scholarly journals Library and Librarian in the Encyclopedia of D. Diderot and J. d’Alembert

2020 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 158-165
Author(s):  
Taisiia M. Demicheva
Keyword(s):  
French Revolution ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Modern Concept ◽  
Transfer Of Knowledge ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
Age Of Enlightenment ◽  
The Difference

The article discusses peculiarities of perception of library and librarian in France during the age of Enlightenment using the example of Encyclopedia of D. Diderot and J. d’Alembert. The author notes that this article considers the period of the 18th century before the French revolution and only on the territory of France. The author notes that the idea of continuity in obtaining and possessing the knowledge was built by enlighteners using the examples of public libraries in ancient times. The article focuses attention on the difference between the concepts of librairie/ bibliothèque and their transformation during the early Modern period. The author analyzes the main features and peculiarities of the librarian profession that were highlighted by French enlighteners, and their difference from the modern concept. The article emphasizes the question of the prestige of this profession in the 18th century. The author concludes that the understanding of the profession of librarian in the age of Enlightenment differs from the modern one. The study of the role of librarian in the 18th century allows to explore the features of the library in the Enlightenment, whose tasks included collection and transfer of knowledge.

The Quest for a Global Age of Reason. Part II: Cultural Appropriation and Racism in the Name of Enlightenment

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 133-155
Author(s):  
Dag Herbjørnsrud ◽  
Keyword(s):  
White Supremacy ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Founding Fathers ◽  
Phillis Wheatley ◽  
Age Of Reason ◽  
Methodological Nationalism ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Late 18Th Century ◽  
Global Age ◽  
Age Of Enlightenment

The Age of Enlightenment is more global and complex than the standard Eurocentric Colonial Canon narrative presents. For example, before the advent of unscientific racism and the systematic negligence of the contributions of Others outside of “White Europe,” Raphael centered Ibn Rushd (Averroes) in his Vatican fresco “Causarum Cognitio” (1511); the astronomer Edmund Halley taught himself Arabic to be more enlightened; The Royal Society of London acknowledged the scientific method developed by Ibn Al-Haytham (Alhazen). In addition, if we study the Transatlantic texts of the late 18th century, it is not Kant, but instead enlightened thinkers like Anton Wilhelm Amo (born in present-day’s Ghana), Phillis Wheatley (Senegal region), and Toussaint L’Ouverture (Haiti), who mostly live up to the ideals of reason, humanism, universalism, and human rights. One obstacle to developing a more balanced presentation of the Age of the Enlightenment is the influence of colonialism, Eurocentrism, and methodological nationalism. Consequently, this paper, part II of two, will also deal with the European Enlightenment’s unscientific heritage of scholarly racism from the 1750s. It will be demonstrated how Linnaeus, Hume, Kant, and Hegel were among the Founding Fathers of intellectual white supremacy within the Academy. Hence, the Age of Enlightenment is not what we are taught to believe. This paper will demonstrate how the lights from different “Global Enlightenments” can illuminate paths forward to more dialogue and universalism in the 21st century.

Gallicanism

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jotham Parsons
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual History ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
French Revolution ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Roman Catholic Church ◽  
Religious Revival ◽  
Catholic Theology ◽  
Formed Part

“Gallicanism” is a 19th-century term used to refer to a range of ecclesiological and political theories extending from the High Middle Ages to at least the French Revolution that sought to decrease papal or increase royal control over the Roman Catholic Church in France. Its boundaries are poorly defined: it often formed part of larger ideological complexes with elements that might be defined as absolutist, constitutionalist, or Jansenist and it had complex but important relationships with similar movements in other polities and even, for example, with Protestant Erastianism. Typically, Gallicanism is understood as an erudite discourse among learned jurists and theologians, and scholarly interest in it has usually been undertaken within the context of the intellectual history of state formation in the Early Modern period and of Conciliarist and post-Tridentine Catholic theology. In the 16th century it was closely entwined with the rise of humanism and the Reformation; in the 17th century, with royal absolutism, religious revival, and the Jansenist controversy. More recent studies have investigated it as a broadly shared religious and national culture among French Catholics of varied backgrounds and ideological orientations. Its influence beyond France proper was complex and did not fully develop until the 18th century, but it has been the subject of some interesting work.

