DOCSLIB.ORG

La Parabole Du Savoir Interdit Athéisme Et Liberté De Pensée En France Au 18E Siècle

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

La Parabole du Savoir Interdit Athéisme et liberté de pensée en France au 18e siècle By: Morgane Guinard A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Sheffield Faculty of Arts and Humanities Department of French School of Languages and Cultures July 2016 RESUME La présente étude qui s’intitule La Parabole du Savoir Interdit, traite des interdits religieux et philosophiques imposés à la connaissance en France, sur la période allant de la Régence à la fin de la Convention (1715-1795). Pour ce faire nous avons opté pour une démarche originale en reprenant à notre profit la figure privilégiée par l’autorité religieuse, le Diable biblique et ses paroles empoisonnées – métaphore de la philosophie –, afin de mettre en évidence le long processus qui depuis Julien l’Apostat jusqu’à Voltaire a interpellé les défenseurs de la liberté d’expression et de la démocratisation de la connaissance. Nous avons choisi le philosophe Michel Onfray comme cadre philosophique et méthodologique, nous appuyant sur ses travaux concernant l’athéisme et l’hédonisme et plus spécifiquement ses deux ouvrages, Les Ultras des Lumières et Traité d’athéologie, explorant ainsi les possibilités et les limites de ce philosophe dans son approche des courants radicaux du XVIIIème siècle. La thèse utilise un large éventail de textes philosophiques allant d’auteurs célèbres – Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau ou Condorcet – à d’autres plus radicaux tels que La Mettrie, Helvétius ou d’Holbach ainsi que des ouvrages clandestins comme Le Traité des trois imposteurs ou le Testament de l’abbé Meslier. Parallèlement, alors que les Lumières gagnent du terrain, nous avons démontré que certains philosophes prouvent leurs limites en posant à leur tour un interdit sur le partage du savoir avec le peuple et les femmes. ABSTRACT The present thesis explores the religious and philosophical interdictions on knowledge in eighteenth-century France from the start of the Regency (1715) to the end of the national Convention (1795) during the French Revolution. In order to do so, it takes the original approach of foregrounding the Bibical figure of the Devil and his poisonous words as used by religious authorities at the time as a metaphor for enlightened ‘philosophie’. The approach brings clearly to light the processes which are employed, from the time of Julian the Apostate to Voltaire, in order to denounce and proscribe defenders of freedom of expression and proponents of the democratization of knowledge. Moreover, the thesis uses the work of the philosopher Michel Onfray as its philosophical and methodological framework, drawing on texts which examine theories of atheism and hedonism, specifically his Traité d’athéologie and Les Ultras des Lumières. As well as providing a loose genealogy of ‘forbidden thought’, this choice of framework allows the present study to determine both the possibilities and the limitations of Onfray’s own thinking insofar as it engages with the radical currents of eighteenth-century French philosophy. The principal object of study then is a large field of philosophical texts from the period in question, ranging from those of famous authors (Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau, Condorcet) to those of more radical thinkers (La Mettrie, Helvétius, d’Holbach) as well as clandestine works such as Le Traité des trois imposteurs and Le Testament de l’abbé Meslier. The thesis thus demonstrates that while enlightenment, broadly defined, gains ground in eighteenth-century France, certain philosophers set their own limits on its progress by seeking to deny or restrict the instruction of the people (‘le peuple’) and the education of women. TABLE DES MATIERES REMERCIEMENTS .................................................................................................... 9 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 11 Le choix du sujet .................................................................................................... 11 Le choix de la période ............................................................................................ 12 Le choix du cadre ................................................................................................... 13 Le choix de la méthodologie .................................................................................. 13 L’effet Spinoza ou le « pan-spinozisme » des Lumières ....................................... 17 L’athéisme de Michel Onfray ................................................................................ 24 Les limites de Michel Onfray ................................................................................. 