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Enlightenment

About: Enlightenment is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 6845 publications have been published within this topic receiving 116832 citations.


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Book
01 Jan 1969
TL;DR: The Florentine Enlightenment as discussed by the authors explores the ideas of the humanists and traces their influence on the writing of history, political philosophy, and aesthetics, and provides a fascinating preview of the greatest movement in the cultural history of Europe: the Renaissance.
Abstract: This is a study of the revolutionary development in art and thought which took place in early fifteenth-century Florence. A new approach to political philosophy, history, art, and architecture was inspired by the teaching and writings of a group of humanist thinkers, and paved the way for the great achievements of the later Renaissance. George Holmes explores the ideas of the humanists, and traces their influence on the writing of history, political philosophy, and aesthetics. The new humanist secular thought was paralleled, and even directly applied in some cases, by a number of brilliant Florentine artists headed by Brunelleschi, Donatello, and Masaccio. In architecture, sculpture, and painting these men produced masterpieces which gave form to the humanist ideal of classical inspiration related to real life. Professor Holmes examines this brief but enlightened phase in the history of art and ideas within its historical context, setting it against the background of Florence's fluctuating relationship with an enfeebled papacy and the wider Italian political scene. The Florentine Enlightenment provides a fascinating preview of the greatest movement in the cultural history of Europe: the Renaissance. This book is intended for scholars and students of medieval European history; especially fifteenth-century cultural and art historians; historians of the Renaissance; historians of Florence.

49 citations

Book
17 Jan 2008
TL;DR: Enlightenment, Governance, and Reform in Spain and its Empire, 1759-1808 as mentioned in this paper offers a new interpretation of political reform in Spanish and its American empire in the second half of the eighteenth century.
Abstract: Enlightenment, Governance, and Reform in Spain and its Empire, 1759-1808 offers a new interpretation of political reform in Spain and its American empire in the second half of the eighteenth century. It examines the intellectual foundations of commercial, administrative, and colonial policy during the tumultuous reigns of Charles III (1759-1788) and Charles IV (1788-1808), and explores how crown reformers employed both the ideas of the European Enlightenment and Iberian juridical concepts to create a distinctive ideology of governance. They sought to use these ideas in order to reinvigorate the Spanish monarchy and to transform the institutions of the Old Regime into those of a modern state in both the Old World and the New. Drawing on archival research undertaken in Spain, Cuba, Chile, and Argentina, this book makes an important contribution to the histories of Spain, Latin America, and the Atlantic World.

48 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Foucault's "What Is an Author?" essay has formed part of the poststructuralist effort to problematize the modern concept of the author as the "single center of truth to which all representation refers," that is, as the unique originator and sole determinator of his own meanings.
Abstract: WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP between authorship and the law, between the central mechanism of representation and the dominant system of discipline in the modern period? Though the history of modern authorship has long been a subject of interest to historians and literary critics, no single essay has been more influential in current investigations and discussions of it than Michel Foucault's "What Is an Author?"' This essay has formed part of the poststructuralist effort to problematize the modern concept of the author as the "single center of truth to which all representation refers," that is, as the unique originator and sole determinator of his own meanings, by challenging the epistemological ground upon which this notion of "the author" stands.2 However, historical investigation of how the most important political event of the modern era, the French Revolution of 1789-99, reshaped the legal and political identity of the author suggests that the meaning of modern authorship has yet to be fully explored. Foucault writes: "The coming into being of the notion of the 'author' constitutes a privileged moment of individualization in the history of ideas.... It would be worth examining how the author became individualized in a culture like ours." And, he continues, "Since the eighteenth century, the author has played the role of the regulator of the fictive, a role quite characteristic of our era . .. of individualism and private property."3 Foucault thus establishes a parallelism. The relation between the "author" and the "text," he suggests, emerged historically as the cultural incarnation of a new axis in sociopolitical discourse: the inviolable relation between the rights-bearing individual and private property. Thus, according to Foucault, this "privileged moment of individualization" was also characterized as a moment of privatization of knowledge claims as property, in which the individual author came to be the exclusive principle by which meanings are composed, manipulated, and determined, or, to use his word, "regulated." Because of the historical nature of his claims, Foucault's characterization of the appearance and function of the modern concept of the author has provided poststructuralists a target for their theoretical critique. These historical claims bear further scrutiny. Two recent historical investigations have responded to Foucault's invitation

48 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors explored Derrida's contribution, along with other writers in philosophy and postcolonial theory, who are either writing in the field or have developed his works, to identify a philosophy of hospitality.
Abstract: Purpose – The emergent paradigm of hospitality studies does not have a coherent philosophical foundation In seeking to identify a philosophy of hospitality this paper explores Derrida's contribution, along with other writers in philosophy and postcolonial theory, who are either writing in the field or have developed his worksDesign/methodology/approach – Derrida and others are often cited within the context of the emerging paradigm of hospitality studies In order to examine and critically evaluate the possibility of the construct of a philosophy of the phenomenon of hospitality, the review of the philosophical concepts is set within three perspectives: individual moral philosophy; hospitality and the nation states, and hospitality and languageFindings – Although examining the writings of Derrida and others provides an insight into the phenomenon of hospitality, a coherent philosophy of hospitality seems to be an enigma; possibly because hospitality is not a matter of objective knowledgeResearch limit

48 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Dec 2012-Zygon
TL;DR: Transhumanism is a modern expression of ancient and transcultural aspirations to radically transform human existence, socially and bodily as mentioned in this paper, and has evolved a number of subsects, from the libertarian utopians funded by billionaire Peter Thiel, to religious syncretists like the Mormon Transhumanist Association, to the left-wing technoprogressives and their bioliberal intellectual allies.
Abstract: Transhumanism is a modern expression of ancient and transcultural aspirations to radically transform human existence, socially and bodily. Before the Enlightenment these aspirations were only expressed in religious millennialism, magical medicine, and spiritual practices. The Enlightenment channeled these desires into projects to use science and technology to improve health, longevity, and human abilities, and to use reason to revolutionize society. Since the Enlightenment, techno-utopian movements have dynamically interacted with supernaturalist millennialism, sometimes syncretically, and often in violent opposition. Today the transhumanist movement, a modern form of Enlightenment techno-utopianism, has evolved a number of subsects, from the libertarian utopians funded by billionaire Peter Thiel, to religious syncretists like the Mormon Transhumanist Association, to the left-wing technoprogressives and their bioliberal intellectual allies. In reaction to accelerating technological innovation and transhumanist ideas, apocalyptic Christians, and even secular catastrophists, have begun to incorporate human enhancement into their End Times scenarios. With all sides believing that the fate of humanity hangs in the balance, there is a growing likelihood of violent confrontation.

48 citations


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Performance
Metrics
No. of papers in the topic in previous years
YearPapers
20241
2023965
20222,158
202181
2020179
2019214