Editors of Belief and Politics in Enlightenment France, Mita Choudhury and Daniel J. Watkins argue that Enlightenment did not signal the end of religious tradition and show how religious belief in France continued to function in dynamic ways throughout the long eighteenth century. Over the past few decades historians have justly complicated the narrative of the … Continue reading
From catechisms to Voltaire: Religious tradition and change in eighteenth-century novels
Alicia C. Montoya explores how eighteenth-century readers might have moved from catechisms to Voltaire in her chapter of Les Lumières catholiques et le roman français (edited by Isabelle Tremblay), the latest volume to be published in the Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment series. Scholars of the Enlightenment have tended – like intellectual historians generally – to stress … Continue reading
Language, science and human control of nature: the case of Buffon’s ‘Histoire naturelle’
Hanna Roman discusses the importance of understanding the link between language and nature in 18th century France in her book, The Language of Nature in Buffon's Histoire naturelle, the latest volume to be published in the Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment series. In the French eighteenth century, it is difficult to understand how science worked without first studying its relationship to … Continue reading
The ‘Beccaria moment’: revisiting the origins of the modern penal system with Philippe Audegean
Pierre Musitelli discusses Cesare Beccaria's lasting impact on European criminal law, in celebration of the latest Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment volume, Le moment Beccaria: naissance du droit pénal moderne, 1764-1810, edited by Philippe Audegean and Luigi Delia. Published anonymously in Livorno in July 1764, Cesare Beccaria’s On Crimes and Punishments is at the origin of a remarkable moment in … Continue reading
Green Wigs? Ecology and the Long Eighteenth Century
Denys Van Renen explores the relationship between nature and "new science" in his latest book, the first to be published under the new partnership between the Voltaire Foundation and Liverpool University Press. Without a doubt, the Restoration era always exceeds students’ expectations. Students arrive with images in their heads of powdered wigs and royal ceremonies; they leave savoring … Continue reading
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