26 Analyse et développement ..................................................................................... 27 CHAPITRE 1 : SATAN ............................................................................................. 33 1.1 La Fable du serpent qui parle ........................................................................... 37 1.1.1 La parole empoisonnée ............................................................................. 40 1.1.2 La parole interdite ..................................................................................... 44 1.1.3 Le Serpent bienfaiteur ............................................................................... 49 1.2 Le péché de chair ............................................................................................. 52 1.2.1 Des fissures dans le Grand Siècle ............................................................. 55 1.2.1.1 Le libertinage philosophique .............................................................. 56 1.2.1.2 Le libertinage mondain ...................................................................... 59 1.2.2 Le serpent au Palais-Royal ou le poison des idées nouvelles .................. 61 1.2.2.1 Tolérance et permissivité sous la Régence......................................... 62 1.2.2.2 Le siècle libertin ................................................................................. 63 1.2.2.3 Evolution ............................................................................................ 65 1.2.2.4 Fermentation ...................................................................................... 67 1.2.2.5 Révolution .......................................................................................... 69 1.3 L’influence pernicieuse de la tolérance anglaise ............................................. 72 1.3.1 Milton et l’Areopagitica ou la liberté d’expression .................................. 73 1.3.2 Le déisme anglais ...................................................................................... 75 1.3.3 Le théisme français ................................................................................... 78 CHAPITRE 2 : ATHEISME ET LUMIERES ........................................................... 85 2.1 Glissement sémantique de la notion d’athéisme au cours du siècle................. 85 5 2.1.1 La définition de l’athéisme à l’aube du XVIIIème siècle ......................... 85 2.1.2 L’abbé Jean Meslier, premier philosophe athée ........................................ 88 2.1.2.1 Voltaire « le faussaire » .................................................................... 98 2.1.3 Le Traité des trois imposteurs ................................................................. 101 2.1.3.1. L’Esprit de Spinosa ......................................................................... 103 2.1.3.2 Sur la piste de Numa ........................................................................ 104 2.1.3.3 Histoire d’une imposture .................................................................. 107 2.1.3.4 Genèse d’un ouvrage clandestin ....................................................... 108 2.1.4 L’Homme-machine de La Mettrie ........................................................... 112 2.1.5 De L’Esprit d’Helvétius .......................................................................... 119 2.1.6 D’Holbach et Le Système de la Nature ................................................... 123 2.1.6.1 La Synagogue ................................................................................... 125 2.1.6.2 Le sermon philosophique ................................................................. 126 2.1.6.3 Le Système de la Nature ................................................................... 130 2.2 De l’utilité de la religion ................................................................................ 136 2.2.1 Voltaire et l’athéisme .............................................................................. 137 2.2.2 Rousseau et la religion d’état .................................................................. 138 2.2.3 Le culte de l’Etre suprême ...................................................................... 139 CHAPITRE 3 : LUCIFER........................................................................................ 142 3.1 Histoire d’une supercherie ............................................................................. 142 3.2 Le péché d’orgueil et la punition du savoir interdit ....................................... 143 3.3 La transmission du savoir interdit .................................................................. 144 3.3.1 La franc-maçonnerie ............................................................................... 145 3.3.2 Le frère de la dernière heure ..................................................................
Recommended publications
  • Leven: Een Kwestie Van Genieten1

