Enlightenment

An essay that digests some of the themes in my new book entitled Metanoia: Rhetoric, Authenticity, and the Transformation of the Self.
A version of this essay was delivered at the September Symposium of the English department at the University of Houston - Downtown in 2019.

Las misiones y los colegios fueron las instituciones centrales de la Compañía en el Antiguo Régimen. Si bien a las primeras la acomodatio les dio cierto carácter particular, los segundos fueron la piedra angular de la construcción de la identidad jesuita, como puede constatarse en la primera parte del libro, en la que se abordan distintos aspectos de la conformación de este complejo educativo. En la segunda parte se da cuenta de cómo los colegios se convirtieron en los enclaves para el retorno de la Compañía durante el siglo XIX, pero cómo también fueron el punto de fricción más claro entre las fuerzas Estado- Iglesia, ya que la educación se tornó en uno de los espacios de discusión más severos en el mundo laico que se instauraba en Occidente. Por otra parte, a esta pugna entre lo laico y lo religioso habría que sumar una nueva dificultad que hizo de los colegios decimonónicos una institución casi inconmensurable con respecto a los de la Antigua Compañía, pues si algo distinguía a estos últimos era el funcionamiento bajo la norma única de la Ratio Studiorum: tal como el profesor Gómez Diez señala en uno de los capítulos, "[... ] El modelo educativo tradicional no es viable. La diversidad entre los países dificulta establecer el mismo tipo de colegio en todas partes".

Nella letteratura italiana dal XIV al XVIII secolo ha discreta fortuna e circolazione il tema della sconfitta del dio dell’amore, umiliato e privato delle proprie armi soprattutto dalle donne. A partire dalle fonti classiche dell’episodio, rintracciabili nell’epigrammatica alessandrina e nel "Cupido cruciatus" di Decimo Magno Ausonio, si ricostruiscono il significato e le molteplici declinazioni del soggetto nella produzione letteraria italiana, dal "Triumphus Pudicitie" di Francesco Petrarca alla poesia in ottava rima di Luigi Pulci e Angelo Poliziano, dalle raccolte di emblemi ed imprese ai poemetti encomiastici cinquecenteschi in lode di donne, dalle opere di Moderata Fonte e Lucrezia Marinelli alla letteratura morale settecentesca (con particolare attenzione per l’"Amore disarmato" attribuito a Jacopo Durandi). Ripercorrere le tappe della ricezione, tra riscrittura e risemantizzazione, del topos di Cupido punito e disarmato significa andare oltre un’indagine puramente tematica, per ricostruire la fortuna, letteraria ma anche iconografica, di un motivo di lunga durata.
Questo libro ha vinto il Premio Tesi di Dottorato istituito dalla Sapienza Università di Roma, nell’edizione 2013."

This article contributes to the reassessment of Scottish history and identity in light of the recovery of its connections with black Atlantic issues such as slavery and empire. The ‘paradox’ of the national bard seeking employment as a book-keeper on Jamaica remains an uncomfortable area for modern Scotland. This article considers Burns's biographical and textual (dis-)entanglement with the Caribbean in relation to the subsequent competition over his memory. It reads Robert Burns as a lieu de mémoire (Pierre Nora) that opens up a conflicted account of the nature of free labour ideology, slavery and abolition in the late eighteenth century.

La quarta esposizione del ciclo “Brera mai vista” (Milano, Pinacoteca di Brera, sala XXXIV, ottobre - dicembre 2002) ha presentato alcuni dei 61 bellissimi studi ad olio su carta del pittore milanese Francesco Londonio, entrati a far parte del patrimonio artistico dell'Accademia di Belle Arti nel 1836 grazie al lascito del nipote del pittore, Carlo Londonio.
La mostra ha offerto l’occasione di investigare alla luce di fonti e documenti inediti tanto la clientela di Londonio, anche sotto il profilo sociale e culturale, quanto la sua fortuna ottocentesca, ricucendo gli itinerari seguiti dal patrimonio di olii e incisioni lasciato in eredità dall’artista, di cui faceva parte il nucleo pervenuto alla Braidense. 
Dal catalogo emerge uno spaccato di interesse interdisciplinare sulla committenza e il collezionismo milanesi della stagione illuminista, dove Londonio si rivela il fulcro di un vivace crocevia di mercanti, letterati e collezionisti del Grand Tour.
In calce al catalogo si pubblica la prima genealogia della famiglia Londonio, ricostruita interamente sulla base di ricerche d’archivio di prima mano.

