Intellectual History Commons^™

Intellectual Culture: The End Of Russian Intelligentsia, Dmitri N. Shalin

Russian Culture

No group cheered louder for Soviet reform, had a bigger stake in perestroika, and suffered more in its aftermath than did the Russian intelligentsia. Today, nearly a decade after Mikhail Gorbachev unveiled his plan to reform Soviet society, the mood among Russian intellectuals is decidedly gloomy. "The intelligentsia has carried perestroika on its shoulders," laments Ury Shchekochikhin, "so why does it feel so forlorn, superfluous, forgotten"? G. Ivanitsky warns that the intellectual strata "has become so thin that in three or four years the current genocide against the intelligentsia would surely wipe it out." Andrey Bitov, one of the country's …

The Intelligentsia Without Revolution: The Culture Of The Silver Age, Andrei Ariev

Russian Culture

The most effective definition of "the intelligentsia" might read: “Russian intellectuals who are generally opposed to the government.” But even Russia’s traditionally powerful government has collapsed at times, leaving a vacuum of authority. This was precisely the historical situation at the beginning of the twentieth century. It made an indelible impression both upon thinkers, such as Rozanov, and on politicians, such as Lenin.

Edmund Burke’S Aims In Publishing Reflections On The Revolution In France (1790), Stephen Carruthers

Articles

In this paper, I examine three critical aspects of Burke's beliefs, principles, and political judgment at the time of the outbreak of the French Revolution and examine how they assist in explaining different and less public strands in his motivation to publish the Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790): his views on religion and in particular his attitude to Dissenters; the state of his political career and inf1uence in 1789 as a semi-detached member of the Foxite Whigs; and finally how he saw the publication of the ideas and arguments in the Reflections as a necessary step to maintain …

The Regeneration Of Hellas: Influences On The Greek War For Independence 1821-1832, Stefanie Chan

CMC Senior Theses

The paper attempts to analyze the greater influences of the Greek War for Independence through an assessment of the greater forces of the. Enlightenment, Romanticism, and Great Power politics

Τρυφη And Υβρισ In The Περι Βιων Of Clearchus, Vanessa B. Gorman, Robert J. Gorman

Department of History: Faculty Publications

Recent discussions of the fragments of the Περι Βίων have seen the concept of pernicious luxury as a key to understanding aspects of this work of Clearchus. In particular, it is thought that Clearchus reflects a moralizing historiographical schema according to which wealth leads to an effeminate luxury (τρυφή), eventually producing satiety (κόρος), which in turn provokes the afflicted to violence (υβρις), ultimately bringing the subject’s destruction. We maintain, in contrast, that it is anachronistic to attribute this pattern of thought to Clearchus, and further, that the state of the evidence does not permit …

The Hebrew Library Of A Renaissance Humanist: The Bibliography To Andreas Masius' Edition Of The Book Of Joshua (Antwerp: Christopher Plantin 1574), Theodor Dunkelgrün

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

Andreas Masius' 1574 polyglot edition of the book of Joshua with copious annotations and commentaries is a monument of Renaissance biblical scholarship. In an appendix - the text presented here - Masius recorded the Hebrew and Aramaic books he consulted in preparing his edition. In spite of the brevity of its descriptions, this bibliography has much to tell us about Christian readership of the Hebrew book in the 16th century. It reveals the depth, breadth, and sophistication of Masius' grasp of Jewish literature. It is a snapshot of his own library, but at the same time also a panorama of …

From Apologetics To Polemics: Isaac Orobio De Castro’S Defences Of Judaism And Their Use In The French Enlightenment, Adam Sutcliffe

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

This presentation explores the use by non-Jews in eighteenth-century France of controversialist works written primarily for manuscript circulation within the seventeenth-century Sephardic communities of the Netherlands. In response to sustained theological doubts regarding Judaism posed by Sephardim deeply conditioned by having lived as outward Catholics in the Iberian peninsula, several community leaders in seventeenth-century Amsterdam, such as the doctor and controversialist Isaac Orobio de Castro (c.1617-1687), authored trenchant attacks on Christian doctrine, in particular emphasizing the enduring validity of Jewish law and the superiority of Jewish biblical exegesis. French translations of some of these texts - which circulated in Paris …

