Avi Lifschitz | University of Oxford (original) (raw)

Books by Avi Lifschitz

Research paper thumbnail of Jüdische und christliche Intellektuelle in Berlin um 1800, eds. Cord-Friedrich Berghahn, Avi Lifschitz and Conrad Wiedemann (Hanover: Wehrhahn, 2021)  https://www.wehrhahn-verlag.de/public/index.php?ID_Section=1&ID_Product=1422

Die jüdische Selbstemanzipation des 18. Jahrhunderts (Haskala) ist in der neueren Aufklärungsfors... more Die jüdische Selbstemanzipation des 18. Jahrhunderts (Haskala) ist in der neueren Aufklärungsforschung zu einem zentralen Thema avanciert. Buchtitel wie Cultural Revolution in Berlin. Jews in the Age of Enlightenment sind bezeichnend dafür. Der vorliegende Band, der auf eine Konferenz im Jüdischen Museum Berlin im Jahr 2016 zurückgeht, ergänzt das komplexe Bild dieses Umbruchs um einen in der Regel unterschätzten Aspekt – nämlich die um 1800 reich dokumentierte Symbiose zwischen jüdischen und christlichen Intellektuellen der Stadt. In ihrer Vielgestaltigkeit geht sie weit über den kanonisch gewordenen Fall Lessing/Moses Mendelssohn hinaus. Ihr Antrieb war das beidseitige Wunschbild einer jüdischen Mitbürgerschaft nicht nur in rechtlicher, sondern auch kultureller Hinsicht. Im Aktionsraum dieses doppelten Lernprozesses, den die 14 Fallstudien des Bandes entfalten, finden sich neben Namen, die man kennt – wie David Friedländer, Salomon Maimon und Rahel Levin bzw. Friedrich Nicolai, Karl Philipp Moritz und Wilhelm von Humboldt – auch relativ unbekannte, die es sich lohnt weiter zu beforschen. Umso mehr, als das symbiotische Experiment Berlin 1800 offensichtlich die Basis für den in der Welt singulären jüdischen Beitrag zur deutschsprachigen Kultur bis 1933 war. Was danach, ebenfalls von Berlin ausgehend, kam, ist bekannt. Es sollte die historische Erinnerung an die frühe Utopie nicht verdecken. (https://www.wehrhahn-verlag.de/public/index.php?ID_Section=1&ID_Product=1422)

Research paper thumbnail of Frederick the Great's Philosophical Writings, ed. Avi Lifschitz, tr. Angela Scholar (Princeton University Press, December 2020) https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691176420/frederick-the-greats-philosophical-writings

Frederick the Great's Philosophical Writings, ed. Avi Lifschitz, tr. Angela Scholar. (https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691176420/frederick-the-greats-philosophical-writings), 2020

Frederick II of Prussia (1712–1786), best known as Frederick the Great, was a prolific writer of ... more Frederick II of Prussia (1712–1786), best known as Frederick the Great, was a prolific writer of philosophical discourses, poems, epics, satires, and more, while maintaining extensive correspondence with prominent intellectuals, Voltaire among them. This edition of selected writings, the first to make a wide range of Frederick’s most important ideas available to a modern English readership, moves beyond traditional attempts to see his work only in light of his political aims. In these pages, we can finally appreciate Frederick’s influential contributions to the European Enlightenment—and his unusual role as a monarch who was also a published author.

In addition to Frederick’s major opus, the Anti-Machiavel, the works presented here include essays, prefaces, reviews, and dialogues. The subjects discussed run the gamut from ethics to religion to political theory. Accompanied by critical annotations, the texts show that we can understand Frederick’s views of kingship and the state only if we engage with a broad spectrum of his thought, including his attitudes toward morality and self-love. By contextualizing his arguments and impact on Enlightenment beliefs, this volume considers how we can reconcile Frederick’s innovative public musings with his absolutist rule. Avi Lifschitz provides a robust and detailed introduction that discusses Frederick’s life and work against the backdrop of eighteenth-century history and politics.