NOTA
Il libro ha due autrici: Cristina Geddo e Simonetta Coppa. Sono qui pubblicati solo i capitoli scritti e firmati da Geddo :
- "Intorno a 'Fran.co Londonio pittore'. Nuovi documenti sulla famiglia, l’artista e la sua eredità" (pp. 33-43, figg. 23-32);
- "Tavola geneaologica Londonio" (pp. 45-47).


AVVERTENZA: Sulla base della normativa vigente in materia di diritti d’autore, oltre che di una norma etica fondamentale, non è concesso utilizzare questo testo illustrato in qualsiasi forma – copia, riassunto, citazione etc. – senza menzionare adeguatamente la fonte.

WARNING: Under copyright law, as well as a fundamental norm of ethics, any use of this published paper – copy, citation, abridged version or any other form - is not authorised without mentioning adequately the source.

In this article, I explore the parallel responses of two groups of colonial subjects who were confronted with the institutional changes that occurred in the context of Enlightenment ideas in eighteenth-century Mexico: Creole clerics headed by the Jesuit Francisco Javier Clavijero; and native religious men who petitioned to colonial authorities and the crown for additional spaces for the education of indigenous men.

AVVERTENZA: Sulla base della normativa in materia di diritti d’autore, oltre che di una norma etica fondamentale, non è concesso utilizzare questo testo illustrato in qualsiasi forma – copia, citazione, riassunto etc. – senza menzionare la fonte.

WARNING: Under copyright law, as well as a fundamental norm of ethics, any use of this published paper – copy, citation, abridged version etc. – is not authorised without mentioning the source.

Esta publicación, a cargo de Alberto Hernández Mateos, presenta por primera vez la edición completa del tratado musical de Antonio Eximeno, incluyendo las partes suprimidas o alteradas en la edición española de la obra. El "Estudio preliminar" aborda el perfil biográfico de Eximeno, analiza el sentido innovador del tratado (tanto en su forma como en su contenido), los aspectos no textuales que forman parte esencial del mismo y los cambios introducidos en la traducción.

This paper is a study of Voltaire's treatment of the Ukrainian Cossack Hetman, Ivan Mazepa, in Voltaire's two histories dealing with eastern Europe, his 'History of Charles XII' and his 'History of the Russian Empire under Peter the Great,' with some reflections upon that famous author's method of "philosophical history" and his use of both oral and printed sources.

This dissertation seeks to define the importance of John Dee’s interpretation of mediaeval and Renaissance esoterica regarding the contacting of daemons and its evolution into a body of astrological and terrestrial correspondences and intelligences that included a Biblical primordial language, or a lingua adamica. The intention and transmission of John Dee’s angel magic is linked to the philosophy outlined in his earlier works, most notably the Monas Hieroglyphica, and so this dissertation also provides a philosophical background to Dee’s angel magic. The aim of this dissertation is to establish Dee’s conversations with angels as a magic system that is a direct descendant of Solomonic and Ficinian magic with unique Kabbalistic elements. It is primarily by the Neoplatonic, Hermetic, Kabbalistic, and alchemical philosophy presented in the Monas Hieroglyphica that interest in Dee’s angel magic was transmitted through the Rosicrucian movement. Through Johann Valentin Andreae’s Chymische Hochzeit Christiani Rosencreutz anno 1459, the emphasis on a spiritual, inner alchemy became attached to Dee’s philosophy. Figures such as Elias Ashmole, Ebenezer Sibley, Francis Barret, and Frederick Hockley were crucial in the transmission of interest in Dee’s practical angel magic and Hermetic philosophy to the founders of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The rituals of the Golden Dawn utilized Dee’s angel magic, in addition to creative Kabbalistic elements, to form a singular practice that has influenced Western esoterica of the modern age. This study utilizes a careful analysis of primary sources including the original manuscripts of the Sloane archives, the most recent scholarly editions of Dee’s works, authoritative editions of original documents linked to Rosicrucianism, and Israel Regardie’s texts on Golden Dawn practices.