Language or Dialect?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raf Van Rooy
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Simple Fact ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Political Interpretation ◽  
Political Question ◽  
Shed Light

‘What is the difference between a language and a dialect?’ is one of the questions most frequently asked of linguists. A notorious and oft-repeated answer is ‘A language is a dialect with an army and navy’, wrongly attributed to Max Weinreich. Linguists have mostly used this witticism as a handy way to end the discussion and dismiss the distinction between language and dialect as a political question irrelevant to their discipline. This book does not attempt to answer this seemingly unsolvable puzzle either but aims to shed light on a simple fact usually overlooked by linguists and laypeople alike: the conceptual pair is not a timeless given but has a history, and a much shorter one than one might assume. It starts not in Greek antiquity, as the origin of the word dialect may suggest, but in the sixteenth century. Taking the Weinreich witticism as its starting point, this book guides the reader on the remarkable journey which the conceptual pair has made. It begins with the prehistory of the language/dialect distinction in antiquity and the Middle Ages. The core of the book surveys the emergence, establishment, and elaboration of the conceptual pair during the early modern period, from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment, when linguistic diversity first became an object of intense study. Finally, the much-contested and ambiguous fate of the language / dialect distinction in modern linguistics is outlined, with special reference to the persistence of earlier ideas and the rise to prominence of the political interpretation crystallized in the Weinreich quip.

Paideia as Bildung in Germany in the Age of Enlightenment

1998 ◽  
pp. 53-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paola Giacomoni
Keyword(s):  
18Th Century ◽  
Classical Antiquity ◽  
German Philosophy ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Strong Emphasis ◽  
Medieval Mystics ◽  
History Of ◽  
Age Of Enlightenment ◽  
The Ideal

There have been many interpretations of Bildung in the history of German philosophy, from the Medieval mystics to the secularization of the Enlightenment. Wilhelm von Humboldt's work at the end of the 18th century is a good example. He placed the idea of Bildung at the center of his work because it was rooted in a dynamic, transforming idea of the natural and human worlds while also being oriented toward a model of balance and perfection. Von Humboldt's interpretation of modernity is characterized by a strong emphasis on change as well as the need to find criteria for guiding such a transformation that has no intrinsic or predetermined end. Love of classical antiquity was not merely nostalgia for a lost world, a normative current that placed the idea of perfection and balance foremost in order to achieve the ideal of Humanitas in an attempt to overcome the unilaterally of modernity.

1. Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
Stephen Gaukroger ◽  
Knox Peden
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
French Revolution ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
World War ◽  
French Philosophy ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
The First World War ◽  
French Theory ◽  
First World

1580 saw the publication of Montaigne’s Essays, which the Introduction identifies as the first philosophical work in French. Montaigne was fluent in Latin, the language of scholarship, so what was the significance of his writing in the vernacular? During the early modern period, French philosophy covered what we would now think of as science, along with theology, metaphysics, and ethics. During the Enlightenment and the French Revolution, philosophy became associated with radical politics and intellectualism. After the First World War, French philosophers embraced existential ideas from Germany and further east. What impact would ‘French theory’ have on the twentieth century?

scholarly journals The relationship between the Enlightenment and the survival of the Livonian language in Salaca Parish

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 35-59
Author(s):  
Aldur Vunk
Keyword(s):  
18Th Century ◽  
Language Usage ◽  
Academic Interest ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Age Of Enlightenment ◽  
The Relationship