Research paper thumbnail of Rethinking Lessing's Laocoon: Antiquity, Enlightenment, and the 'Limits' of Painting and Poetry, eds. Avi Lifschitz and Michael Squire (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017) https://global.oup.com/academic/product/rethinking-lessings-laocoon-9780198802228

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing first published Laokoon, oder über die Grenzen der Mahlerey und Poesie (... more Gotthold Ephraim Lessing first published Laokoon, oder über die Grenzen der Mahlerey und Poesie (Laocoon, or on the Limits of Painting and Poetry) in 1766. Over the last 250 years, Lessing's essay has exerted an incalculable influence on western critical thinking. Not only has it directed the history of post-Enlightenment aesthetics, it has also shaped the very practices of 'poetry' and 'painting' in a myriad of different ways.

In this anthology of specially commissioned chapters - comprising the first ever edited book on the Laocoon in English - a range of leading critical voices has been brought together to reassess Lessing's essay on its 250th anniversary. Combining perspectives from multiple disciplines (including classics, intellectual history, philosophy, aesthetics, media studies, comparative literature, and art history), the book explores the Laocoon from a plethora of critical angles. Chapters discuss Lessing's interpretation of ancient art and poetry, the cultural backdrops of the eighteenth century, and the validity of the Laocoon's observations in the fields of aesthetics, semiotics, and philosophy. The volume shows how the Laocoon exploits Greek and Roman models to sketch the proper spatial and temporal 'limits' (Grenzen) of what Lessing called 'poetry' and 'painting'; at the same time it demonstrates how Lessing's essay is embedded within Enlightenment theories of art, perception, and historical interpretation, as well as within nascent eighteenth-century ideas about the 'scientific' study of Classical antiquity (Altertumswissenschaft). To engage critically with the Laocoon, and to make sense of its legacy over the last 250 years, consequently involves excavating various 'classical presences': by looking back to the Graeco-Roman past, the volume demonstrates, Lessing forged a whole new tradition of modern aesthetics.

https://global.oup.com/academic/product/rethinking-lessings-laocoon-9780198802228

Research paper thumbnail of Engaging with Rousseau: Reaction and Interpretation from the Eighteenth Century to the Present, ed. Avi Lifschitz (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016; paperback ed., 2019).

Jean-Jacques Rousseau has been cast as a champion of Enlightenment and a beacon of Romanticism, a... more Jean-Jacques Rousseau has been cast as a champion of Enlightenment and a beacon of Romanticism, a father figure of radical revolutionaries and totalitarian dictators alike, an inventor of the modern notion of the self, and an advocate of stern ancient republicanism. Engaging with Rousseau treats his writings as an enduring topic of debate, examining the diverse responses they have attracted from the Enlightenment to the present. Such notions as the general will were, for example, refracted through very different prisms during the struggle for independence in Latin America and in social conflicts in Eastern Europe, or modified by thinkers from Kant to contemporary political theorists. Beyond Rousseau's ideas, his public image too travelled around the world. This book examines engagement with Rousseau's works as well as with his self-fashioning; especially in turbulent times, his defiant public identity and his call for regeneration were admired or despised by intellectuals and political agents.

Research paper thumbnail of Language and Enlightenment: The Berlin Debates of the Eighteenth Century (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012; paperback ed., 2016): https://global.oup.com/academic/product/language-and-enlightenment-9780198777649

What is the role of language in human cognition? Could we attain self-consciousness and construct... more What is the role of language in human cognition? Could we attain self-consciousness and construct our civilisation without language? Such were the questions at the basis of eighteenth-century debates on the joint evolution of language, mind, and culture. Language and Enlightenment highlights the importance of language in the social theory, epistemology, and aesthetics of the Enlightenment. While focusing on the Berlin Academy under Frederick the Great, Avi Lifschitz situates the Berlin debates within a larger temporal and geographical framework. He argues that awareness of the historicity and linguistic rootedness of all forms of life was a mainstream Enlightenment notion rather than a feature of the so-called 'Counter-Enlightenment'.