Leon Modena's Ari Nohem Between Print And Manuscript, Yaacob Dweck

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

This presentation examines Leon Modena's critique of Kabbalah, a Hebrew treatise composed in Venice in 1639 entitled Ari Nohem (The Roaring Lion). One of the primary causes of Modena's critique was the printing of kabbalistic books such as the Zohar, Ma'arekhet ha-Elohut, and Sefer Yetzirah. In Modena's argument, the printing of kabbalistic books in the sixteenth century had disrupted prior patterns of the transmission of kabbalistic knowledge. In particular, Modena argues that kabbalistic books had begun to be read in new ways by new audiences. Using Modena's analysis as a point of departure this presentation will focus on two questions: …

Shlomo Lutzker's Introduction To Magid Devarav Le-Ya'akov, Moshe Rosman

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

ABSTRACT: This presentation analyzes Shlomo Lutzker's Introduction to Magid Devarav Le-Ya'akov as a key source of information on the process of formation and publication of early hasidic books and the activities of printers and aditors. It also bears on the questions of whether there existed "hasidic publishers" and how it might be possible to identify a "hasidic book".

This presentation is for the following text(s):

• Shlomo Lutzker's Introduction to Magid Devarav Le-Ya'akov: Likutei Amarim (1781)

Emw 2009: Reading Across Cultures: The Jewish Book And Its Readers In The Early Modern Period, Emw 2009

Early Modern Workshop: Resources in Jewish History

The sixth Early Modern Workshop will focus on the topic of "Reading across Cultures: The Jewish Book and Its Readers in the Early Modern Period." The workshop was held at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies at Harvard University from Sunday, August 23, 2009 and to Tuesday, August 25, 2009.

The workshop opened a discussion of the culture of reading in Jewish society, as well as of the reading of Jewish books in Christian society, during a period of rapid cultural transformation. What was a "Jewish" book, one participant asked? What were the different or parallel developments within Jewish society, …

Meaning In History? The Young Hegelian's Battle For Historical Meaning And The Resurgence Of Nihilism, Angelo J. Letizia

History Theses & Dissertations

After the Reign of Terror, the German thinker J.H. Jacobi saw only two options for Europe: faith in God or nihilism, the belief in nothing. His ultimatum between faith and nihilism for the modern era called into question for some thinkers the entire revolutionary project and its ideals of reason and self government. Two answers to Jacobi's ultimatum were put forth by the German philosophers Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel who rejected both faith and nihilism, and instead crafted a vision of progress, and Arthur Schopenhauer who opted for nihilism. Jacobi's ultimatum, and Hegel and Schopenhauer's answers to it, opened up …

Assur Is King Of Persia: Illustrations Of The Book Of Esther In Some Nineteenth-Century Sources, Steven W. Holloway

Libraries

The marriage of archaeological referencing and picture Bibles in the nineteenth century resulted in an astonishing variety of guises worn by the court of Ahasuerus in Esther. Following the exhibition of Neo-Assyrian sculpture in the British Museum and the wide circulation of such images in various John Murray publications, British illustrators like Henry Anelay defaulted to Assyrian models for kings and rulers in the Old Testament, including the principal actors in Esther, even though authentic Achaemenid Persian art had been available for illustrative pastiche for decades. This curious adoptive choice echoed British national pride in its splendid British Museum collection …

The Concept Of The General Will In The Writings Of Rousseau, Sièyes, And Robespierre, Stephen Carruthers

Articles

This paper outlines the views on the General Will of Rousseau, as set out in The Social Contract, and compares them to the views developed by Sieyès in Qu'est-ce que le Tiers état? and by Robespierre, most notably in his speeches delivered during the ‘Reign of Terror’ from the establishment of the Committee of Public Safety on 6 April 1793 to his death on 28 July 1794

Forging Literary History: Historical Fiction And Literary Forgery In Eighteenth-Century Britain, Anne H. Stevens

English Faculty Research

In this essay, I wish to explore a similar dialectic of historical positivism and skepticism in eighteenth-century Britain. Over the course of the century, but particularly in the second half, new and more scientific standards of historical investigation developed, with practitioners expressing a greater confidence about their ability to know the past. During these years, a series of monumental achievements in historiography appeared: David Hume’s History of England (1754–62), Edward Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776), and William Robertson’s History of Scotland (1759), to name just three of the most celebrated. As part of this increased interest …

