Monarchisms in the Age of Enlightenment: Liberty, Patriotism, and the Common Good(UCLA Clark Memorial Library Series)

In recent decades, historians of early-modern European political thought have tended to neglect the concept of monarchy and monarchism, focusing instead on the development of republicanism during this period. Monarchisms in the Age of Enlightenment aims to correct this imbalance by illustrating that many thinkers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, in fact, saw monarchy as a solution to the instability, chaos, and even violence of experiments with republican government. Editors Hans Blom, John Christian Laursen, and Luisa Simonutti have brought together outstanding scholars in the field to correct many of the misleading stereotypes about monarchy, and to explore the variety and dynamism of this form of government, in early-modern Europe. Contributors explore four major themes: monarchisms in the political thought of Spinoza, Bayle, Fenelon, Hume, and Montesquieu; enlightened Christian and millenarian monarchisms; defending and resisting absolute monarchy; and, finally, reflections on the British monarchy. Fascinating and timely, Monarchisms in the Age of Enlightenment will be of interest to historians, political theorists, political philosophers, and political scientists.

Table of Contents:
List of ContributorsIntroduction HANSBLOM, JOHN CHRI STIAN LAURSEN, and LUISA SIMONUTTIPART I: MONARCHISMS AND REPUBLICANISMS IN THE POLITICAL THOUGHT OF SPINOZA, BAYLE, FENELON, HUME, AND MONTESQUIEU Spinoza on Res Publica, Republics, and Monarchies HANS BLOM 'Absolute, Not Arbitrary, Power': Monarchism and Politics in the Thought of the Huguenots and Pierre Bayle LUISA S IMONUTTI Bayle and Hume on Monarchy, Scepticism, and Forms of Government SALLY JENKI NSON Fenelon's 'Republican' Monarchism in Telemachus PATRICK R ILEY Free Trade, Free Speech, and Free Love: Monarchy from the Liberal Prospect in Mid-eighteenth Century France MICHAEL MOSHE RPART II. ENLIGHTENED CHRISTIAN AND MILLENARIAN MONARCHISMS Caesar Augustus in Vico's New Science: Monarchy as Remedy for Democracy GEORGE WRIGHT 'Everything Must Be Redone': Condillac as Critic of Despotism and Defender of Toleration GIANNI PAGANINI The Fifth Monarchy Redux RICHARD POPK INPART III: DEFENDING AND RESISTING ABSOLUTE MONARCHY Defending Monarchism in Denmark-Norway in the Eighteenth Century HENRIK HORST BOLL Popular Philosophy and Absolute Monarchy JOHAN VAN DERZANDE The Prussian Monarchy and the Practices of Enlightenment MICHAEL SAUTER Theorizing Enlightened Absolutism: The Swiss Republican Origins of Prussian Monarchism SIMON E Z UR BUCHEN Intellectual Resistance to Absolute Monarchy in Eighteenth-Century Prussia: Castillon's Translation of Blount's Philostratus JOHN CHRISTIAN LAURSENPARTIV: REFLECTIONS ON THE BRITISH MONARCHY Monarchy in the Name of Britain: The Case of George III J .G . A . POCOCKIndex

About the Author :
Hans Blom is a professor in the Department of Social Science at Erasmus University, Rotterdam. John Christian Laursen is Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of California, Riverside. Luisa Simonutti is a research associate at the Istituto per la Storia del Pensiero Filosofico e Scientifico Moderno – CNR, and an adjunct professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Ferrara.