    Leven: Een Kwestie Van Genieten1

    Leven: een kwestie van genieten1 Ik wandel door het bos. Het is een stralende, winterse dag. De zon schijnt. De bladeren kleuren bruin, geel, oranje, rood. Er ligt een dun laagje ijs op het water. Mijn vijf maanden oude zoontje bungelt in zijn draag- doek op mijn buik. Ik voel: het lichaam dat ik ben geniet op dit ogenblik. Ik zit thuis aan tafel. Kaarslicht werpt schaduwen op het muurkleed. Muziek uit Mali klinkt uit de luidsprekers. Ik eet een bord heerlijk gekruide Thaise vissoep en drink een glas Chardonnay. Ik voel: het lichaam dat ik ben geniet op dit ogenblik. Ik loop - vijf jaar geleden, ik herinner het mij als de dag van vandaag – ‘s ochtends vroeg van Thorung Phedi naar Thorung La (in de Himalaya), meer dan vijf duizend meter hoog. Overal om mij heen verblindend witte sneeuw, de blauwe hemel – letterlijk: “on top of the world”. Ik voel: het lichaam dat ik ben geniet op dit ogenblik. Ik zit op een rots, aan een kiezelstrand aan de kust van het Griekse eiland Amorgos. De Aegeïsche zee ligt diep blauw voor mij. Mijn vriendin zit op haar knieën voor mij. Zij pijpt mij. Ik kom klaar. Ik voel: het lichaam dat ik ben geniet op dit ogenblik. Vier momentopnamen uit mijn leven die ik niet beschreven vind in het ‘meest succesvolle Filosofieboek van 2002’, de door Joep Dohmen ver- zorgde bloemlezing Over levenskunst 2. Waarom niet? Zouden grote filosofen deze ogenblikken niet kennen? Zouden ze deze momenten van genieten niet beschouwen als behorende tot het goede leven? En ‘kleine filosofen’ dan? 1 Deze tekst verscheen in het tijdschrift Filosofie, (april/mei 2003) 2 Joep Dohmen: Over levenskunst.
  • Michel Onfray the Atheist Manifesto the Case Against Christianity

    Michel Onfray the Atheist Manifesto the Case Against Christianity

    CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVES ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ISCAST Online Journal 2010 Michel Onfray The atheist manifesto The case against Christianity, Judaism and Islam Melbourne University Press, 2007, 219 pp. ISBN: 9780522853964, ISBN: 0 522 85396 X Reviewed by James Garth I have a confession to make. Immediately after reading The atheist manifesto I remarked to my wife that I was sorely tempted to brand it as ‘intellectual sewage’ and consign it to oblivion on the bookshelf. But, shocked by the astonishing harshness of my own initial assessment, and determined to strive for objectivity (lest my subliminal theistic sympathies be unfairly biasing my critique), I sought out other learned reviews, desperate for some sort of confirmation that Manifesto really was as bad as it appeared. Regrettably, it was. The Age was scalding, stating ‘It is another deliberately distorted, bile-filled jeremiad’ (Zwartz 2007), while The Sydney Morning Herald was succinct, labelling it simply as ‘a bad, bad book’ (Windsor, 2007). This is a shame, since one would be well within reason to expect much, much more from Michel Onfray, lauded as ‘France’s most popular philosopher’ (Melville 2007). Sadly, The atheist manifesto is an exercise in bridge demolition rather than bridge building. Unremittingly polemic in style, unrelentingly caustic in its castigation of monotheism — ‘Monotheisms have no love for intelligence, books, knowledge, science’ (Onfray p95) — Manifesto was quite clearly written ‘in a fit of anger’ as its author not unashamedly confides (Melville, 2007). One wonders whether Onfray’s palpable anger has been accentuated or diminished in Jeremy Leggatt’s florid translation, whose verbose tirades leave no thesaurus page unturned in their quest for the ultimate verbal skewer.
  • Le Testament by Jean Meslier: the Pioneering Work of the Militant Atheism in France

    Le Testament by Jean Meslier: the Pioneering Work of the Militant Atheism in France

    STUDIA HISTORICA GEDANENSIA TOM VII (2016) Aleksandra Porada (SWPS University of Social Sciences) Le Testament by Jean Meslier: the Pioneering Work of the Militant Atheism in France The ongoing debate of the ‘laicization’ of the Western intellectual production during the Enlightenment seems to be far from being closed. Still, we cannot deny that the attitudes towards both the ecclesiastical institutions and Christian beliefs in Western Europe started to change in the end of the 17th c. In France, one of the centers of the intellectual life of the West, the process called ‘dechris‑ tianization’ was manifest at many levels – beginning from the peasants becoming less generous in paying for masses when losing a relative, up to the disputes of intellectuals about delicate questions of theology. Paradoxically, the most radical thinker of the epoch, Jean Meslier (1664– 1729), remains relatively little known even to the historians of ideas. His life remains rather obscure, for he was just a modest priest working all his life in a village; his work seems to have been far too radical to be printed in an unabridged version till mid‑19th c., but also simply too long to be read by more than a handful of students. And yet, Meslier’s Testament deserves to be studied closely. It is the first known treaty about the non‑existence of God in the French language, and a classic of materialist philosophy as well; and an uncompromis‑ ing attack on religious institutions followed by a radically new vision of an egalitarian society which made Meslier a pioneer of both atheist and commu‑ nist thought.
  • Literarios De Superación Del Miedo En La Literatura Fantástica

