| Description |
1 online resource (viii, 270 pages) |
| Series |
Princeton Legacy Library |
|
Princeton legacy library.
|
| Contents |
Introduction -- Absolutism and the ideal types of sociability -- The language of sociability -- The civilizing process revisited -- Sociability and universal history : Jean-Baptiste Suard and the Scottish Enlightenment in France -- André Morellet and the end of the Enlightenment -- Conclusion |
| Summary |
In a wide-ranging interpretation of French thought in the years 1670-1789, Daniel Gordon takes us through the literature of manners and moral philosophy, theology and political theory, universal history and economics to show how French thinkers sustained a sense of liberty and dignity within an authoritarian regime. A penetrating critique of those who exaggerate either the radicalism of the Enlightenment or the hegemony of the absolutist state, his book documents the invention of an ethos that was neither democratic nor absolutist, an ethos that idealized communication and private life. The key to this ethos was "sociability," and Gordon offers the first detailed study of the language and ideas that gave this concept its meaning in the Old Regime. Citizens without Sovereignty provides a wealth of information about the origins and usage of key words, such as société and sociabilité, in French thought. From semantic fields of meaning, Gordon goes on to consider institutional fields of action. Focusing on the ubiquitous idea of "society" as a depoliticized sphere of equality, virtue, and aesthetic cultivation, he marks out the philosophical space that lies between the idea of democracy and the idea of the royal police state. Within this space, Gordon reveals the channels of creative action that are open to citizens without sovereignty--citizens who have no right to self-government. His work is thus a contribution to general historical sociology as well as French intellectual history |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 247-265) and index |
| Notes |
In English |
|
Print version record |
| Subject |
Enlightenment.
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Despotism -- Social aspects -- France
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French language -- Social aspects -- France
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Enlightenment (18th-century western movement)
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HISTORY -- Europe -- France.
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Despotism -- Social aspects
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Enlightenment
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French language -- Social aspects
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Intellectual life
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Politisches Denken
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Sociabiliteit (sociale wetenschappen)
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Sociale gelijkheid.
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Verlichting (cultuurgeschiedenis)
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Égalité -- France -- Histoire.
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Nationalité -- France -- Histoire.
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Despotisme éclairé -- Aspect social.
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Relations humaines.
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Mouvement des Lumières -- France.
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Français (langue) -- 18e siècle -- Aspect social.
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Despotisme -- France -- Aspect social.
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Français (langue) -- 17e siècle -- Aspect social.
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Mouvement des Lumières.
|
| SUBJECT |
France -- Intellectual life -- 18th century.
http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85051440
|
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France -- Intellectual life -- 17th century.
http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85051439
|
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France -- Intellectual life.
http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85051436
|
| Subject |
France
|
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Frankreich
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France -- Vie intellectuelle -- 17e siècle.
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France -- Vie intellectuelle -- 18e siècle.
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| Form |
Electronic book
|
| ISBN |
1400887372 |
|
9781400887378 |
|
9780691629612 |
|
0691629617 |
|
9780691607733 |
|
0691607737 |
|