This particular consideration of Piranesi’s influence is not an exhaustive geography of the haunted wanderings of the artist’s aesthetic ghost. Rather, what follows highlights three aspects of eclecticism in his work—presented in loose chronological order—that seem to have had the most bearing on the conceptualization of stylistic heterogeneity in the architecture of the nineteenth century. These three aspects are those which generate that ‘special essence’ of a Piranesi print, that certain impression of amalgamation derived from a sum total presented as the assembly of diverse fragments. The first of these aspects is Piranesi’s innovative coalescence of various influences, particularly in his early architectural fantasies, which were inspired simultaneously by new developments in scenographic perspective, the contemporaneous capriccio genre, and the older tradition of pictorially reconstructing ancient monuments. The second aspect is his combination of physical fragments, considered through the lens of his Vedute and Diverse Maniere. More specifically, it deals with architectural and sculptural ruins as a concept and as the actual product of assemblage: constructing for the former, collecting and making for the latter. The third is his portrayal of space, namely, the ambivalence between the spatial order of his maps and its dissolution in his Carceri, ending with a consideration of his progression toward abstraction, both geometric and perspectival.

This article traces the radical devaluation of the phantasm throughout Western civilization. With the help of Nietzsche's critical perspective, I develop a notion of hystery as the series of collective traumas repeated in each individual's growth, whereby the phantasm changes value from psychosomatic interface, to evil incarnate, to disease of learning. Beginning with the Classical episteme represented by Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics, then moving up through the Christian era, I focus primarily on Enlightenment thinkers such as Hobbes and Bacon, who represent the last nail in the imagination's coffin. The next section examines Nietzsche's rediscovery of the phantasm and the theoretical contributions of post-structuralism that follow in Nietzsche's wake. Juxtaposing Bataille and Deleuze, I look at Deleuze's early enthusiasm and ultimate betrayal of the phantasm, and I posit Bataille's emphasis on the affective force of the mythological phantasm as an insurrection to reclaim our experience and life along with it. The article ends with speculation, offering Bruno's art of memory as an ontic and epistemic alternative to dominant Western hystery, other pasts opening to other possible futures, an ungrounding that paradoxically leads to a restoration of the human house in a re-enchanted cosmos.

The aim of this study is to compare the activities of Kabalevsky and Bernstein-two musicians who made a significant contribution to the musical education of the younger generation, reveals the principles, methods, forms of educational work and covers the subject of television programmes. In particular, the pedagogical and musical-enlightenment concept of the outstanding composer, scientist Dmitry Kabalevsky was widely spread in our country. Also, the achievements of American composer, lecturer, teacher Leonard Bernstein in the field of musical enlightenment differ in originality and are rarely used in Russian musical pedagogical practice. In accordance with the aim of the study, the following theoretical methods were used: analysis of the literature, epistolary texts, the repertoire of the concert programmes of the New York Philharmonic orchestra; generalisation of historical data on musical and educational activities of Kabalevsky and Bernstein, comparison of methods and techniques of music education, biographical method.

El presente ensayo desea mostrar en qué sentido podemos hablar de Baudelaire como de un ontólogo del presente, apoyados en las observaciones de Foucault de que encontramos manifiesta en la vida y en la obra del artista la divisa moderna por excelencia, darse por sí mismo el propio presente como tarea y, a su vez, de que dicha tarea se tradujo en el poeta en una «voluntad de " heroificar " el presente», tarea esencialmente crítica y estética.