    Literarios De Superación Del Miedo En La Literatura Fantástica

    B R U M A L Revista de Investigación sobre lo Fantástico DOI: https://doi.org/10.5565/rev/brumal.494 Research Journal on the Fantastic Vol. VI, n.º 2 (otoño/autumn 2018), pp. 15-35, ISSN: 2014-7910 PELIGROSOS DAIMONES. LA INFLUENCIA DE LA TRADICIÓN DE LOS EJERCICIOS FILOSÓFICO- LITERARIOS DE SUPERACIÓN DEL MIEDO EN LA LITERATURA FANTÁSTICA BERNAT CASTANY PRADO Universitat de Barcelona [email protected] Recibido: 13-04-2018 Aceptado: 28-10-2018 RESUMEN El objetivo de este trabajo es esbozar una breve historia de la tradición filosófico-litera- ria de los ejercicios espirituales de superación del miedo y sugerir la influencia que ésta ha ejercido en el origen y evolución del género de la literatura fantástica, en gene- ral, y de la literatura fantástica de terror, en particular. En la primera parte se estudian los diversos modos de ejercitación filosófica para la superación del miedo ideados por las filosofías antiguas (epicureísmo, estoicismo, escepticismo o cinismo), modernas (humanismo, libertinismo, spinozismo) o contemporáneas (vitalismo, existencialismo, libertarismo). En la segunda parte se estudia de qué modo la literatura fantástica ha participado de dicha tradición. PALABRAS CLAVE: Filosofía y literatura. Literatura fantástica. Literatura de terror. Filoso- fía del miedo. Jorge Luis Borges. DANGEROUS DAEMONS. FANTASTIC LITERATURE AND THE PHILOSOPHICAL- LITERARY TRADITION OF SPIRITUAL EXERCISES TO OVERCOME FEAR ABSTRACT The objective of this work is to outline a brief history of the philosophical and literary tradition of spiritual exercises to overcome fear and to suggest the relationships that it 15 Bernat Castany Prado has maintained with the origin and evolution of fantasy literature, in general, and of the fantasy literature of terror, in particular.
  • Introductory Note to Onfray

    Introductory Note to Onfray

    Introductory Note to Onfray MICHEL ONFRAY , the brightest star among the younger French philosophers, is a brilliant prodigy, a gifted and prolific author who, at the age of only 46, has already written 30 books. I first encountered Onfray on the page when I read his 1989 book, Le Ventre Des Philosophes: Critique de la Raison Dietetique (The Philosphers' Stomach), and was completely captivated by his wit, his talented pen, and the prodigious cultural knowledge he displayed. Would Diogenes, Onfray asked, have been an adversary of civilization and its uses absent his obsessive taste for raw octopus? Would the Rousseau of the Social Contract have been such an advocate of frugality if his daily menu had included something more than dairy products? Had not Sartre, whose nightmares were peopled with crabs, suffered his whole life long in his theoretical architecture from his aversion to shellfish? Onfray hooked me with his inventive, amusing, and thought-provoking meditations — and since then, every time Onfray publishes a new book, I pounce! Reading Onfray is a tonic. The son of a manual agricultural laborer and a cleaning woman, Onfray was a professor of philosophy for two decades, until he resigned from the national education system in 2002 to establish a tuition-free Université Populaire (People's University) at Caen, at which Onfray and a handful of dedicated colleagues teach philosophy and other weighty subjects to working-class and ghetto youth who are not supposed to be interested in such intellectual refinements. Onfray has never forgotten his underclass origins, and his dedication to helping the young of the left-out classes is admirable and inspiring.
  • An Iranian Capitalism and the Search for Islam

