Abstract While the skeptical undercurrents of early modern thought have received sustained scholarly attention, such work has tended to be inattentive to hermeneutical or exegetical skepticism. This is a form of skepticism that threatened to stop hermeneutical theorizing in its tracks and absorbed several central hermeneutical concepts in its orbit. Hermeneutical probability was one of them. In this paper, I aim to examine whether the doctrine of hermeneutical probability as it was originally formulated by Christian Thomasius is a surrogate of exegetical skepticism. I argue that not only is the examined view incompatible with skepticism, but that it can indeed articulate a promising response to it. Since general reflection on probability shaped the philosophical landscape of the Early German Enlightenment, the viability of the Thomasian view has much broader ramifications that extend beyond hermeneutics to historics, ethics, and physics.

ABSTRACT This article examines certain ideas proposed by central officials and by Jeremy Bentham to improve Britain’s prison capacity at a time when the American Revolutionary War upended existing practice. Between 1775 and 1787, central officials encouraged local authorities to support prison improvement projects, but the demand to remove prisoners out of local institutions, and the failed plan to establish two large, centrally funded prisons in 1782, decisively shaped the official preference for resuming penal transportation to a new colony over the idea of institutionalized penal labour at home. Meanwhile, in response to these events, Bentham developed an idea of combining penal labour with a theory of inspection – the famous Panopticon – and tried to implement this idea in Britain. Facing the same problem, Bentham and the officials reached different solutions, which reflects the complicated situation and lived dimensions of European Enlightenment.

In this article, I examine the work and thought of Ḥaim Zelig Slonimski, a key figure in the Jewish Enlightenment (Haskalah) movement in nineteenth-century Eastern Europe. I focus on his engagement with technological innovation, a topic that has not been sufficiently analyzed in the scholarly literature. Unlike the common perception of Slonimski as a popularizer of science, I argue that he attributed great importance to technological innovation as a driver of society’s transition into the Age of Enlightenment. A systematic analysis of his writings on the subject sheds light on his views regarding telephone and telegraph lines, electrical networks, railways, and steam engines, not merely as applications of science but as powerful mechanisms in their own right, paving the way for individuals and society toward the Enlightenment. Moreover, I make clear the synthesis Slonimski created between technological innovation and the Jewish religious worldview. In his conception, new technological inventions embodied a divine spark inherent in the human intellect, offering a dual pathway: both the advancement of knowledge and science and the strengthening of faith. Based on these findings, I propose a new interpretation of Slonimski’s role in the Haskalah - not as a mediator of scientific knowledge, but rather as a popularizer of technological innovation. This term more accurately reflects his techno-Enlightenment worldview.

Urine is historically the oldest biological material used for diagnostic purposes. Urine testing dates to the ancient Babylonians and Sumerians. Uroscopy consisted of visual and organoleptic assessment (color, clarity, odor, taste testing) of urine. Its principles did not change until the Age of Enlightenment. In the 16th century, when the first microscope was constructed, uroscopy was enriched with the assessment of urine sediment. As chemical methods have developed, tests for various analytes in urine have been introduced into diagnostic methods. The presence of sugar and protein and excretion of urea, creatinine, uric acid and electrolytes, such as sodium, potassium, chlorides, calcium, and magnesium and phosphates, were assessed. Over the years, the set of tests performed on urine has changed, among others, due to the possibility of performing more diagnostically reliable tests in blood. Although currently the most common material for laboratory tests is blood, a general urine test has not lost its importance, and it is a widely performed screening test.

Abstract : This article entitled « The Universality of Proletariat in question » incorporates with the framework of a decolonial perspective. As indicated by the title, it raises the issue of the universality of proletariat by analysing it under different angles to see whether the struggle of classes is a European type of universal or a true universal. This contribution raises the following issue : Is proletariat universal ? Is it a call for the union of proletarians of all countries as Marx and Engels said ? Does proletariat take into account all forms of discriminations (class, race, gender…) ? This work intends to shows on the one hand how proletariat mainly the European one is victim of Western linea history by showing the influence the philosophy of the Enlightenment period on Marx's thought. On the other hand, to show even if proletariat seems European, the struggle of classes exists in other places. For example, even with the bureaucracy system in some african countries the relationships of class domination still exist. This work enables us to see also the shift from a western linea history to polycentrist history of the world. This contribution is an African invitation to revive the Marxian thought by reading it as suggested by Senghor from an african perspective and not from a western one. It is about rethinking the universality of proletariat under other tropics and to make it truly universal without distinction of people, race, gender... : a humanist proletariat. Mots clés : universalité, prolétariat, lutte des classes. Keywords : universality, proletariat, class struggle.