As teses políticas do Iluminismo fracassaram desde a Revolução Francesa (1789). Este fracasso abriu caminho para o advento da ideologia marxista em todo o mundo que se propunha a dar um passo à frente em relação ao Iluminismo buscando o fim da exploração do homem pelo homem com a redução das desigualdades econômicas entre as classes sociais e, no futuro, sua completa abolição. Os fatos da história demonstram que as teses iluministas que nortearam as revoluções burguesas no século XVIII e as teses marxistas com base nas quais foram realizadas as revoluções socialistas no século XX fracassaram porque não cumpriram suas promessas históricas de conquista da felicidade humana. A Modernidade é identificada com a crença no progresso e nos ideais do Iluminismo. Entretanto, a evolução da Modernidade foi marcada por eventos que marcaram negativamente a sociedade atual. O principal deles foi sem dúvida às catástrofes da 1ª e da 2ª Guerra Mundial. Na verdade, a ciência e a tecnologia contribuíram para a barbárie de duas guerras mundiais com a invenção de armamentos bélicos poderosos e destrutivos. A ciência e a tecnologia passaram a ser utilizadas numa escala sem precedentes tanto para o bem como para o mal.

The Enlightenment political theses failed since the French Revolution (1789). This failure paved the way for the advent of Marxist ideology in the world that it intended to take a step forward from the Enlightenment seeking an end to exploitation of man by man with the reduction of economic inequalities between social classes and in the future, its complete abolition. The facts of history show that the Enlightenment theories that guided the bourgeois revolutions in the eighteenth century and Marxist theories under which the socialist revolutions were carried out in the twentieth century failed because they did not fulfill their promises of historical achievement of human happiness. Modernity is identified with the belief in progress and the ideals of the Enlightenment. However, the evolution of Modernity was marked by events that negatively marked the current society. Chief among them was undoubtedly the disasters of the 1st and 2nd World War. In fact, science and technology contributed to the barbarism of two world wars with the invention of powerful and destructive armaments. Science and technology began to be used on an unprecedented scale both for good and for evil.

https://doi.org/10.1017/S0018246X20000473

Frederick II's writings have conventionally been viewed either as political tools or as means of public self-fashioning – part of his campaign to raise the status of Prussia from middling principality to great power. This article, by contrast, argues that Frederick's works must also be taken seriously on their own terms, and interpreted against the background of Enlightenment philosophy. Frederick's notions of kingship and state service were not governed mostly by a principle of pure morality or ‘humanitarianism’, as argued influentially by Friedrich Meinecke. On the contrary, the king's views were part and parcel of an eighteenth-century vision of modern kingship in commercial society, based on the benign pursuit of self-love and luxury. A close analysis of Frederick's writings demonstrates that authorial labour was integral to his political agency, publicly placing constraints on what could be perceived as legitimate conduct, rather than mere intellectual window-dressing or an Enlightened pastime in irresolvable tension with his politics.

Esztétikai gondolkodás a felvilágosodás korában (1650-1800): Az ízlésesztétika paradigmája, Budapest: Gondolat, 2013. 210-258.

A 18. század elején történik meg az áttörés a francia kultúrában is. Ekkor lép fel néhány olyan gondolkodó, akik valóban önálló filozófiai problémaként tekintenek a szépre és a művészetekre, s akik megalkotják a szépművészetek érvényes gyűjtőkategóriáját. Ők készítik elő a terepet a francia felvilágosodás nagy alkotóinak – akik egyébként hozzájuk hasonlóan szintén érdeklődnek a szép és az ízlés kérdései iránt, de már nem pusztán elméleti problémaként, hanem alkotó művészekként, írókként, akik a gyakorlat és az elmélet szintjén egyaránt szembesülnek az esztétikai kérdésfelvetéssel.

Se estudia el carácter ilustrado de dos textos que el criollo peruano Miguel de Lastarria escribió durante su estadía en la Gobernación de Chile. La hipótesis que guía el trabajo es que lo ilustrado de ambos textos es práctico y contingente, lo que se infiere a partir de los datos biográficos de Lastarria. El análisis muestra que tales cualidades se advierten efectivamente en los textos. La ilustración producida en ellos está movida por un patente empirismo, por lo que se propone entenderla a través del concepto de "conciencia crítica" formulado por Edward Said.

Im ersten Teil der Arbeit wird die Dialektik der Aufklärung mit Hilfe der Kritischen Theorie der Frankfurter Schule hergeleitet.
Anschließend wird im zweiten Teil der Arbeit versucht die Dialektik aufzulösen, indem die Struktur des Kollektivs "Anonymous" auf die  moderne Gesellschaft übertragen wird.
Dieses Gedankenexperiment gelingt nicht ganz, denn der "Mythos Anonymous" selbst, strahlt zu hell, so dass ein Rückfall in die instrumentelle Vernunft zu befürchten ist. Die Kritische Theorie im Sinne Adornos hätte eine Diktatur der Digital Natives zu befürchten.