    An Iranian Capitalism and the Search for Islam

    ISSN 1751- 8229 Volume Three, Number Four – Special Issue: Žižek and Iran An Iranian Capitalism and the Search for Islam Carl Packman It was with observations on 9/11 that Slavoj Žižek made his formal introduction into the English- speaking world of politics proper - quietly forgetting for the time being his presidential campaign in the Republic of Slovenia back in the 1990. Never, however, has he been able to drop the grinding academic axe; surprised as many commentators were that someone could come along and talk about Hegel and coca-cola in the same breath, Žižek of late takes to marrying tenets of Lacanian psychoanalysis with Donald Rumsfeld quotations. But something different, some new sea-change, seems to have occurred again with Žižek’s piece on Iran, ‘Berlusconi in Tehran’, published in the London Review of Books, that it is pure politics, that the mode of language is no longer wry but serious. Before, looking closely at Žižek’s texts, one knew that behind the comic references to popular culture there was a serious kernel, of which to use in critically dismantling areas of unseen terror in the usual functioning of the economy, now the wry guard has been shelved, and the comic subterfuge is the preserve of the enemy itself – “Berlusconi’s capitalism with ‘Italian values’ (comical posturing)”. Žižek’s piece expounds two subjects that I am interested here, namely that today in Iran the Revolutionary Guard is not a working class militia but a mega-corporation, and that a genuinely liberatory Islam exists, not in the tenth century, or lost within the ether, but here and now, and it is this which should undercut both explicitly prejudiced opinions on Islam, and vile Islamofascism which seeks to dominate typical perceptions of what the message of Islam is.
  • Theological Enlightenment

    Theological Enlightenment

    The Rise and Fall of THEOLOGICAL ENLIGHTENMENT Jean-Martin de Prades and Ideological Polarization in Eighteenth-Century France JEFFREY D. BURSON Foreword by Dale Van Kley University of Notre Dame Press Notre Dame, Indiana © 2010 University of Notre Dame Press Copyright © 2010 by University of Notre Dame Press Notre Dame, Indiana 46556 www.undpress.nd.edu All Rights Reserved Manufactured in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Burson, Jeffrey D. The rise and fall of theological enlightenment : Jean-Martin de Prades and Ideological Polarization in Eighteenth-Century France / Jeffrey D. Burson ; foreword by Dale Van Kley. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-268-02220-4 (pbk.) ISBN-10: 0-268-02220-8 (pbk.) 1. Prades, Jean-Martin de. 2. Catholic Church and philosophy— France—History—18th century. 3. Enlightenment—France. 4. Catholic Church—France—History—18th century. 5. France— Church history—18th century. I. Title. BX1529.B88 2010 282'.4409033—dc22 2010007653 ∞ The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. © 2010 University of Notre Dame Press Perspectives on Enlightenment, Religion, and the Abbé de Prades Toward a New Historiography of Theological Enlightenment The Enlightenment, as it unfolded in France during the last half of the eigh- teenth century was, in part, the accidental creation of frightened theolo- gians, and the fate of Theological Enlightenment unfolded like a murder- suicide in which the Gallican church, in an attempt to obliterate the most dangerous tendencies of a radicalizing Enlightenment, mortally wounded its own more moderate but no less valuable variants of Theological En- lightenment.
  • Islam and Republicanism in France Since 1989

    Islam and Republicanism in France Since 1989

    MAHOMET OU LA RÉPUBLIQUE VERSUS MAHOMET ET LA RÉPUBLIQUE: ISLAM AND REPUBLICANISM IN FRANCE SINCE 1989 By KATHERINE EMILY PURBRICK-THOMPSON A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS BY RESEARCH Department of Modern Languages College of Arts and Law University of Birmingham November 2018 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. Abstract This thesis examines two opposing intellectual discourses furthered by the intellectual and political elite on the subject of the integration of Islam into the French narrative and identity. The hypothesis which underpins this dissertation is that, in France, it is the physical practice of Islam which is perceived to represent a threat to the nation. I have named the discourse which demands that Muslims demonstrate the predominance of their loyalty to the Republic over their devotion to their religion through the renouncement of orthopraxy Mahomet ou la République. Its development, I argue, is linked to the renewed enthusiasm for Republicanism which emerged in the 1980s. By contrast, the proponents of the counter position, which I have termed Mahomet et la République, argue that the full acceptance and integration of orthopractic Muslims is possible and desirable.
  • Cynicism As a Way of Life: from the Classical Cynic to a New Cynicism