Enlightenment authors of different persuasions investigated whether speechless human beings could have developed their language and society on their own. Such inquiries usually pondered the difficult shift from natural signs like cries and gestures to the artificial, articulate words of human language. This transition from nature to artifice was mirrored in other domains of inquiry, such as the origins of social relations, inequality, the arts and the sciences. By examining a wide variety of authors - Leibniz, Wolff, Condillac, Rousseau, Michaelis, and Herder, among others - Language and Enlightenment emphasises the open and malleable character of the eighteenth-century Republic of Letters. The language debates demonstrate that German theories of culture and language were not merely a rejection of French ideas. New notions of the genius of language and its role in cognition were constructed through a complex interaction with cross-European currents, especially via the prize contests at the Berlin Academy.

Research paper thumbnail of Epicurus in the Enlightenment, eds. Neven Leddy and Avi Lifschitz (Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, 2009):  http://xserve.volt.ox.ac.uk/VFcatalogue/details.php?recid=6444

Eighteenth-century Epicureanism is often viewed as radical, anti-religious, and politically dange... more Eighteenth-century Epicureanism is often viewed as radical, anti-religious, and politically dangerous. But to what extent does this simplify the ancient philosophy and underestimate its significance to the Enlightenment?

Through a pan-European analysis of Enlightenment centres from Scotland to Russia via the Netherlands, France and Germany, contributors argue that elements of classical Epicureanism were appropriated by radical and conservative writers alike. They move beyond literature and political theory to examine the application of Epicurean ideas in domains as diverse as physics, natural law, and the philosophy of language, drawing on the work of both major figures (Diderot, Helvétius, Smith and Hume) and of lesser-known but important thinkers (Johann Jacob Schmauss and Dmitrii Anichkov).

Papers by Avi Lifschitz

Research paper thumbnail of Tim Blanning, Frederick the Great: King of PrussiaBlanningTim, Frederick the Great: King of Prussia, Allen Lane: London, 2015; 672 pp.; 9781846141829, £30.00 (hbk)

European History Quarterly

Research paper thumbnail of Between Friedrich Meinecke and Ernst Cassirer

Isaiah Berlin and the Enlightenment, 2016

Research paper thumbnail of The Enlightenment revival of the Epicurean history of language and civilisation

Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century, 2009

RefDoc, THE reference in scientific document supply / Refdoc, la référence en fourniture de docum... more RefDoc, THE reference in scientific document supply / Refdoc, la référence en fourniture de documents scientifiques ...

Research paper thumbnail of Language and culture

Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century, 2007

Research paper thumbnail of Adrastus versus Diogenes: Frederick the Great and Jean-Jacques Rousseau on self-love

Reaction and Interpretation from the Eighteenth Century to the Present, 2000

Research paper thumbnail of Epicurus in the Enlightenment

Page 1. Epicurus in the Enlightenment Edited by NEVEN LEDDY and AVI S. LIFSCHITZ VOLTAIRE FOUNDAT... more Page 1. Epicurus in the Enlightenment Edited by NEVEN LEDDY and AVI S. LIFSCHITZ VOLTAIRE FOUNDATION OXFORD 2009 Page 2. © 2009 Voltaire Foundation, University of Oxford ISBN 978 0 7294 0987 2 ISSN 0435-2866 ...

Research paper thumbnail of Prémontval, André Pierre le Guay

In Stammerjohann H Lexicon Grammaticorum a Bio Bibliographical Companion to the History of Linguistics Max Niemeyer Verlag Tubingen Germany, Jun 1, 2009

Research paper thumbnail of From the corruption of French to the cultural distinctiveness of German: the controversy over Prémontval's Préservatif (1759)

Svec 2007 06 265 290, Jun 1, 2007

Research paper thumbnail of The Evolution and Genius of Language

The Berlin Debates of the Eighteenth Century, 2012

Research paper thumbnail of Translation in Theory and Practice: The Case of Johann David Michaelis’s Prize Essay on Language and Opinions (1759)

In Stockhorst S Cultural Transfer Through Translation the Circulation of Enlightened Thought in Europe By Means of Translation Rodopi Amsterdam the Netherlands, 2010

Research paper thumbnail of 'Moses Mendelssohn und Thomas Abbt: Private Correspondence and public exchange at the origins of Phädon'

