ISBN: 9780226575254

From the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, Europeans struggled to understand their identity in the same way we do as individuals: by comparing themselves to others. In Savages, R… More...

From the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, Europeans struggled to understand their identity in the same way we do as individuals: by comparing themselves to others. In Savages, Romans, and Despots, Robert Launay takes us on a fascinating tour of early modern and modern history in an attempt to untangle how various depictions of “foreign” cultures and civilizations saturated debates about religion, morality, politics, and art.   Beginning with Mandeville and Montaigne, and working through Montesquieu, Diderot, Gibbon, Herder, and others, Launay traces how Europeans both admired and disdained unfamiliar societies in their attempts to work through the inner conflicts of their own social worlds. Some of these writers drew caricatures of “savages,” “Oriental despots,” and “ancient” Greeks and Romans. Others earnestly attempted to understand them. But, throughout this history, comparative thinking opened a space for critical reflection. At its worst, such space could give rise to a sense of European superiority. At its best, however, it could prompt awareness of the value of other ways of being in the world. Launay’s masterful survey of some of the Western tradition’s finest minds offers a keen exploration of the genesis of the notion of “civilization,” as well as an engaging portrait of the promises and perils of cross-cultural comparison. Trade Books>Hardcover>World History>Europe History>Europe History, University of Chicago Press Core >2<

ISBN: 9780226575254

Hardback, [PU: The University of Chicago Press], From the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, Europeans struggled to understand their identity in the same way we do as individuals: by … More...

Hardback, [PU: The University of Chicago Press], From the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, Europeans struggled to understand their identity in the same way we do as individuals: by comparing themselves to others. In Savages, Romans, and Despots, Robert Launay takes us on a fascinating tour of early modern and modern history in an attempt to untangle how various depictions of "foreign" cultures and civilizations saturated debates about religion, morality, politics, and art. Beginning with Mandeville and Montaigne, and working through Montesquieu, Diderot, Gibbon, Herder, and others, Launay traces how Europeans both admired and disdained unfamiliar societies in their attempts to work through the inner conflicts of their own social worlds. Some of these writers drew caricatures of "savages," "Oriental despots," and "ancient" Greeks and Romans. Others earnestly attempted to understand them. But, throughout this history, comparative thinking opened a space for critical reflection. At its worst, such space could give rise to a sense of European superiority. At its best, however, it could prompt awareness of the value of other ways of being in the world. Launay's masterful survey of some of the Western tradition's finest minds offers a keen exploration of the genesis of the notion of "civilization," as well as an engaging portrait of the promises and perils of cross-cultural comparison., European History<

2018, ISBN: 9780226575254

Thinking about Others from Montaigne to Herder Buch (fremdspr.) Robert Launay gebundene Ausgabe, The University of Chicago Press, 07.12.2018, The University of Chicago Press, 2018

2018, ISBN: 9780226575254

Thinking about Others from Montaigne to Herder, Buch, Hardcover, [PU: University of Chicago Press], University of Chicago Press, 2018

ISBN: 9780226575254

hardback, [PU: University of Chicago Press]