According to Pierre Bayle (1696–1697), a precursor of the French En lightenment, best known for his Dictionnaire historique et critique, traditional theod icy is flawed in that it uses human free will to explain the existence of moral evil. In his view, God could eliminate sin by endowing sinners with divine grace, thereby biasing their will towards good. In response to Bayle’s critique of theodicy, Bogusław Wolnie wicz1 concludes that sinners must exist according to the laws of logic, and that the freedom of the human will is an obstacle that God’s omnipotence cannot overcome.

Abstract During the eighteenth century, the Northern Lights were frequently seen in the South of France. In Montpellier, they were observed by the members of the Société royale des sciences , a prominent academy during the Age of Enlightenment. While academicians made little attempt to explain the causes of the aurora borealis, they proposed numerous representations of a phenomenon that is unpredictable, fleeting and shapeless. This article aims to analyze these ways of representing the aurora through both text and image. The descriptions of the auroras are dominated by the astronomical model, despite the peculiarities of several observations, such as the importance given to experiments among physicists or to colors by the company’s painter. Visualizations multiply the attempts to find a pictorial technique that can render the blurriness of the forms as well as the vividness of the colors, but the much desired transition to copper engraving seems to dissolve this ambition.

This article offers a critical examination of Kant’s thesis on practical and transcendental freedom, framed within the Third Antinomy of Pure Reason, to assess its philosophical relevance for liberation thought in Latin America. It posits that Kantian freedom, rather than metaphysical abstraction, serves as a conceptual tool capable of engaging with the historical and social challenges of the region. Through a reflective analysis grounded in primary and secondary sources, the study explores the philosophical specificity of freedom and its connection to principles of emancipation, justice, and autonomy. Findings indicate that, since the 1950s, Latin American philosophy has reinterpreted Kant’s legacy not merely as a theoretical framework but as a transformative praxis confronting epistemic exclusion and social inequality. The work also highlights Leopoldo Zea’s contributions as a bridge between European Enlightenment thought and the ethical imperatives of the Latin American context. In conclusion, the article argues that contemporary debates on ethical universalism and global justice continue to draw upon Kantian freedom as a foundational element for the development of emancipatory projects in Latin America.

In the mid-nineteenth century, tobacco smoke enemas became the preferred method for reviving drowned people in major European capitals. The origins of this practice remain elusive. The proponents of this technique, first proposed in 1740 by René Antoine Ferchault Réaumur, did not provide any theoretical rationale for its effectiveness. Instead, they referenced an anecdote suggesting that the practice began when a soldier, witnessing a grief-struck husband beside his drowned wife, offered his pipe to blow tobacco smoke into her intestines. Such a process was reportedly observed among the Mi’gmaq and described by trained surgeon Dièreville in his 1708 publication Relation du Voyage du Port Royal de l’Acadie ou de la Nouvelle France. Like physicians of the time, historians interested in this resuscitation practice have overlooked its roots in Indigenous knowledge. However, during this Age of Enlightenment, as medicine was becoming increasingly Cartesian, it was tobacco — the sacred plant of American Indigenous peoples — and its smoke evoking the soul and vital breath, which was believed to possess the power to revive drowned people.