In the early years of the nineteenth century, Napoleon instigated a series of institutional and political reforms intended to actualize social and moral regeneration in France. In doing so, he conceived of his role as preceptor of the nation through the political writings of the Enlightenment. With its biblical and ancient references, this literature revived the figure of the ideal legislator in response to a weakened divine-right monarchy. The present article discusses the legacy and evolution of the legislator political motif featured in an example of Napoleonic art, a relief ensemble completed in 1807 by Jean-Guillaume Moitte for the new iconographic program of the Louvre’s Cour Carrée: “The Muse of History leaning on the tradition of Thucydides and Herodotus”. This composition surmounted four personages on each side of the window: the prophet and lawgiver Moses, the Egyptian goddess Isis, the pious Roman legislator Numa Pompilius, and the founder of the Inca dynasty Manco Capac. The themes surrounding this composition provide a significant illustration of attempts at the regeneration and subordination of religious communities through legislation taken by Napoleon’s administration.

El Imperio visible es un esfuerzo por mostrar cuán imprescindible fue el arte para la ciencia durante la segunda mitad del siglo XVIII. A través de la representación visual de la naturaleza, naturalistas y oficiales reales intentaron acceder a nuevas riquezas. Para comprender el papel que tuvieron los pintores botánicos, personajes clave en esta intermediación, Daniela Bleichmar se vale de la historia del arte, la ciencia y la política.

El objeto del presente trabajo es el análisis de la literatura publicada sobre el tema de la figura de la Tierra entre 1687 y 1743. Nuestro estudio se ve acotado por dos fechas cuya importancia ha sido resaltada por numerosos autores. l,a primera de ellas, 1687, coincide con la publicación de los Philosophiae rvaturalis Princ$ia Mathematica de Newton,
obra en la que, como veremos, se aborda el problerria desde primeros principios. En efecto, los trabajos empíricos hasta entonces realizados para la valoración de las dimensiones del planeta, adquirieron una dimensión totalmente nueva a partir de esa fecha. El estudio de Newton demostraba la insuficiencia de recursos de la ciencia experimental y el abismo existente entre la precisión que podían asegurar los métodos de la astronomía práctica y las nuevas exigencias planteadas por su mecánica celeste. La segunda fecha propuesta coincide con la publica-
ción por A. C. Clairaut de la Théorze de la figure de la terre (París, 1743): obra en la que se sintetiza y desarrolla todo cuanto estas cinco décadas habían aportado sobre el tema. La hidrostática e hidrodinámica serán definitivamente reformuladas en forma de primeros principios por Euler en 1753; antes de ello, Clairaut establecerá las condiciones generales de equilibrio hidrostático y los métodos de integración de las ecuaciones diferenciales en derivadas parciales que su estudio requería.
Se cierra así una etapa en cuyo comienzo Newton no sabía pensar el término fluido sin imaginar explícitamente niasas de agua canalizadas.

The early 19th century was the last time taxes generated by the customs fees were collected by private actors. There must be a reason why this form of organization that was used sporadically for almost 100 years, before it was abolished, ceased to exist. The Constitution of Sweden (Regeringsformen) prohibited private actors from collecting revenues of the customs fees in 1809, three years before the contract that gave the private actors this responsibility was due to expire. What is the reason behind the decision of the state to take control over this sector? What changes will this bring to the relationship between the state and the citizens?
What can be found with this study is the understanding of why the Swedish state abandoned the use of private actors to be responsible for the taxation of custom duties and what new roles it gives to the state and the citizen