Zach S. Henderson Library Special Collections Oral History Collection, Zach S. Henderson Library Special Collections

Finding Aids

This collection consists of the transcripts, original cassette tape recordings of public speeches, lectures, and oral history interviews spanning from 1962-2007. Interviews were conducted and recorded by Georgia Southern University’s Department of History and Zach S. Henderson Library Special Collections. Those interviewed are mostly locals to Bulloch County and neighboring counties. Interviewees discuss their personal and family lives, historical events they were a part of, and circumstances surrounding their successes. The public speeches and lectures originated from an assortment of sources.

Find this collection in the University Libraries' catalog.

Madame De Staël, The Protestant Reformation And The History Of ‘Private Judgement’, Helena Rosenblatt

Publications and Research

It is a well-known fact that Madame de Staël held the Protestant Reformation in high regard and preferred Protestantism to all other religions. To her, Protestantism was the most moral and the most enlightened religion available; it was the the religion most compatible with, and even conductive to, progress.

But why was this so, and what exactly did Madame de Staël mean by Protestantism? It is an important question, because answering it will shed light on the nature of her liberalism and, more particularly, on the interconnectedness of her religious and her political views.

Rousseau's Gift To Geneva, Helena Rosenblatt

Publications and Research

People often seem to forget that Rousseau dedicated his Second Discourse to “The Republic of Geneva.” This is a shame because, in doing so, they miss precious clues not only about the meaning of the Discourse itself, but also about its place in Rousseau’s political thought as a whole.

It is no accident that Rousseau dedicated the Discourse on Inequality, his most radical work of all, to his hometown of Geneva; but it requires some research into the historical context to understand why. In Geneva a patrician ruling elite was using social contract theory to subvert the democratic principles …

A Look At The Astrolabe, Emily Storrar

Honors Capstones

Capstone submitted as a graduation requirement for the BSU Honors program.

Dreams Of Interpretation: Psychoanalysis And The Literature Of Vienna, Thomas Paul Bonfiglio

Languages, Literatures, and Cultures Faculty Publications

The first edition of Die Traumdeutung (translated as The Interpretation of Dreams, 1913) bears a publication date of 1900, although it actually appeared in Vienna in November 1899. This is consistent with the pivotal temporality of a work that looks retrospectively into the nineteenth century and prospectively into the twentieth. In 1931, Freud said of his first and arguably most important book, "It contains, even according to my present-day judgement, the most valuable of all the discoveries it has been my good fortune to make. " In terms of the influence not only on his later publications, but also …

James Tyrrell, John Locke, And Robert Filmer: Ideas On Property In Late Seventeenth Century England, Christopher Chatlos Strangeman

Masters Theses

In this thesis, I examine the political theories of Sir Robert Filmer, John Locke, and James Tyrrell and, in turn, compare their respective conceptions of property which are at the foundation of their political theories. This political debate about property must be set amongst the political circumstances of the exclusion crisis. Arising from the Whig-Tory division, which arose in part from the Popish Plot, Filmer, Locke, and Tyrrell reveal the ideas of the parties they represented. Locke and Tyrrell, as Whig representatives, refuted the patriarchal theory of Filmer's Patriarcha, representative of the Tory party. In refuting Filmer, Locke and …

Le Contrat Social, Une Œuvre Genevoise? L’École Du Droit Naturel Et Le Débat Politique À Genève. La Réponse De Rousseau, Helena Rosenblatt

Publications and Research

La question de l'influence de Genève sur les idées politiques et religieuses de Jean-Jacques Rousseau est discutée depuis plus de deux cents ans. Cependant, au cours des années, les suppositions méthodologiques sous-jacentes au débat sont restées fondamentalement les mêmes, et elles ont besoin d'être modifiées. C'est pourquoi il est encore nécéssaire de réexaminer un vieux sujet selon une nouvelle approche. Au lieu de voir Genève simplement en tant que source d'idées que Rousseau a pu adopter, il faudrait voir Genève comme fournissant des problèmes concrets et intellectuels que Rousseau a tâché de résoudre.

