The Enlightenment in the British Worlds and its Legacy: Modernity and Ambivalence (Valérie Capdeville)
The Enlightenment remains an enduring object of historical interest and intellectual debate both in the academic world as well as amongst the wider public. The Enlightenment was characterised by an impulse towards modernity in matters of government, politics, religion and aesthetics. But was it an intellectual movement led mainly by European elites? French historian Antoine Lilti posits the Enlightenment as a space for critical debate on modernity and an ideal of emancipation through knowledge. For social and cultural historians, it was a lived experience, or a particular lifestyle as much or even more so than a set of ideas. For decades, historians have endeavoured either to claim it or to criticize it. Was the Enlightenment plural, or global? The Enlightenment also refers to a philosophical and political heritage that is still relevant today.
This course aims to introduce the students to the main concepts, values and debates of the Enlightenment, as well as to the cultural and social practices that emerged in the British worlds during the long eighteenth century. Through a selection of primary and secondary sources, this course will especially shed light on the ambivalence and contradictions of that ‘Age of Reason’ and interrogate the notions of freedom of expression, progress, toleration or democracy as well as the Eurocentric vision of the Enlightenment. Can Enlightenment debates help us understand today’s controversies over secularism, colonialism, and even over the environmental crisis or social media?
The Enlightenment remains an enduring object of historical interest and intellectual debate both in the academic world as well as amongst the wider public. The Enlightenment was characterised by an impulse towards modernity in matters of government, politics, religion and aesthetics. But was it an intellectual movement led mainly by European elites? French historian Antoine Lilti posits the Enlightenment as a space for critical debate on modernity and an ideal of emancipation through knowledge. For social and cultural historians, it was a lived experience, or a particular lifestyle as much or even more so than a set of ideas. For decades, historians have endeavoured either to claim it or to criticize it. Was the Enlightenment plural, or global? The Enlightenment also refers to a philosophical and political heritage that is still relevant today.
This course aims to introduce the students to the main concepts, values and debates of the Enlightenment, as well as to the cultural and social practices that emerged in the British worlds during the long eighteenth century. Through a selection of primary and secondary sources, this course will especially shed light on the ambivalence and contradictions of that ‘Age of Reason’ and interrogate the notions of freedom of expression, progress, toleration or democracy as well as the Eurocentric vision of the Enlightenment. Can Enlightenment debates help us understand today’s controversies over secularism, colonialism, and even over the environmental crisis or social media?