Introducción La principal razón por la que el Dhamma ha resultado inútil para el propósito de la Iluminación durante siglos y siglos no es otra que las pésimas transmisiones y traducciones que ha sufrido todo este tiempo. Para entender esto hay que considerar que estamos hablando permanentemente de experiencias, todo esto es producto de la meditación y se revela a través del conocimiento instrospectivo que emerge al salir del estado de vipassana. La dificultad a la que se enfrenta cualquiera en estas circunstancias, que es tratar de comunicar lo que se ha comprendido, estriba en la dependencia etiqueta-qualia, asunto que se trata en este mismo sutta en varias ocasiones. No surgen inconvenientes cuando se intercambian etiquetas (nombres) entre interlocutores que comparten los mismos qualia. O sea, el Buddha podía hablar de todo esto ante una audiencia que practicara corectamente y fuera hábil en jhānas. Y el mismo Buddha insistió en que mientras se practicaran las jhānas el Dhamma se mantendría. Esto no es un capricho, es porque de esta forma los qualia estarían al alcance de todos. Sin embargo, con la desaparición física de los miles de arahants que el Buddha produjo, y el rápido declive en la práctica de las Jhānas, el Dhamma se corrompió y así nos ha llegado hoy. Un símil: se puede hacer un tratado elaboradísimo y con todo detalle sobre la teoría del color y tendrá vigenca siempre y cuando los que lo lean no sean ciegos de nacimiento. Si por alguna razón, el texto pasa a ser estudiado en exclusiva por ciegos de nacimiento y surgen sucesivos comentarios, traducciones

Co-edited and translated with Jacob van Sluis.

Vol 1 of the Edinburgh Edition of the Philosophical Works of François Hemsterhuis

The first ever English translation of François Hemsterhuis’ early series of philosophical letters published during the 1760s and 1770s

This complete edition publishes Hemsterhuis’ 'Letter on an Antique Gemstone', 'Letter on Sculpture', 'Letter on Desires', 'Letter on Man and his Relations' and 'Philosophical Description of the Character of the Late Mr. F. Fagel' chronologically to gradually reveal Hemsterhuis’ complete systematic vision.

These letters are supplemented by three introductions. The first by Peter Sonderen pinpoints the significance of Hemsterhuis’ remarkably influential aesthetics. The second by Jacob van Sluis provides the context to 'Letter on Man and his Relations'. And the third by Gabriel Trop focuses on the importance of these writings in the history of ideas, especially Herder’s translation and ‘Postscript’ to the 'Letter on Desires', Diderot’s commentary on the 'Letter on Man and his Relations' and Goethe’s incorporation of Hemsterhuis’ definition of beauty into his aesthetic reflections.

The book is available here for purchase: https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-the-early-writings-of-francois-hemsterhuis-1762-1773.html

The radical ideas of the French Revolution are generally regarded as the offspring of the theory of social contract. However, even though the Revolutionaries cherished Rousseau’s legacy, the period was not without instances in which this legacy could be subject to variation and the notion of social contract could be attributed, in a decidedly negative tone, less to Rousseau than to Hobbes. In this context, the present study of Jean-Baptiste Salaville’s L’Homme et la société, ou nouvelle théorie de la nature humaine et de l’état social (1799) demonstrates that the idea of natural sociability could provide an opportunity to elaborate a radical republican future without the notion of social contract. Salaville’s political vision, built on the tradition of natural jurisprudence, posited a new idea of the general will and empiricist legislation in the last days of the French Revolution.

During the 1780s, the Spanish crown endeavored to facilitate and expedite commercial exchange within its vast Atlantic territories, a goal which it hoped to accomplish by creating new consulados (merchant chambers and courts) in many port cities of the empire. The need to create new consulados became an especially important issue after the implementation of the new system of comercio libre in 1778, which significantly stimulated economic activity across the Atlantic. Paying attention to Spain's efforts to create a modern commercial empire, this article asks why new metropolitan consulados were created in the mid-1780s, while, in the colonies, they came to fruition in the 1790s, after the infamous minister of the Indies, José de Gálvez, died in 1787? The article argues that, unlike Gálvez, who was committed to an extractive system of imperial governance, the ministers who came to power after 1787 were inspired by a distinct kind of soft colonialism, espousing that, if the empire were to survive, it had to govern its colonies with gentleness. This, in turn, entailed stimulating economic improvement in the colonies while promoting bonds of reciprocity among subjects from both sides of the Atlantic. By reconstructing the events that led to the creation of new consulados in the colonies, this article uncovers how a new regime of colonial economic improvement was put into place in order to bind the empire during a moment of impending crisis.