Jüdische und christliche Intellektuelle in Berlin um 1800, 2021

https://www.wehrhahn-verlag.de/public/index.php?ID\_Section=1&ID\_Product=1422

Research paper thumbnail of ‘Un culte universaliste de la raison? Réflexions sur les Lumières, l’universalisme et les particularismes culturels’, in: The Epoch of Universalism/L’époque de l’universalisme: 1769-1989, eds. Markus Messling and Franck Hoffmann (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2021).

https://www.degruyter.com/view/title/575134

Research paper thumbnail of Philosophy and Political Agency in the Writings of Frederick II of Prussia

The Historical Journal , 2021

https://doi.org/10.1017/S0018246X20000473 Frederick II's writings have conventionally been viewe... more https://doi.org/10.1017/S0018246X20000473

Frederick II's writings have conventionally been viewed either as political tools or as means of public self-fashioning – part of his campaign to raise the status of Prussia from middling principality to great power. This article, by contrast, argues that Frederick's works must also be taken seriously on their own terms, and interpreted against the background of Enlightenment philosophy. Frederick's notions of kingship and state service were not governed mostly by a principle of pure morality or ‘humanitarianism’, as argued influentially by Friedrich Meinecke. On the contrary, the king's views were part and parcel of an eighteenth-century vision of modern kingship in commercial society, based on the benign pursuit of self-love and luxury. A close analysis of Frederick's writings demonstrates that authorial labour was integral to his political agency, publicly placing constraints on what could be perceived as legitimate conduct, rather than mere intellectual window-dressing or an Enlightened pastime in irresolvable tension with his politics.

Research paper thumbnail of ‘The Book of Job and the Sex Life of Elephants: The Limits of Evidential Credibility in Eighteenth-Century Natural History and Biblical Criticism’, The Journal of Modern History 91.4 (2019), 739-775  https://doi.org/10.1086/705813

Research paper thumbnail of Jüdische und christliche Intellektuelle in Berlin um 1800, eds. Cord-Friedrich Berghahn, Avi Lifschitz and Conrad Wiedemann (Hanover: Wehrhahn, 2021)  https://www.wehrhahn-verlag.de/public/index.php?ID_Section=1&ID_Product=1422

Die jüdische Selbstemanzipation des 18. Jahrhunderts (Haskala) ist in der neueren Aufklärungsfors... more Die jüdische Selbstemanzipation des 18. Jahrhunderts (Haskala) ist in der neueren Aufklärungsforschung zu einem zentralen Thema avanciert. Buchtitel wie Cultural Revolution in Berlin. Jews in the Age of Enlightenment sind bezeichnend dafür. Der vorliegende Band, der auf eine Konferenz im Jüdischen Museum Berlin im Jahr 2016 zurückgeht, ergänzt das komplexe Bild dieses Umbruchs um einen in der Regel unterschätzten Aspekt – nämlich die um 1800 reich dokumentierte Symbiose zwischen jüdischen und christlichen Intellektuellen der Stadt. In ihrer Vielgestaltigkeit geht sie weit über den kanonisch gewordenen Fall Lessing/Moses Mendelssohn hinaus. Ihr Antrieb war das beidseitige Wunschbild einer jüdischen Mitbürgerschaft nicht nur in rechtlicher, sondern auch kultureller Hinsicht. Im Aktionsraum dieses doppelten Lernprozesses, den die 14 Fallstudien des Bandes entfalten, finden sich neben Namen, die man kennt – wie David Friedländer, Salomon Maimon und Rahel Levin bzw. Friedrich Nicolai, Karl Philipp Moritz und Wilhelm von Humboldt – auch relativ unbekannte, die es sich lohnt weiter zu beforschen. Umso mehr, als das symbiotische Experiment Berlin 1800 offensichtlich die Basis für den in der Welt singulären jüdischen Beitrag zur deutschsprachigen Kultur bis 1933 war. Was danach, ebenfalls von Berlin ausgehend, kam, ist bekannt. Es sollte die historische Erinnerung an die frühe Utopie nicht verdecken. (https://www.wehrhahn-verlag.de/public/index.php?ID_Section=1&ID_Product=1422)