In the 18th century, the Livonian language in Salaca Parish became the subject of academic interest, and also persecution. This article examines the contradictory challenges posed by the Age of Enlightenment, primarily the exclusion of the Livonian language from public use that was carried out with the help of administrative and legal measures. The sources for the article include contemporary descriptions, as well as data related to the families that can be identified as being Livonians. The differing attitudes of the two largest manor administrators toward the Livonian peasants and their language is highlighted along with the ensuing consequences. There is also a description of the projects and undertakings that were impacted by the Enlightenment at the parish’s larger manors. To start, the article defines the borders of the Livonians’ linguistic island in the first half of the 18th century, and in conclusion, a comparison is provided of the language usage of the Livonians in this same area in the first half of the 19th century.Kokkuvõte. Aldur Vunk: Seosed valgustusaja ja liivi keele püsimise vahel Salatsi kihelkonnas. Valgustusliikumise mõju Balti kubermangudes ei väljendunud kõikjal positiivsete arengute kaudu ja 18. sajandil ei suudetud ühiskonda kaasajastada tasakaalustatult, hävitamata elutervele kultuurile omast paljusust. Valgustusaeg koos samal ajal süvenenud pärisorjusega oli Salatsi liivi talupoegadele mitmeti väljakutsuv; võrreldes varasema ajaga sõltus nende kultuurilise ja keelelise omapära püsimine kohalikest mõisnikest ja nende heakskiidul ametisse pandud pastoritest. See polnud aga kaugeltki parim võimalus, sest koos uue mentaliteedi võidulepääsemisega oli suurenenud lõhe ka haritud ja valgustatud inimeste eneste vahel. Liivlaste kultuurilist emantsipatsiooni takistasid seisuslikud tõkked ja Salaca kihelkonna kaugus nii kubermangu- kui ka kreisikeskustest ei võimaldanud siia koonduda rohkematel haritlastel kui pastor ja mõisnike koduõpetajad. Liivlaste identiteedi väga oluline nõrgenemine valgustusaja kestel Salatsi kihelkonnas on tuvastatav nende asustusalana kirjeldatud piirkonna kiires kahanemises 18. sajandi teisel poolel ja 19. sajandi alguses. Ometi polnud Salatsi kihelkond valgustusajal vaimse elu orbiidilt kadunud ja täielikku pimedusse mattunud kolgas, kus valgustusideed oleks olnud täiesti tundmatud. Pigem suurenes sellel ajastul haritud inimeste iseteadlike suundumiste osakaal ja palju sõltus ka Salatsi kihelkonna väheste haritlaste huvidest. Samal ajal kui saksakeelsesse teadusperioodikasse jõudis teadmine akadeemilist huvi pakkuvast liivlaste kultuurist, algas selle väljenduste mahasurumine. Aastatel 1742–1778 kihelkonnakogudust teeninud pastor Johann Conrad Burchard saatis Peterburi Teaduste Akadeemia liikmele August Ludwig von Schlözerile liivi keele alase kaastöö ja jätkas selle keele uurimist Salatsi kihelkonnas. Tema järeltulija, pastor Ignatius Franz Hackel, võttis aga eesmärgiks liivi talupoegade iidse ja omapärase kultuuri hävitamise, mis ühiskonna poolt tema kätte antud volituste ja pika ametiaja (1778–1836) toel ka teoks sai. Lisaks pastoritele oli suur osakaal talupoegade elu suunamisel mõisnikel. 1738. aastal poolitatud Salatsi mõisa kahes pooles olid tingimused liivi kultuuri säilimisele erinevad. Salatsi kihelkonnas elanud liivlastest kasutas oma emakeelt kauem Svētciemsi mõisa kogukond. Seda mõisa pidasid 18. sajandil valdavalt kohalikud või samast piirkonnast pärit mõisnikud ja väljapaistvaim neist oli Riia literaatide suhtlusringkonda kuulunud kihelkonna sillakohtunik Friedrich Gustav von Dunten. 1769. aastal mõisa üle võtnud parun Dunten korraldas samal aastal kohalike talupoegade keele jäädvustamise Riia Toomkiriku ülempastori ja konsistooriumi koolijuhi Immanuel Justus von Esseni juures. Samal ajal Vecsalaca mõisas suurejoonelisi ja ajastule iseloomulikke kultuurimonumente püstitanud parun Friedrich Hermann von Fersen rõhutas küll oma majapidamise kuulumist antiikse ja germaani kultuuri mõjuvälja, kuid aitas ise kaasa seal veel elujõulise liivi kultuuri väljasuretamisele.Märksõnad: liivlased, Salaca kihelkond, Vecsalaca, Svētciems, Ķirbiži, 18. sajand, liivi keelKubbõvõttõks. Aldur Vunk: Sidtõkst sieldõmāiga ja līvõ kīel pīlimiz vail Salāts mōgõrs. Sieldõmāiga likkimiz mȯj 18. āigastsadā Baltijs iz ūo set pozitīvi. Sieldõmāiga īdskubs vǟrgõdāigaks vȯļ Salāts mōaŗīntijizt pierāst lǟlam. Nänt kultūr ja kīel pīlimi tǟnkiz mȯiznikīst ja päpīst. Bet se võimi sugīd iz ūo amā paŗīmi, sīestõ põŗg kovāld rovzt eņtš vail kazīz jo sūrõks. Līvlizt identitēt 18. āigastsadā lopāndõks pūol ja 19. āigastsadā īrgandõksõs ei jo vōjlizõks, sīestõ jo piškizõks ei mō, kus ne jelīzt, ja Salāts immõrkouț vȯļ kougõn sidāmist. Salāts immõrkouț umīțigid iz ūo täužiņ pimdõ kūož, kus sieldõmāiga mõtkõd äb vȯlkst vȯnnõd tundtõbõd. Sīel īž āigal, ku saksā tieudlizt āigakērad sizzõl päzīzt tieutõd iļ līvõd kultūr, īrgiz ka līvõd kultūr mōzõ pīkstimi. Päp Johann Conrad Burchard sōtiz Pētõrburg Tieud Akadēmij nõtkõmõn August Ludwig von Schlözerõn eņtš tuņšlimiztīe iļ līvõ kīel ja jatkīz līvõ kīel tuņšlimiztīedõ Salāts immõrkouțš ka pierrõ. Bet täm tagāntuļļi, päp Ignatius Franz Hackel, īrgiz artõ līvõ kultūrõ nei ku set sȭitiz. 1738. āigasts Salāts mȯizõ sai jagdõt kōd jagūks. Sīe Pivākilā jags līvõ kēļ sai kȭlbatod amā kōgim. Mȯiznikā Friedrich Gustav von Dunten tigtiz līvõd kultūrõ. Bet nägțõbõks Vanāsalāts mȯizõ barōn Friedrich Hermann äbțiz artõ līvõd kultūrõ.