Abstract Princess de Talmont (née Maria Anna Ludwika Jabłonowska) arrived in France from her native Poland in the early decades of the eighteenth century. Her family ties to the Versailles and Lunéville courts (as first cousin of the exiled Polish monarch, Stanisław Leszczyński) brought her widespread notoriety in French society. Not only was she a dedicated supporter of Leszczyński's bid for the Polish throne, the Polish princess supported other political causes throughout her life, inter alia, she advocated on behalf of Poland's political independence from foreign intervention in the closing decades of the eighteenth century. Furthermore, Princess de Talmont was a patron of the French Enlightenment—she frequented Parisian intellectual salons, corresponded and associated with the philosophes and encyclopédistes, as well as prominent artists and writers, and espoused many of the progressive views of Enlightenment thought. For example, the Polish princess sympathized with the theory of deism which was popular among Enlightenment thinkers, and supported the education of women, particularly women of the aristocracy. In 1738, she established a personal acquaintance with Voltaire, which spanned over thirty-five years and was based on mutual respect and admiration, yet distinguished by opposing political views. The purpose of this article is to assess the relationship between Princess de Talmont and Voltaire, and determine the extent to which the Polish princess was able to influence Voltaire's views of Poland, with specific reference to the Confederates of Bar and the political turmoil in Poland on the eve of the First Partition.

This study examines the transformations in the spatiality of nature from early Sijo to Enlightenment-period Sijo, based on Otto Friedrich Bollnow’s theory of space. Bollnow distinguished space into a “narrow sphere” and a “wide sphere,” explaining them in relation to human life. He argued that in the search for self-identity, human beings move out of the “narrow sphere” into the “wide sphere,” and then return again to the “narrow sphere”. He explained that such a return takes place because human beings ultimately achieve self-identity and find a sense of security within the “narrow sphere”. Then, he defined the “narrow sphere,” where human beings realize their self-identity and feel a sense of stability, as “house”. Such spatial configurations of nature in sijo became even more varied during the late Joseon period. This was attributable to the emergence of gagaek and the internal differentiation within the literati class. As the late Joseon period progressed, the literati split into two groups: the gyeonghwa sajok and the hyangchon sajok. The hyangchon sajok concepted nature as a conceptual space and, much like the early Joseon literati, continued to spatialize it as a form of “house.”, In contrast, the gyeonghwa sajok perceived nature as a space of realistic pleasure, causing it to drift away from the notion of “house.”, or completely lost its spatial character as ‘house'. This spatial conception of nature observed in the gyeonghwa sajok’s sijo also appeared in the sijo composed by gagaek. In the Enlightenment period, the spatiality of nature in Sijo went through yet another change under Japanese colonial rule. In the situation where the nation as “house” had become unfamiliar under Japanese colonial rule, the group engaged with Sijo sought to re-recognize the lost “home” through nature. The reason why the Sijo group of the Enlightenment period emphasized the re-recognition of the nation’s land was that they regarded the perception of the land as directly connected to the perception of ethnic identity. Therefore, the nature in Enlightenment-period Sijo can be understood as a space explored for the recovery of ethnic identity, which can be seen as having been spatialized into what Bollnow calls the “wide sphere”.

Abstract This article examines the reception of Kant’s theoretical philosophy at the Berlin Academy during the 1790s, with particular attention to two central themes: philosophical method and the status of metaphysics. I argue that Kant’s ideas were received at a moment when academic philosophy had already emerged as an autonomous current within the late German Enlightenment. The philosophers of the Academy actively engaged with his writings, using them as a catalyst to refine and radicalize their own views on the practice of philosophy and the role of metaphysics. The analysis focuses on the memoirs of J.-B. Merian (1723–1807) and L. F. Ancillon (1740–1814), who sought to counter what they perceived as Kant’s dismantling of metaphysics. I contend that, despite earlier opposition to Wolff’s system within the Academy, the members of the speculative philosophy class strove to reassert the value of metaphysics, gravitating toward a more Wolffian perspective. Thus, by the end of the 1790s, earlier pluralistic conceptions of metaphysics had largely given way to a foundational approach aimed at countering Kant’s critique.