Research paper thumbnail of Frederick the Great's Philosophical Writings, ed. Avi Lifschitz, tr. Angela Scholar (Princeton University Press, December 2020) https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691176420/frederick-the-greats-philosophical-writings

Frederick the Great's Philosophical Writings, ed. Avi Lifschitz, tr. Angela Scholar. (https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691176420/frederick-the-greats-philosophical-writings), 2020

Frederick II of Prussia (1712–1786), best known as Frederick the Great, was a prolific writer of ... more Frederick II of Prussia (1712–1786), best known as Frederick the Great, was a prolific writer of philosophical discourses, poems, epics, satires, and more, while maintaining extensive correspondence with prominent intellectuals, Voltaire among them. This edition of selected writings, the first to make a wide range of Frederick’s most important ideas available to a modern English readership, moves beyond traditional attempts to see his work only in light of his political aims. In these pages, we can finally appreciate Frederick’s influential contributions to the European Enlightenment—and his unusual role as a monarch who was also a published author.

In addition to Frederick’s major opus, the Anti-Machiavel, the works presented here include essays, prefaces, reviews, and dialogues. The subjects discussed run the gamut from ethics to religion to political theory. Accompanied by critical annotations, the texts show that we can understand Frederick’s views of kingship and the state only if we engage with a broad spectrum of his thought, including his attitudes toward morality and self-love. By contextualizing his arguments and impact on Enlightenment beliefs, this volume considers how we can reconcile Frederick’s innovative public musings with his absolutist rule. Avi Lifschitz provides a robust and detailed introduction that discusses Frederick’s life and work against the backdrop of eighteenth-century history and politics.

Research paper thumbnail of Rethinking Lessing's Laocoon: Antiquity, Enlightenment, and the 'Limits' of Painting and Poetry, eds. Avi Lifschitz and Michael Squire (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017) https://global.oup.com/academic/product/rethinking-lessings-laocoon-9780198802228

Gotthold Ephraim Lessing first published Laokoon, oder über die Grenzen der Mahlerey und Poesie (... more Gotthold Ephraim Lessing first published Laokoon, oder über die Grenzen der Mahlerey und Poesie (Laocoon, or on the Limits of Painting and Poetry) in 1766. Over the last 250 years, Lessing's essay has exerted an incalculable influence on western critical thinking. Not only has it directed the history of post-Enlightenment aesthetics, it has also shaped the very practices of 'poetry' and 'painting' in a myriad of different ways.

In this anthology of specially commissioned chapters - comprising the first ever edited book on the Laocoon in English - a range of leading critical voices has been brought together to reassess Lessing's essay on its 250th anniversary. Combining perspectives from multiple disciplines (including classics, intellectual history, philosophy, aesthetics, media studies, comparative literature, and art history), the book explores the Laocoon from a plethora of critical angles. Chapters discuss Lessing's interpretation of ancient art and poetry, the cultural backdrops of the eighteenth century, and the validity of the Laocoon's observations in the fields of aesthetics, semiotics, and philosophy. The volume shows how the Laocoon exploits Greek and Roman models to sketch the proper spatial and temporal 'limits' (Grenzen) of what Lessing called 'poetry' and 'painting'; at the same time it demonstrates how Lessing's essay is embedded within Enlightenment theories of art, perception, and historical interpretation, as well as within nascent eighteenth-century ideas about the 'scientific' study of Classical antiquity (Altertumswissenschaft). To engage critically with the Laocoon, and to make sense of its legacy over the last 250 years, consequently involves excavating various 'classical presences': by looking back to the Graeco-Roman past, the volume demonstrates, Lessing forged a whole new tradition of modern aesthetics.

https://global.oup.com/academic/product/rethinking-lessings-laocoon-9780198802228

Research paper thumbnail of Engaging with Rousseau: Reaction and Interpretation from the Eighteenth Century to the Present, ed. Avi Lifschitz (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016; paperback ed., 2019).

