Enlightenment Ideals Research Articles

JUDICIAL ACTIVISM: A LIVING IMAGE OF LAW REFLECTED IN THE SOCIAL MIRROR

This article analyzes the instrumentalization of law for the purpose of promoting social emancipation. It hypothesizes whether the leading role attributed to the Judiciary in the Democratic State of Law at the turn of the last century to the 21st century fulfills the promises of modernity based on the theory of the social contract and driven by the Enlightenment ideals to make effective the rights of freedom and social rights of the Constitution. To this end, first, legal positivism is presented, in search of recognition of subjects and equal participation; second, the historical bases of the constitutions are established, to confirm the metamorphosis of law and the model of jurisdictional control through the main and incidental channels; and third, to show judicial activism, mapping the decisions of the Supreme Court. The conclusion is about the importance of the Judiciary in the effectiveness of positive and negative rights. The article was guided by the hypothetical-deductive method and was based on books, scientific articles, legislation and jurisprudence.

THE ANALYSIS OF JONATHAN SWIFT'S GULLIVER’S TRAVELS: A LITERARY EXPLORATION

Jonathan Swift's Gulliver’s Travels is a profound satire of 18th-century society, politics, and human nature, portrayed through the adventures of Lemuel Gulliver. The article analyzes the transformation of Gulliver’s character, from a rational man to a disillusioned misanthrope, in the context of Swift’s critique of Enlightenment ideals. By exploring the literary perspectives of prominent scholars, the article sheds light on Swift’s use of satire to challenge the intellectual and political climate of his time.

O discurso iconográfico como signo das Luzes: o frontispicio da Encyclopédie e a obra de Mestre Ataíde

French Enlightenment thought developed its own iconography. Mestre Ataíde, a prominent Brazilian artist from the colonial period, had engraving manuals in his library, including plates from the Encyclopédie. A comparative analysis of the compositional structure and lines of force of the Frontispiece of the Encyclopédie (Cochin, 1675) and the works Ascension of Christ (1806) and Assumption of the Virgin (1804), both by Mestre Ataíde, suggests the potential presence of Enlightenment symbols in their iconography. Based on this premise, it is expected to contribute to studies that connect French Enlightenment ideals to Brazil in the 19th century.

"Frequent Self-Examination Is the Duty of All": Practical Religion, Moral Improvement, and Transatlantic Protestantism

Abstract: Practicing Protestants sought moral perfection through innovative means of self-development during the eighteen and early nineteenth centuries. The philosophical, cultural and religious changes that emerged from the Protestant Reformation and Enlightenment influenced transatlantic Protestantism. Evangelical religion and new sectarian groups appeared simultaneously and dialectically to the emergence of liberal thought, democratic politics and scientific advancement. The high-level musings of prominent philosophers of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe trickled down to common practitioners, who engaged in new patterns of religiosity. Through spiritual performances, habitual methods, and regimented schedules, Protestants customized their individual programs for moral progress and spiritual enlightenment. Pictorial and published works served as devices to evoke, maintain and advance their faith through reading, prayer, meditation, and diet. Recording their activities and assessing their successes and failures, the individual plans detailed here were part of a continuum of spirituality and rationality to perform piety on one's own terms and for the benefit of others. These Protestants combined Christian concepts with Enlightenment ideals to pursue autonomous, aspirational, and tailored approaches to self-discipline and spiritual insight.

How are Mozart’s Operas Indebted to Enlightenment Ideals?

This paper undertakes a rigorous examination of the Enlightenment ideals embodied within Mozart's operas and their subsequent influence. Mozart's musical compositions were profoundly shaped by the Enlightenment era, reflecting the aspirations of freedom, democracy, and equality. The article points out that Mozart incorporated cultural elements and enlightenment ideas from different countries into his opera creation, especially his work Don Giovanni was deeply influenced by cultural traditions, combining musical tragedy with comedic characteristics. The article also mentions that Mozart embodies the idea of equality in the Enlightenment through the assignment of roles in the opera, and each character has the opportunity to have direct contact with Don · Giovanni, showing the directness and equality of the characters. In addition, the article discusses how Mozart spread the ideas of the Enlightenment through his opera, and how his operas reflected the spirit of freedom, reason, and openness. "Don Giovanni" can become his masterpiece, through careful character shaping and musical stage design, it conveys the core values of the Enlightenment, has a profound impact on the society at that time, and has become a classic in the history of music.