This article explores Bertrand Russell's viewpoint that "Hitler is a product of Rousseau's ideas, and Roosevelt and Churchill are products of Locke's ideas" and evaluates its rationality. Research has shown that Russell's association has a problem of historical simplification: Hitler's ideology is more derived from Nietzsche's ideas and German nationalism, only superficially borrowing and distorting Rousseau's concept of the "general will"; Although Churchill continued the legacy of Locke's liberalism in parliamentary systems, free trade, and other areas, he adhered to the concept of elite politics, and his policies had a practical utilitarian color, which differed from Locke's natural law philosophy foundation; Roosevelt pragmatically reconstructed Locke's ideas in response to the demand for industrial democracy, breaking through the traditional liberal framework through measures such as government intervention in the economy, while also sparking controversy over the excessive expansion of administrative power. Overall, Enlightenment ideas were not linearly inherited in 20th-century political practice, but were reshaped through historical context, political needs, and personal choices. The value of Russell's viewpoint lies in revealing the dual legacy of Enlightenment ideas, rather than accurately reflecting the causal relationship between ideas and political figures.

The article aims to present lexis that refers to emotions based on Psalm 70 of the ancient King David as translated by Franz Karpinski and Mikhail Lomonosov, two secular men who lived during the Age of Enlightenment. The analysis of these texts suggests that the fear of shame is a important emotion. Fearing defeat, they declare trust in God, who for both of them is the personification of strength and victory, hence the name ‘defender’ in translation. Lomonosov also calls God Поборник (‘defender/ master’), Зиждитель (‘creator’), Помощник (‘helper’), Покровитель (‘patron’), and Пристанище (‘shelter’). While asking for support, both translators promise to praise God, thus ascribing glorification considerable importance.

The evolution of urban fabric—from its geometric origins in ancient civilizations to its modern interpretations—has been shaped by societal values and economic forces. This paper traces the historical development of urban planning, exploring how property lines and land distribution have influenced urban design. The Enlightenment era stripped many traditional meanings from human life, elevating the importance of political economy. This shift laid the foundation for the post-liberal era, in which the state regulated the private sector’s profit-maximizing strategies. The paper also examines the historical relationship between state control and private sector influence in urban development, with particular attention to the concept of the "New World." As previously inaccessible lands become available, the paper argues for the revival of strategic, balanced urban planning in these emerging regions, emphasizing the importance of urban fabric design and the complexities of contemporary socioeconomic realities.

The theme "From Hastings to Montesquieu: Franco-English cultural interferences" explores the cultural, political, and intellectual relations between France and England from the Battle of Hastings (1066) to the Enlightenment of Montesquieu (the 18th century). The direction of influence is biunivocal and manifests itself in numerous areas: the introduction of feudalism along the French model, the influence of the French language on medieval English, as well as architectural and legal transformations inspired by French traditions. I propose to trace the cultural exchanges from the Plantagenets to the Age of Enlightenment, including Eleanor of Aquitaine, Chretien de Troyes, Geoffrey Chaucer, Erasmus, Thomas More, Rabelais, Montaigne, Shakespeare, and Montesquieu. It will be noted that the two cultures form a complex system of communicating vessels.

With this publication, the authors try to draw attention to the sources of European education and enlightenment in the early Middle Ages (before the emergence of universities). The article reveals such issues as: 1) the establishment of the “seven liberal arts” (septem artes liberales) in Europe, divided into three estates: clerics (oratores), warriors (bellatores), and workers (laboratores); 2) childhood and child rearing; 3) the code of virtues of a “good Christian” versus his seven sins; 4) the Carolingian Renaissance and the contribution of Flaccus Alcuin and Rabanus Maurus to the development of education; 5) why history/historiography did not become an independent artes liberales; 6) the role of monastic and cathedral (episcopal) schools; 7) the Bible, its reading and commentary in schools; 8) the emergence and essence of scholasticism; 9) education in the Byzantine Empire: Magnaur Higher School and Pandidakterion University - the first higher educational institution in the world; 10) education and enlightenment in Rus. The darkest ages of the "dark" Middle Ages prepared the ground for the restructuring of the entire system of value orientations and collective ideas, called, in the figurative expression of the famous French medievalist Jacques Le Goff, "a return from heaven to earth". School, education, and literacy played a key role in this reorientation. The basis of early medieval education was the Roman "seven liberal arts", which, although not always and not everywhere, were observed in all schools at monasteries, diocesan cathedrals, and royal courts. Scholasticism (early 11th – 12th centuries) sharpened the relationship between faith and reason in the knowledge of God, the world, and man. The authors conclude that it is appropriate to inform the modern generation of AI about the origins of European education and enlightenment in the early Middle Ages (before the advent of universities) as a successful example of intellectuals of the "dark ages" for the "reformers" of permanent "reforms" in the field of education of the current "enlightened age."