scholarly journals Enlightening the enlightenment: On the permanent concept crisis

2010 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 3-27
Author(s):  
Tijana Bajovic
Keyword(s):  
French Revolution ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
European History ◽  
Complex Phenomenon ◽  
Living Tissue ◽  
Considerable Influence ◽  
Western Thought ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Integral Process ◽  
The French Revolution

Two hundred and twenty years after the French Revolution, the problem of defining the concept of the Enlightenment still persists. Considering the lack of agreement over the defining features of this movement or epoch, our aim is to show that it has never been fully and clearly defined and understood. The author therefore suggests making a distinction between enlightenment (enlightening) and the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment as a period linked to 18th century Europe, can be understood as part of a broader process of enlightenment or enlightening. The Enlightenment should not be viewed as a homogenous whole, an integral process, but as a (still living) tissue, that still exerts considerable influence on Western thought and culture. The author argues, however, that the accusations of projecting or inventing the Enlightenment have not proved very useful, because they interfere with our understanding of this complex phenomenon and important movement in European history.

Veitstanz und Fortschritt

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-122
Author(s):  
Björn Moll
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Early Modern Period ◽  
Historical Study ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Modern Period ◽  
Late 18Th Century ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of

Abstract This article focusses on the discourse surrounding ›projectors‹, autoentrepeneurs, who made plans for innovations of any kind and tried to have potential financiers promote them, from the Baroque to German Romanticism. While the role of projectors in the history of science has been the object of historical study, there is a lack of research regarding the concept’s trajectory and its semantic variation. In the early modern period, the necessity of innovation was emphasized, but also the contingency of project proposals. During the Enlightenment, the tradition of the approval of project-making continued, but projects became detached from projectors. In the late 18th century, the idea of speculation and the fantastic transformed within the area of creativity, due to the primacy of imagination and genius. What happened to the talk about projectors and their ways of self-fashioning after the disappearance of the social figure? What enabled authors to refer to projectors and how was their role historically discussed? Projectors served as a topos of insanity or deception or a sign of unprofessionalism (as shown in examples by Goethe and Schiller). Romanticism carried with it the positive connotations of the project, but also reinterpreted its negative aspects, such as the value of incompletion, insanity and alternative ways of work.