    Cynicism As a Way of Life: from the Classical Cynic to a New Cynicism

    Akropolis 1 (2017) 33–54 Dennis Schutijser* Cynicism as a way of life: From the Classical Cynic to a New Cynicism Introduction Both within and outside the world of academic philosophy, art of living has been increasingly in the spotlight. Objectives such as success, pleasure and happi- ness are expressly validated in contemporary society, but more philosophically val- id objectives such as cultivation of the soul also receive ample attention. On the other side, within academic philosophy, the question for the art of living has also been receiving increasing attention.1 This revival could arguably be led back to Mi- chel Foucault’s genealogical return to antiquity in the second and third parts of his History of Sexuality, in turn undoubtedly influenced by the works of Pierre Hadot. Especially classical philosophy has proven a rich source of investigation and inspi- ration for a philosophy of the art of living. Many currents in ancient philosophy ac- tually proposed different ways of living, based on different values and articulated in different practices.2 One of the central currents throughout a large part of antiquity was Cyn- icism. This school is accompanied with a number of methodological difficulties. Not least of all, today’s connotation of the name Cynicism is radically different from its classical origins. Today, being a cynic is associated with a depreciative at- titude, intended to insult and offend, rather than being concerned with any phil- osophical foundation. A further complication is that little is known directly of classical Cynicism, and what we do know often comes from anecdotes and stories written down by posterity, and not from actual first hand sources of substantial profundity.
  • (2019) Revolutionary Contexts for the Quest: Jesus in the Rhetoric and Methods of Early Modern Intellectual History

    (2019) Revolutionary Contexts for the Quest: Jesus in the Rhetoric and Methods of Early Modern Intellectual History

    \ Birch, J. C.P. (2019) Revolutionary contexts for the quest: Jesus in the rhetoric and methods of Early Modern intellectual history. Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus, 17(1-2), pp. 35-80. (doi: 10.1163/17455197- 01701005) The material cannot be used for any other purpose without further permission of the publisher and is for private use only. There may be differences between this version and the published version. You are advised to consult the publisher’s version if you wish to cite from it. http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/187702/ Deposited on 17 September 2019 Enlighten – Research publications by members of the University of Glasgow http://eprints.gla.ac.uk REVOLUTIONARY CONTEXTS FOR THE QUEST Jesus in the Rhetoric and Methods of Early Modern Intellectual History Abstract: This article contributes to a new perspective on the historical Jesus in early modern intellectual history. This perspective looks beyond German and academic scholarship, and takes account of a plurality of religious, social, and political contexts. Having outlined avenues of research which are consistent with this approach, I focus on radicalised socio- political contexts for the emergence of 'history' as a category of analysis for Jesus. Two contexts will be discussed: the late eighteenth century, with reference to Joseph Priestley, Baron d'Holbach, and their associations with the French Revolution; and the interregnum period in seventeenth-century Britain, with reference to early Quaker controversies and the apologetic work of Henry More. I identify ideas about Jesus in those contexts which have echoed in subsequent scholarship, while challenging the notion that there is a compelling association between sympathetic historical conceptions of Jesus (as opposed to theological) and a tendency towards radical and revolutionary politics.
  • Que Nada Se Sabe: El Escepticismo En La Obra De Jorge Luis Borges