Feeling rules and emotion work in geomorphology fieldwork

Geography’s fieldwork culture has been subject to much scrutiny in recent decades. With roots in colonial exploration and shaped by Enlightenment ideals of reason and rationality, the presence of emotion in physical geography fieldwork has remained invisible, unspoken. This article draws on geomorphologists’ fieldwork stories, accessed via questionnaire and interviews, to provide insight into the emotion work involved in collaborative fieldwork, depicted here through a career/life-course chronology. This in turn enables articulation of the ‘feeling rules’ of geomorphology fieldwork; implicit, unwritten expectations of ‘how to be’ a field geomorphologist. Acknowledging that fieldwork is a positive aspect of the discipline for many, the article provides insight into the ways that the burdens of fieldwork may shift throughout a career and considers the implications for creating more inclusive field environments.

Iqbal's Spiritual Democracy and Habermas's Deliberative Democracy: A Comparative Study

The current study is written in the context of the civilizational dialogue between the West and the Muslim world with reference to Jürgen Habermas and Muhammad Iqbal's political views. It explores the congruence and contrasts between Habermas's discourse theory of democracy or deliberative democracy and Iqbal's theory of spiritual democracy. This research strives to find out the extent to which the core values of Habermas's theory and that of Iqbal’s are compatible. For Habermas, the core values of social order are liberty and equality, whereas Iqbal upholds liberty, equality, and solidarity. It has been investigated whether they both mean the same phenomena by the same terms or not. For Habermas and Iqbal, democracy is the best form of government but neither one is satisfied with the existing democratic practices. In principle, they accept democracy as the best political system. The research paper also sheds light on the historical and cultural influences that have shaped the political ideologies of both Habermas and Iqbal, considering the impact of Western Enlightenment ideals on Habermas and the role of Islamic jurisprudence and spirituality in shaping Iqbal's democratic theory. Through critical analysis, this study aims to deepen the understanding of complexities inherent in the dialogue between Western and Muslim civilizations and offers insights into potential avenues for collaboration in political theory and practice.

Biology as a Construct: Universals, Historicity, and the Postmodern Critique.

The integration of postmodern thinking in the sciences, especially in biology, has been subject to harsh criticism. Contrary to Enlightenment ideals of objectivity and neutrality in the scientific method, the postmodern stance holds that truth is relative, not universal, and therefore progress is ambiguous. The effect of postmodern thought has ramifications that extend from the distrust of preexisting scientific conclusions to questions about the impact of progress in society. It also reflects skepticism about the scientific endeavor. Especially when postmodern ideas are considered to have gained traction, the anti-postmodern critique has become harsher. At stake is whether postmodern notions are indeed irrelevant, and-even more important-whether they compromise scientific progress. The conditional significance of universals in biology and the role of historicity in the evolutionary process makes biology different from the other natural sciences and subjects it to the postmodern critique. This article argues that rather than being viewed as a science that seeks universals, biology should be viewed as a construct, more relevant to a technology, aiming to attain functionalities. Such recognition may fuel progress and assist biology in attaining its ultimate goal, which is to address the most intricate questions about the living world.

Science in the service of politics. The cartographic representation of a local territorial context of the Kingdom of Naples in the early nineteenth century

The erudite priest Marciano Di Leo (1751–1819), a prominent personality in the historical and geographical panorama of his time, not only in his home territory, authored a vast literary and poetic production, but also tried his hand at producing some maps, referring to a province of the Kingdom of Naples. At a time when the principles of geodetic cartography had become increasingly known, even locally, hand in hand with improvements in technology and accuracy of measurements, the author reflects the historical narratives of progress of the European (and Neapolitan) Enlightenment and translates them into an unpublished manuscript of statistical, historical, and geographical nature, accompanied by numerous maps of various scales. The rediscovery of a largely unknown—and therefore not very thorough—minor cartographic production underscores the spread even in more marginal contexts of the most innovative ideas and increasingly precise scientific foundations in the cartographic-mathematical representation of the territory. It also illustrates the role of a number of intellectuals in the service of the political choices of their time, in an attempt-often unrealized-to bring about a decisive change of course in public administration, in accordance with Enlightenment ideals and in the spirit of reform that spread throughout Europe thanks to the French Revolution.

