Research Catalog

Details

Description

1. viii, 270 pages; 25 cm

Summary

1. 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.

Alternative title

1. Equality and sociability in French thought, 1670-1789

Subject

1. 1600-1799
2. Enlightenment
3. Despotism > Social aspects > France
4. French language > Social aspects > France
5. Enlightenment (18th-century western movement)
6. Despotism > Social aspects
7. Enlightenment
8. French language > Social aspects
9. Intellectual life
10. Aufklärung
11. Despotie
12. Geistesleben
13. Gesellschaft
14. Politische Philosophie
15. Politisches Denken
16. Sprache
17. Sociabiliteit (sociale wetenschappen)
18. Sociale gelijkheid
19. Verlichting (cultuurgeschiedenis)
20. Absolutisme > França > Edat moderna
21. Il·lustració > França
22. Enlightenment > France
23. Égalité > France > Histoire
24. Nationalité > France > Histoire
25. Despotisme éclairé > Aspect social
26. Relations humaines
27. Mouvement des Lumières > France
28. Français (langue) > 18e siècle > Aspect social
29. Despotisme > France > Aspect social
30. Français (langue) > 17e siècle > Aspect social
31. Mouvement des Lumières
32. Politisches Denken
33. France > Intellectual life > 18th century
34. France > Intellectual life > 17th century
35. France > Intellectual life
36. France
37. Frankreich
38. França > Vida intel·lectual > S. XVIII
39. France > Vie intellectuelle > 17e siècle
40. France > Vie intellectuelle > 18e siècle
41. Frankreich

Genre/Form

1. Aufsatzsammlung.
2. Hochschulschrift.

Contents

1. 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.

Owning institution

1. Princeton University Library

Bibliography (note)

1. Includes bibliographical references and index.