Humanism and Revolution. Notes on Eighteenth-Century Europe and Its Transatlantic Legacy

Abstract

The concept of revolution is of crucial importance for the self-perception of modernity. For the American and French Revolutions, grounded in the declaration of human rights, references to classical antiquity play a central role: the appeal to antiquity allows for the revolutionary break from tradition. On both sides of the Atlantic, classical antiquity provides ideals of humanity that both celebrate and criticize the achievements of modernity. This volume examines the relationship between humanism and revolution from both European and American perspectives: central themes are the foundations of humanism, the relationships among politics, law, and art, but also the Scientific Revolution and the geography of revolution as it comes to the fore in the circulation of ideas between Europe and the "New World". How modern, in other words, is the humanism of the eighteenth century.