Background. The study is devoted to the analysis of individual perception of contemplated objects. The works of Enlightenment philosophers are examined from the perspective of studying the cognition of image reflection, its internal and external definiteness in terms of the constituent features of beauty and pragmatic application. The author has determined that “beauty” in a perfect image represents the unity of subjective and objective perception. The purposeof the study is to identify and correlate subjective and objective perception of the image in the aesthetics of Enlightenment philosophers. Materials and methods.Research methods: comparative analysis, synthesis and generalization, historical and logical analysis of approaches to studying the concepts of Enlightenment philosophers, and bibliographic analysis in selecting scientific literature on the research topic. The concepts of G. Hegel, I. Kant, and D. Diderot served as the material for the research. Results.The Enlightenment period is characterized by the replacement of religious perception of the divine side of the creation of the world and man with a transition to rational and reasonable criteria for understanding the social and world order. The ideas of the individual began to be identified with the concept of reason, and the ideal of existence was filled with ideas of external and internal perfection. The work analyzes the concept of “beauty” and notes that philosophers identified this concept not with the free beauty that arises in the images of the contemplator, but filled it with internal expediency, the possibility of pragmatic application. The article examines “beauty” in its subjective perception of the surrounding world, noting that it does not exist separately from the mind of the individual and his interest in the object, noting that it is man who is capable of feeling the internal significance of the object. It is concluded that Enlightenment philosophers had a rational conceptual basis for contemplating an object, subjectively considering it beautiful, singling it out among the objects of their perception, endowing it with expediency and positive qualities. The practical significanceof the work is due to the fact that the results can be used by specialists in the field of aesthetics, as well as when working on the creation of an object or image that consolidates internal and external perfection, and when developing analytical and prognostic solutions in the field of studying the authority of the human personality and the sustainable development of self-awareness.

The achievements of the Scientific Revolution and the rationalist spirit of the Age of Enlightenment provided new approaches for the late eighteenth-century French intelligentsia to reflect on and address social and political problems. Reformist officials and scientists, as represented by the school of physiocracy, looked forward to the application of scientific reason to human affairs, and developed the following idea: Not only did scientific reason and its inherently universal applicability transcend historical traditions and personal opinions, it was therefore capable of overcoming the privileges of estates-corporations under the ancien régime and achieving the rationalization of national governance; standards devised in accordance with nature and reason ought essentially to become universal norms applicable to all people. Not only were these ideas reflected in the conception of privilege and the design of institutions by the reformists and revolutionaries, they pervaded a number of concrete reform measures: The formulation of the weights and measures in the metric system demonstrated the rationalist ambitions of French Enlightenment philosophers and revolutionaries. These interactions between politics and scientific reason taking shape in the latter days of the ancien régime were not only an important feature of the French Revolution, but also left a mark on later French political culture.

This special issue advocates for critically examining the epistemological foundations of different arrangements of legal pluralism, particularly “classical” culture- or custom-based legal pluralism. It addresses conceptual colonial legacies and path-dependencies to further “epistemological disobedience” and socio-political decolonisation. The individual contributions highlight and challenge the rigidification of collective identities entrenched in binary logics reaching back to the European Enlightenment, and other dimensions of coloniality embedded in hegemonic modernist, Anglo-Eurocentric legal frameworks. Decentring dominant normative and identitarian paradigms and emphasising dialogical engagement with diverse normative rationalities, all six contributions to the special issue examine the potential of legal pluralism to foster pluriversal approaches to law. They foreground various kinds of interplay between plural legal orders and illustrate distinct colonial power dynamics in different locales that have continued until the present day. Collectively, they call for reimagining legal pluralism as a tool for emancipation, transcending (post)colonial statist epistemologies to advance decolonial, pluriversal futures.