In the Shadow of the Enlightenment

Mario Cosenza

In the Shadow of the Enlightenment: Jacques-André Naigeon philosophe

Authors

Mario Cosenza

University of Naples Federico II

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2462-7970

Keywords:

Materialism, Clandestine literature, Encyclopedism, Atheism, Revolution, Enlightenment

Synopsis

Publisher: FedOA - Federico II University Press

Series: School of Human and Social Sciences. Working Papers

Pages: 455

Language: italian

NBN: http://nbn.depositolegale.it/urn:nbn:it:unina-26219

Abstract: This work aims at being an intellectual biography of Jacques-André Naigeon (1735-1810), an important figure of French Enlightenment. Not only was he very close to Diderot - of whom he was biographer and editor - but he was also a privileged witness of the countless political, social and cultural events that led to the French Revolution. Besides being a convinced atheist, a tireless publisher, a fine connoisseur of Clandestine literature, Naigeon had the opportunity to collaborate in writing the last volumes of the Encyclopédie and to participate in the propagation of heterodox, materialistic and fiercely anti-clerical writings. After the Revolution - at the beginning of which he tried in vain to make himself heard by the Assemblée Nationale - he was then integrated into the "official" culture through the election at the Institut de France: however, even if he is the author of some prestigious works, Naigeon remains exclusively the living testimony of a now unrepeatable cultural season.

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Author Biography

Mario Cosenza, University of Naples Federico II

Mario Cosenza received his PhD jointly from the University of Naples - Federico II and the Université Paris Nanterre. His research interests lie primarily in the European Enlightenment and its various historico-philosophical articulations, French Materialism, the interpretations of the French Revolution and the political theory in the Modern and Contemporary age.