    Que Nada Se Sabe: El Escepticismo En La Obra De Jorge Luis Borges

    Que nada se sabe: el escepticismo en la obra de Jorge Luis Borges Bernat Castany Prado Que nada se sabe: el escepticismo en la obra de Jorge Luis Borges Prólogo de Fernando Iwasaki Cuadernos de América sin nombre Cuadernos de América sin nombre dirigidos por José Carlos Rovira Nº 31 COMITÉ CIENTÍFICO: Sonia Mattalia Carmen Alemany Bay Ramiro Muñoz Haedo Miguel Ángel Auladell Pérez María Águeda Méndez Beatriz Aracil Varón Pedro Mendiola Oñate Eduardo Becerra Grande Francisco Javier Mora Contreras Helena Establier Pérez Nelson Osorio Tejeda Teodosio Fernández Rodríguez Ángel Luis Prieto de Paula José María Ferri Coll José Rovira Collado Virginia Gil Amate Enrique Rubio Cremades Aurelio González Pérez Mónica Ruiz Bañuls Rosa Mª Grillo Víctor Manuel Sanchis Amat Ramón Lloréns García Francisco Tovar Blanco Francisco José López Alfonso Eva Mª Valero Juan Remedios Mataix Azuar Abel Villaverde Pérez El trabajo está integrado en las actividades de la Unidad de Investigación de la Univer- sidad de Alicante «Recuperaciones del mundo precolombino y colonial en el siglo XX hispanoamericano» y en el proyecto «La formación de la tradición literaria hispanoame- ricana: recuperaciones textuales y propuestas de revisión del canon» (FFI2011-25717). Los cuadernos de América sin nombre están asociados al Centro de Estudios Ibero- americanos Mario Benedetti. Ilustración de cubierta: Michel Sunnen © Bernat Castany Prado I.S.B.N.: 978-84-9717-243-1 Depósito Legal: A-821-2012 Fotocomposición e impresión: Compobell, S.L. Murcia Índice Borges, MEGATLÖN . 11 Síntesis ..................................... 17 Introducción ............................... 23 1. El escepticismo . 33 1.1. Núcleo doctrinal........................ 33 1.2. Breve historia del escepticismo filosófico...
  • The Enlightenment of Jean-Baptiste-Louis Gresset, Léger-Marie Deschamps, and Simon-Nicolas-Henri Linguet

    The Enlightenment of Jean-Baptiste-Louis Gresset, Léger-Marie Deschamps, and Simon-Nicolas-Henri Linguet

    ‘TOUCHSTONES OF TRUTH’: THE ENLIGHTENMENT OF JEAN-BAPTISTE-LOUIS GRESSET, LÉGER-MARIE DESCHAMPS, AND SIMON-NICOLAS-HENRI LINGUET DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Mircea Alexandru Platon, M.A. Graduate Program in History The Ohio State University 2012 Dissertation Committee: Dr. Dale K. Van Kley, Adviser Dr. Alice Conklin, Adviser Dr. Nicholas Breyfogle Copyright Mircea Alexandru Platon 2012 ABSTRACT My dissertation, “ ‘Touchstones of Truth’: The Enlightenment of J.-B.-L. Gresset, L.-M. Deschamps, and S.-N.-H. Linguet,” focuses on three key but little studied opponents of the philosophes. I argue that the writer Jean-Baptiste-Louis Gresset (1709- 1777), the philosopher Léger-Marie Deschamps (1716-1774), and the lawyer and political theorist Simon-Nicolas-Henri Linguet (1736-1794) opposed the philosophes in the name of a set of universally valid principles against what they took to be the philosophes' superficial, self-serving, and haphazard politicization of language, philosophy and the social sciences. These three intellectuals warned that such politicization fostered economic, political, and intellectual inequality as well as cultural alienation, thereby undermining the Enlightenment’s own vision of a world of self-emancipated human beings and pushing France in the direction of a violent revolution. Gresset supported a “civic republican” political economy of virtue, and warned about the dangers of the consumer culture fostered by the philosophes. The roots of his cultural criticism lay in moral and political concerns that found expression in a patriotic discourse stressing the importance of social “harmony” and the common good while rejecting any temptation to belong to a “party.” In this spirit, Gresset defended the “ancient constitution” against idle monks, royal or ministerial despotism, parlementarian rebellion, and the philosophes.