In this interdisciplinary volume, contributors build on recent research in environmental history, literary and material culture, and postcolonial studies to develop new readings of the ways trees were valued in the eighteenth century. They trace changes in early modern theories of resource management and ecology across European and North American landscapes, and show how different and sometimes contradictory practices were caught up in shifting conceptions of nature, social identity, physical health and moral wellbeing. In its innovative and thought-provoking exploration of man's relationship with trees, Invaluable trees: cultures of nature, 1660 -1830 argues for new ways of understanding the long eighteenth century and its values, and helps re-frame the environmental challenges of our own time.

Dramatic Battles in Eighteenth-Century France - Philosophes, Anti-Philosophes and Polemical Theatre (Paperback, New ed.): Logan... Dramatic Battles in Eighteenth-Century France - Philosophes, Anti-Philosophes and Polemical Theatre (Paperback, New ed.)
Logan J. Connors
R2,924 Discovery Miles 29 240 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

The mid-eighteenth century witnessed a particularly intense conflict between the Enlightenment philosophes and their enemies, when intellectual and political confrontation became inseparable from a battle for public opinion. Logan J. Connors underscores the essential role that theatre played in these disputes. This is a fascinating and detailed study of the dramatic arm of France's war of ideas in which the author examines how playwrights sought to win public support by controlling every aspect of theatrical production - from advertisements, to performances, to criticism. An expanding theatre-going public was recognised as both a force of influence and a force worth influencing. By analysing the most indicative examples of France's polemical theatre of the period, Les Philosophes by Charles Palissot (1760) and Voltaire's Le Cafe ou L'Ecossaise (1760), Connors explores the emergence of spectators as active agents in French society, and shows how theatre achieved an unrivalled status as a cultural weapon on the eve of the French Revolution. Adopting a holistic approach, Connors provides an original view of how theatre productions 'worked' under the ancien regime, and discusses how a specific polemical atmosphere in the eighteenth century gave rise to modern notions of reception and spectatorship.

Reading Newspapers - Press and Public in Eighteenth-century Britain and America (Paperback): Uriel Heyd Reading Newspapers - Press and Public in Eighteenth-century Britain and America (Paperback)
Uriel Heyd
R2,928 Discovery Miles 29 280 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

In their first century of uninterrupted publication, newspapers reached an all-embracing readership: male and female, noble and artisan, in both town and country. Such was its impact that this seemingly ephemeral product became a collector's object. In Reading newspapers Uriel Heyd examines this vibrant new print medium and investigates its political, social and cultural implications. Adopting a comparative approach, the author traces the culture of newspaper reading in Britain and America. Previously unexplored sources such as newspaper indexes and introductions, plays, auction catalogues and a unique newspaper collection assembled and annotated by a Bostonian shopkeeper, provide invaluable access to perceptions of the press, reading practices, and the ever-changing experience of consumers. While newspapers supplied news of immediacy and relevance, their effect transcended the here and now, influencing readers' perceptions of the age in which they lived and helping to shape historical memory. But the newly found power of this media also gave rise to a certain fear of its ability to exploit or manipulate public opinion. Perceived as vehicles of enlightenment, but also viewed with suspicion, the legacy of eighteenth-century newspapers is still felt today.

Joseph de Maistre and the legacy of Enlightenment (English, French, Paperback): Carolina Armenteros, Richard A. Lebrun Joseph de Maistre and the legacy of Enlightenment (English, French, Paperback)
Carolina Armenteros, Richard A. Lebrun
R2,922 Discovery Miles 29 220 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Although Joseph de Maistre has long been regarded as characterising the Counter-Enlightenment, his intellectual relationship to eighteenth-century philosophy remains unexplored. In this first comprehensive assessment of Joseph de Maistre's response to the Enlightenment, a team of renowned scholars uncover a writer who was both the foe and heir of the philosophes. While Maistre was deeply indebted to thinkers who helped to fashion the Enlightenment - Rousseau, the Cambridge Platonists - he also agreed with philosophers such as Schopenhauer who adopted an overtly critical stance. His idea of genius, his critique of America and his historical theory all used 'enlightened' language to contradict Enlightenment principles. Most intriguingly, and completely unsuspected until now, Maistre used the writings of the early Christian theologian Origen to develop a new, late, religious form of Enlightenment that shattered the logic of philosophie. The Joseph de Maistre revealed in this book calls into question any simple opposition of Enlightenment and Counter-Enlightenment, and offers particular lessons for our own time, when religion is at the forefront of public debate and a powerful political tool.