Vyshnivetsky Castle Library of Prince Mychailo Servaty Vyshnivetsky – Historical Book Heritage and Object of Bibliological and Historical Reconstruction

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 166-182
Author(s):  
Iryna Tsiborovska-Rymarovych
Keyword(s):  
18Th Century ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Cultural Significance ◽  
Historical Sources ◽  
Cultural Images ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
Printed Books ◽  
History Of ◽  
Grand Duchy Of Lithuania ◽  
Definition Of

The article has as its object the elucidation of the history of the Vyshnivetsky Castle Library, definition of the content of its fund, its historical and cultural significance, correlation of the founder of the Library Mychailo Servaty Vyshnivetsky with the Book.The Vyshnivetsky Castle Library was formed in the Ukrainian historical region of Volyn’, in the Vyshnivets town – “family nest” of the old Ukrainian noble family of the Vyshnivetskies under the “Korybut” coat of arm. The founder of the Library was Prince Mychailo Servaty Vyshnivetsky (1680–1744) – Grand Hetman and Grand Chancellor of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Vilno Voievoda. He was a politician, an erudite and great bibliophile. In the 30th–40th of the 18th century the main Prince’s residence Vyshnivets became an important centre of magnate’s culture in Rich Pospolyta. M. S. Vyshnivetsky’s contemporaries from the noble class and clergy knew quite well about his library and really appreciated it. According to historical documents 5 periods are defined in the Library’s history. In the historical sources the first place is occupied by old-printed books of Library collection and 7 Library manuscript catalogues dating from 1745 up to the 1835 which give information about quantity and topical structures of Library collection.The Library is a historical and cultural symbol of the Enlightenment epoch. The Enlightenment and those particular concepts and cultural images pertaining to that epoch had their effect on the formation of Library’s fund. Its main features are as follow: comprehensive nature of the stock, predominance of French eighteenth century editions, presence of academic books and editions on orientalistics as well as works of the ideologues of the Enlightenment and new kinds of literature, which generated as a result of this movement – encyclopaedias, encyclopaedian dictionaries, almanacs, etc. Besides the universal nature of its stock books on history, social and political thought, fiction were dominating.The reconstruction of the history of Vyshnivetsky’s Library, the historical analysis of the provenances in its editions give us better understanding of the personality of its owners and in some cases their philanthropic activities, and a better ability to identify the role of this Library in the culture life of society in a certain epoch.

Serge Moscovici's "Réflexions sur la popularité des conspiracy mentalities"

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivier Klein
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
French Revolution ◽  
Social Representations ◽  
Social Representation ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Conspiracy Theories ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
The People ◽  
Social Representation Theory ◽  
The Masses

This is a pdf of the original typed manuscript of a lecture made in 2006. An annotated English translation will be published by the International Review of Social Psychology. I this text, Moscovici seeks to update his earlier work on the “conspiracy mentality” (1987) by considering the relationships between social representations and conspiracy mentality. Innovation in this field, Moscovici argues, will require a much thorough description and understanding of what conspiracy theories are, what rhetoric they use and what functions they fulfill. Specifically, Moscovici considers conspiracies as a form of counterfactual history implying a more desirable world (in which the conspiracy did not take place) and suggests that social representation theory should tackle this phenomenon. He explicitly links conspiracy theories to works of fiction and suggests that common principles might explain their popularity. Historically, he argues, conspiracism was born twice: First, in the middle ages, when their primary function was to exclude and destroy what was considered as heresy; and second, after the French revolution, to delegitimize the Enlightenment, which was attributed to a small coterie of reactionaries rather than to the will of the people. Moscovici then considers four aspects (“thematas”) of conspiracy mentality: 1/ the prohibition of knowledge; 2/ the duality between the majority (the masses, prohibited to know) and “enlightened” minorities; 3/ the search for a common origin, a “ur phenomenon” that connects historical events and provides a continuity to History (he notes that such a tendency is also present in social psychological theorizing); and 4/ the valorization of tradition as a bulwark against modernity. Some of Moscovici’s insights in this talk have since been borne out by contemporary research on the psychology of conspiracy theories, but many others still remain fascinating potential avenues for future research.

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