Time, Clocks, and Illnesses in Paul Harding’s Tinkers

ABSTRACT Paul Harding’s Tinkers was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2010. This article examines how the novel employs a unique temporal rhetoric to present a post-Enlightenment worldview. As the chronological narrative sequence is disrupted by the main character’s reminiscences and hallucinations, time becomes disjunctive and fragmentary, which suggests that chaos often prevails in human consciousness. The narrative temporality thus becomes ontologically unstable and unreliable, representing a condition of abnormality and aberration. Moreover, this temporal condition is connected with the novel’s repeated descriptions of clock malfunctions and human illnesses, thereby further emphasizing the idea that disorders are an inevitable human condition. As Harding views the precise mechanisms of clocks as an embodiment of Enlightenment rationalism, the emphasis on these disorders signifies a subtle critique of Enlightenment ideals and a receptive attitude toward the inherent chaotic condition of life.

Wieland's Diogenes: A Cosmopolitan sensus non-communis

Abstract: Wieland's novel Dialogen des Diogenes von Sinope from 1770 provides a model for a cosmopolitan mode of non-commonality. A sustained reading of this seldom-read text uncovers a surprisingly provocative rhetoric and textual praxis that challenge false universalisms at the very core of Enlightenment ideals of common sense. The article explores what might lay claim to being the first instance in German literature of an ineluctable and yet, as one could say, cosmopolitan sensus non- communis .

Jane Austen's Feminist Journey: From Enlightenment Sparks to Contemporary Discourse

This paper explores the multifaceted feminist themes woven throughout Jane Austen's novels. It delves into how Austen, a product of the Enlightenment era, critiques the societal constraints placed upon women in Regency England. Through witty dialogue and social commentary, Austen exposes the limitations on female agency, particularly regarding marriage, property ownership, and self-determination. The paper utilizes in-depth analysis to trace the evolution of Austen's feminist voice across her works. It unveils her subtle yet powerful critiques of patriarchal structures, highlighting the intersection of power and privilege within Austen's narratives. Furthermore, it emphasizes the importance of intersectionality in understanding the diverse experiences of women within her novels, acknowledging the impact of class and social status on their struggles. Finally, the paper underscores Austen's enduring legacy as a pioneering feminist voice. Her timeless novels continue to resonate with contemporary readers, sparking discussions about gender equality, female agency, and the fight for social change. Austen's work serves as a bridge between Enlightenment ideals and modern feminist discourse, solidifying her position as a literary icon whose influence transcends generations.

ԹԱՐԳՄԱՆԱԿԱՆ ՄԱՆԿԱԳՐՈՒԹՅՈՒՆԸ ՀԱՅԿԱԿԱՆ ԱՌԱՋԻՆ ԱՇԱԿԵՐՏԱԿԱՆ ՊԱՐԲԵՐԱԿԱՆՆԵՐՈՒՄ / TRANSLATED CHILDREN’S LITERATURE IN THE FIRST ARMENIAN CHILDREN’S PERIODICALS

This article aims to examine the role and impact of translated literature as reflected in the first Armenian children's and youth periodicals ('St. Burastan. Sahakyan,’ 1851- 1853, Constantinople; ‘Tutak Haykazian,’ 1854-1855; ‘Erkaser,’ 1855, Smyrna). The primary objective is to identify and analyze the content of materials translated for teenage readers. This study serves as an extension of our comprehensive research on children's literature translated in Armenian publications during the pre-Soviet era. The methodology employed in this study incorporates both qualitative and quantitative analyses, along with a historical approach. As part of the comparative analysis, reprints and individual translations of literary works were also examined, as they play a crucial role in shaping independent children's and young adult literature. Translated literature significantly influenced the literary and social landscape of Armenian-European interactions, aiding in the dissemination and preservation of global literary heritage. The Armenian intelligentsia of the time believed that national education and awakening required the adoption and spread of the finest European Enlightenment ideals among Armenian children and adolescents. This goal was pursued through the translation of ideologically relevant literature, which was published in the newly emerging periodicals aimed at students.