Epicurus in the Enlightenment (Paperback): Neven Leddy, Avi S. Lifschitz Epicurus in the Enlightenment (Paperback)
Neven Leddy, Avi S. Lifschitz
R2,922 Discovery Miles 29 220 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Eighteenth-century Epicureanism is often viewed as radical, anti-religious and politically dangerous. But to what extent does this simplify the ancient philosophy and underestimate its significance in Enlightenment writing? Through a pan-European analysis of Enlightenment centres from Scotland to Russia via the Netherlands, France and Germany, contributors argue that elements of classical Epicureanism were appropriated by radical and conservative writers alike. They move beyond literature and political theory to examine the application of Epicurean ideas in domains as diverse as physics, natural law, and the philosophy of language, drawing on the work of both major figures (Diderot, Helvetius, Smith and Hume) and of lesser-known but equally influential thinkers (Johann Jacob Schmauss and Dmitrii Anichkov). This unique collaboration, bringing together historians, philosophers, political scientists and literary scholars, provides rich and varied insights into the different strategic uses of Epicureanism in the eighteenth century.

Edward Gibbon, 'Essai Sur L'etude De La Litterature' - A Critical Edition (English, French, Paperback): Robert... Edward Gibbon, 'Essai Sur L'etude De La Litterature' - A Critical Edition (English, French, Paperback)
Robert Mankin
R2,933 Discovery Miles 29 330 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Before he had even conceived of the Decline and fall of the Roman Empire there was another Edward Gibbon, a young expatriate living in Switzerland and writing in French. In the Essai, a work of remarkable erudition and energy completed by the age of twenty-one, Gibbon reflects on the present state of knowledge in post-Renaissance Europe - what he calls litterature. The first publication of the Essai since 1761, this critical edition sets Gibbon's work in its intellectual context. A detailed introduction examines the biographical, cultural and historical background to this text: the young writer's perception of European intellectual life as he observed it from Lausanne, his relation to the Encyclopedie and the French academies, the fate of erudition, and the modern organization of learning in books. An extensive commentary completes this edition, providing invaluable annotation of each chapter, including the important but little-known sections on religion that were replaced by Gibbon in the final text. As current debates revisit the meaning of Enlightenment, readers will find in this edition of Gibbon's Essai a new approach to the intellectual networks and tensions that lie at its heart.

Enlightenment Hospitality - Cannibals, Harems and Adoption (Paperback): Judith Still Enlightenment Hospitality - Cannibals, Harems and Adoption (Paperback)
Judith Still
R2,927 Discovery Miles 29 270 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Hospitality, in particular hospitality to strangers, was promoted in the eighteenth century as a universal human virtue, but writing of the period reveals many telling examples of its abuse. Through analysis of encounters across cultural and sexual divides, Judith Still revisits the current debate about the social, moral and political values of the Enlightenment. Focussing on (in)hospitality in relation to two kinds of exotic Other, Judith Still examines representations of indigenous peoples of the New World, both as hosts and as cannibals, and of the Moslem 'Oriental' in Persia and Turkey, associated with both the caravanserai (where travellers rest) and the harem. She also explores very different examples of Europeans as hosts and the practice of 'adoption', particularly that of young girls. The position of women in hospitality, hitherto neglected in favour of questions of cultural difference, is central to these analyses, and Still considers the work of women writers alongside more canonical male-authored texts. In this thought-provoking study, Judith Still uncovers how the Enlightenment rhetoric of openness and hospitality is compromised by self-interest; the questions it raises about attitudes to difference and freedom are equally relevant today.

L'Orient anglais - connaissances et fictions au XVIIIe siecle (English, French, Paperback, New ed.): Clare Gallien L'Orient anglais - connaissances et fictions au XVIIIe siecle (English, French, Paperback, New ed.)
Clare Gallien
R2,921 Discovery Miles 29 210 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

Source d'etude mais egalement d'inspiration, l'Orient a influence de nombreux penseurs, historiens et ecrivains anglais du XVIIIe siecle, dont les textes ont contribue au developpement d'une veritable mode orientale en Angleterre. Mais parmi ces representations de l'Orient se confondent ouvrages erudits et fictifs, connaissance et imagination. Relisant un corpus de romans dits pseudo-orientaux a partir de leur intertexte savant, Claire Gallien met en evidence la deconstruction des frontieres entre textes fictifs et non-fictifs. Si le roman s'inspire de l'erudition orientaliste, celle-ci emploie des techniques de vulgarisation propres a l'ecriture romanesque. Dans L'Orient anglais C. Gallien examine le lien qui unissait une mode a un systeme de connaissance, et permet de voir le role d'une culture etrangere dans la constitution d'une litterature nationale.

The Super-Enlightenment - Daring to Know Too Much (Paperback, New ed.): Dan Edelstein The Super-Enlightenment - Daring to Know Too Much (Paperback, New ed.)
Dan Edelstein
R2,926 Discovery Miles 29 260 Ships in 12 - 17 working days

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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