Patterns In Creativity : An Examination Of Viennese Culture And Politics At The Turn Of The Century, Allen Nolan Hauser

Dissertations and Theses

This examination explores the Viennese cultural milieu at the turn of the century in an effort to show the commonality of backgrounds and interests among those who created the culture during that period. In this the study aims at illustrating the similarities among those artists, intellectuals, and politicians in spite of the fact that their ideas helped lay the basis for the breakdown in integration of twentieth century culture which was illustrated by Carl E. Schorske in his Fin-De-Siecle Vienna: Politics and Culture. All this is in pursuance of the overall issue of the origin of the ideas which have …

Louis De Potter And The Belgian Revolution Of 1830, Karen Nelson Groth

Dissertations and Theses

Louis Joseph Antoine De Potter (1786-1.859) was the gifted journalist who served as the catalyst of the successful Belgian revolution of 1830. He has been largely overlooked by students of the nineteenth century revolutionary era. Only one of De Potter's works is known to have been translated into English, his Vie de Scipion de Ricci.

This paper has examined the development of De Potter's thought from his youth up to and including his participation in the Provisional Belgian Government of 1830. For clarity this study has been divided into four chapters.

The Society For The Propagation Of The Gospel In Foreign Parts And The Assimilation Of Foreign Protestants In British North America, Anne Polk Diffendal

Department of History: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts from its foundation in 1701 to the beginning of the American Revolution attempted to minister to non-English white settlers in the North American colonies. The Society sent clergymen to Dutch, to Germans, to Swedes, and to French Huguenots in various provinces, gave financial help to foreign ministers, and distributed books to foreign churches. Anglican religious services were open to foreigners living near the Society's missions. These activities have been chronicled in 1952 in a dissertation by William A. Bultmann, who published two articles from that paper. One is a …

British Intellectuals And The Great War: A Survey Of Intellectual Opinion, Vincent Paul Schmidt

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

François Pierre Guillaume Guizot: An Intellectual Approach, Elbert Hardy Cave

Dissertations and Theses

The problem of this study was to present an intellectual picture of a man who is too often written off as a mere politician and a failure at that.

In approaching the problem, his works were used heavily, though availability was a problem. François Guizot, the man studied, wrote profusely, on a large variety of subjects, including philosophy, religion, history, political theory, and education. All of these areas were covered in the study. His private papers and correspondence are, for the most part, unpublished, though the eight volumes of his Mémoires were extremely helpful.

There are many good biographical studies …

The Total State: A Study Of Totalitarianism Based On Selected European Novels Of The Twentieth Century, Catherine Arveson Thoma

History Theses & Dissertations

Abstract unavailable.

Karl Löwith's View Of History: A Humanist Alternative To Historicism, Berthold P. Riesterer

Wayne State University Dissertations

The survival and increasing academic importance of the supra-historical position, particularly as an alternative to existential ontology and English analytical philosophy, indicate that a careful study of this particular trend is in order. The following analysis of the intellectual development of Karl Löwith, a thinker who in the course of his career moved from phenomenology and ontology to historicism and then finally to the supra-historical position, it is hoped, will make a contribution toward such a study.

Erasmus And Luther: Precursors Of A Mass Movement, Martha Reinmuth

Graduate Student Research Papers

In his book, The True Believer, Eric Hoffer, with Machiavellian detachment, sets forth a theory on the nature of mass movements. This paper will be primarily concerned with the aspect of Mr. Hoffer' s theory that deals with the setting of the stage for a mass movement--specifically, the temperament, needs, and motives of the men who perform this prerequisite act. Though many and influential were the contributions of other men to the preparation for the final act of church reform in the sixteenth century, it is generally conceded that Desiderius Erasmus and Martin Luther's names stand out in the boldest …

1. An Introduction To The Enlightenment, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold L. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section X: The Eighteenth Century Enlightenment

The word "Enlightenment" is used to indicate the eighteenth century in the history of ideas of the Western World. It is a word that indicates a sum of ideas about the character of man, his beliefs and activities, and the universe. These ideas have three common assumptions which are at the root of what we mean by the Enlightenment. The thinkers and writers of this period assumed that reason and knowledge will reveal an order inherent in the universe; will disclose the truth about religion, economics, politics, morals - every aspect of life; and, that when man discovers the order …