The reflection of the enlightenment ideals in Abdurauf Fitrat’s work “Munazere” and harmonies with “Molla Nasraddin”

The reflection of the enlightenment ideals in Abdurauf Fitrat’s work “Munazere” and harmonies with “Molla Nasraddin”

Theorizing Fatal Strategies: A New Leftist Vocabulary of Jean Baudrillard

This essay explores Jean Baudrillard’s “fatal strategies” outlined in his seminal work, Fatal Strategies. It also explores their relevance to contemporary postmodern capitalist culture. Baudrillard’s writing style mirrors the ecstatic nature of the society he critiques, employing symbolic exchange to intensify its logic to the point of collapse. The essay further examines Baudrillard’s possible leftist vocabulary rooted in critical theory, poststructuralism, and anti-capitalist critique. Baudrillard’s leftist gesture rejects Enlightenment humanist presumptions, particularly the notion of “the social.” He argues that modern technology exposes humans’ predictability and heteronomy, rendering the Enlightenment ideals obsolete yet still haunting the postmodern “desert of the real.” Baudrillard’s work becomes an exorcism, banishing these specters by asserting that responsible collective subjects and genuine social projects never truly existed. Instead, he highlights “figures of the transpolitical,” such as the obese, hostages, and the obscene, as more indicative of contemporary reality. Moreover, Baudrillard challenges the historical privilege of the subject over the object, exploring the “fatal strategy” of the object “taking revenge” on the subject. His intellectual work, though unsystematic, consistently concerns the system of signs of ideology and the role of media and technology in shaping leftist identities. This essay thus sheds light on Baudrillard’s distinct perspective within the leftist cultural critique, providing insights into the postmodern condition and methodological prospects.

The Predicaments of Radical Individualism and the Gothic Return of Paternal Legacy in Charles Brockden Brown’s Wieland

Scholars have read Charles Brockden Brown’s Wieland in the context of early American republicanism, viewing the fall of the younger Wielands’ enlightened utopia as a sobering reflection on the nascent republic, as the family tragedy sheds light on the flipside of the early American Enlightenment. The bankruptcy of the Wielands’ enlightenment idealism, however, also reveals that they remain tragically bound to the gothic legacy of the first Protestant father.
 Wieland dramatizes how Clara’s enlightenment ends up being eclipsed by the return of the father’s sins, as she unwittingly inherits his radical individualism. This paper examines how the frontier immigrant father’s millennialistic fanaticism returns, leading Clara to gravitate toward an occult belief and a fatalist outlook. Indeed, Clara’s attempts to counter the oppressive paternal curse with her faith in benevolent Providence flounder, emblematically demonstrating the inherent limitations of her radical individualism. Clara’s descent is punctuated by her symbolic dread of her brother Theodore, the heir to the persistent curse of their patriarchal heritage. At the same time, her fear is mediated by a mystical voice that Carwin fabricates to embody divine authority. Clara’s near-blind obedience to what she imagines to be an occult agent is reminiscent of the elder Wieland’s apocalyptic fervor. As Clara’s moral fortitude succumbs to epistemological uncertainty and despair, the haunting shadows of her paternal lineage disrupt her rational inquiry and optimistic worldview, casting a pall over her struggle for enlightenment and self-realization.

Soviet Legacy of Vietnam's Intellectual Property Law: Big Brother is (No Longer) Watching You

AbstractHow did intellectual property (IP), a private right born out of European Enlightenment ideals, take root in Vietnam's socialist legal framework, and what influence does Vietnam's Soviet legacy still have on its IP law? The clandestine triumph of IP rights in Vietnam is remarkable, given the system's former propensity for collective ownership and limited private property rights. Vietnam's approach to IP rights has changed with economic liberalisation: while external pressure prompted the initial adoption of IP laws, national interest and global reputation enhancement are now driving the effort. At the height of communism in the 1980s and under Soviet domination, IP laws reflected socialist ideology and the characteristics of a command economy. Amid Vietnam's quest for technological advancement, the importance of patents has grown. However, public perceptions of the unreliability of the legal system to resolve IP disputes persist, pushing civil disputes towards the government rather than the judiciary. As Vietnam opened economically, its IP regime moved away from overt communism, but communist values are still implicitly incorporated in general principles. Today, adherence to free trade agreements, which require robust IP protection, is driving the modernisation of Vietnam's IP infrastructure.

Constructing the Infant Body: The Intervention of the Educated, Male Physician in Eighteenth-Century Infant Diet

Drawing on medical advice literature, this paper examines the cultural history of the body in infancy in eighteenth-century England. This period saw the increasing professionalization of the medical field, particularly regarding children’s health, as an emerging profession of educated, male physicians sought to establish their exclusive authority on the medical market. As England’s medical market of the time was largely unregulated, these educated physicians competed with apothecaries, midwives, and female nurses for paying customers. Physicians argued that the disorderly, undisciplined nature of the infant body was incongruent with Enlightenment virtues, and therefore required a greater degree of medical management. Emerging out of this discourse were popular advice books which emphasized preventative measures in already-healthy infant patients. They were authored by a growing profession of educated, medical experts and were addressed to a lay audience of parents and child caretakers. This paper examines three immensely popular pamphlets authored by three physicians, Thomas Beddoes, George Armstrong, and William Cadogan. All three emphasized in their tracts the importance of maternal breastfeeding to the infant diet, citing Enlightenment ideals, humoral theory, and even the supernatural elements of breastmilk to support this claim. To bring the child body firmly under the control of the medical establishment, they argued that uneducated, lay practitioners, who were overwhelmingly female, received no formal education in the sciences and thus possessed little understanding of the nuances and complexities specific to the infant body. Parents were also incapable and deficient, at least to some degree, in the formal knowledge necessary to prevent illness in their infant children, and thus should rely on the physician’s expertise regarding the care of the infant body.

METAFICTIONAL EXPLORATIONS IN DETECTIVE FICTION: JULIAN BARNES'S ARTHUR & GEORGE AND POSTMODERN INTRICACIES

This research paper delves into the intricate realm of postmodern detective fiction through an in-depth analysis of Julian Barnes's novel, Arthur & George. Detective fictions of Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie were formed following the notions of modernity and enlightenment ideals. However, postmodernism emerged as a counterforce to Enlightenment concepts, and detective fiction is no exception. Postmodern detective fiction subverts traditional detective story conventions through techniques such as metafiction, parody, and intertextuality. The present paper also explores fictions of postmodern authors like John Fowles, Umberto Eco, Paul Auster, and Jorge Luis Borges and their metafictional techniques to challenge the traditional detective's role and disrupt the boundary between fiction and reality with detailed analysis of these metafictional techniques in Julian Barnes’s novel Arthur & George.

PROVERBS AND SAYINGS IN THE WORKS OF ALIKHAN BUKEIKHAN: ANALYSIS IN THE ASPECT OF ETHNO -, SOCIOFOLCORISTICS

The study of the heritage of the Alash period within the framework of new scientific paradigms is one of the urgent problems in modern domestic social and humanitarian sciences. The searches conducted in the direction of interdisciplinary connections show the abundance of folklore material in the heritage of Alash. The intelligentsia of the nation rationally used folk wisdom in instilling the ideals of political struggle and enlightenment in getting rid of colonialism in the spirit of the awakening era in the minds of the general public. When the spiritual heritage was studied in the aspect of integrative folklore studies, it was noticed that the folk aesthetics was clearly expressed in the works of the Alash period. The article analyzes how A. Bukeikhan honored the national treasury, nurturing the centuries-old spiritual and cultural values of the Great Steppe. The proverbs used by the figure are considered in an ideological and thematic nature. Their harmonization in artistic and aesthetic content will be traced, starting from national values and ending with ideas about high human benefits. The professional skills of the Kazakh society in articles on current topics that raise important issues, qualifications in compliance with ethical requirements are determined in combination with the principles of ethnofolclor. The ethnofolcloristic aspect differentiates ideas that give a clear practical and theoretical focus on solving the problems of the liberation of the country and social inequality in colonial thought in the interests of the Kazakhs. Authenticity, concreteness, sharpness, intelligence, courage, depth in the articles are consistently analyzed with the skillful use of proverbs and sayings.