Jean-Jacques Rousseau has been cast as a champion of Enlightenment and a beacon of Romanticism, a... more Jean-Jacques Rousseau has been cast as a champion of Enlightenment and a beacon of Romanticism, a father figure of radical revolutionaries and totalitarian dictators alike, an inventor of the modern notion of the self, and an advocate of stern ancient republicanism. Engaging with Rousseau treats his writings as an enduring topic of debate, examining the diverse responses they have attracted from the Enlightenment to the present. Such notions as the general will were, for example, refracted through very different prisms during the struggle for independence in Latin America and in social conflicts in Eastern Europe, or modified by thinkers from Kant to contemporary political theorists. Beyond Rousseau's ideas, his public image too travelled around the world. This book examines engagement with Rousseau's works as well as with his self-fashioning; especially in turbulent times, his defiant public identity and his call for regeneration were admired or despised by intellectuals and political agents.

Research paper thumbnail of Language and Enlightenment: The Berlin Debates of the Eighteenth Century (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012; paperback ed., 2016): https://global.oup.com/academic/product/language-and-enlightenment-9780198777649

What is the role of language in human cognition? Could we attain self-consciousness and construct... more What is the role of language in human cognition? Could we attain self-consciousness and construct our civilisation without language? Such were the questions at the basis of eighteenth-century debates on the joint evolution of language, mind, and culture. Language and Enlightenment highlights the importance of language in the social theory, epistemology, and aesthetics of the Enlightenment. While focusing on the Berlin Academy under Frederick the Great, Avi Lifschitz situates the Berlin debates within a larger temporal and geographical framework. He argues that awareness of the historicity and linguistic rootedness of all forms of life was a mainstream Enlightenment notion rather than a feature of the so-called 'Counter-Enlightenment'.

Enlightenment authors of different persuasions investigated whether speechless human beings could have developed their language and society on their own. Such inquiries usually pondered the difficult shift from natural signs like cries and gestures to the artificial, articulate words of human language. This transition from nature to artifice was mirrored in other domains of inquiry, such as the origins of social relations, inequality, the arts and the sciences. By examining a wide variety of authors - Leibniz, Wolff, Condillac, Rousseau, Michaelis, and Herder, among others - Language and Enlightenment emphasises the open and malleable character of the eighteenth-century Republic of Letters. The language debates demonstrate that German theories of culture and language were not merely a rejection of French ideas. New notions of the genius of language and its role in cognition were constructed through a complex interaction with cross-European currents, especially via the prize contests at the Berlin Academy.

Research paper thumbnail of Epicurus in the Enlightenment, eds. Neven Leddy and Avi Lifschitz (Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, 2009):  http://xserve.volt.ox.ac.uk/VFcatalogue/details.php?recid=6444

Eighteenth-century Epicureanism is often viewed as radical, anti-religious, and politically dange... more Eighteenth-century Epicureanism is often viewed as radical, anti-religious, and politically dangerous. But to what extent does this simplify the ancient philosophy and underestimate its significance to the Enlightenment?

Through a pan-European analysis of Enlightenment centres from Scotland to Russia via the Netherlands, France and Germany, contributors argue that elements of classical Epicureanism were appropriated by radical and conservative writers alike. They move beyond literature and political theory to examine the application of Epicurean ideas in domains as diverse as physics, natural law, and the philosophy of language, drawing on the work of both major figures (Diderot, Helvétius, Smith and Hume) and of lesser-known but important thinkers (Johann Jacob Schmauss and Dmitrii Anichkov).

Research paper thumbnail of Tim Blanning, Frederick the Great: King of PrussiaBlanningTim, Frederick the Great: King of Prussia, Allen Lane: London, 2015; 672 pp.; 9781846141829, £30.00 (hbk)

European History Quarterly

Research paper thumbnail of Between Friedrich Meinecke and Ernst Cassirer

Isaiah Berlin and the Enlightenment, 2016

Research paper thumbnail of The Enlightenment revival of the Epicurean history of language and civilisation

Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century, 2009

RefDoc, THE reference in scientific document supply / Refdoc, la référence en fourniture de docum... more RefDoc, THE reference in scientific document supply / Refdoc, la référence en fourniture de documents scientifiques ...

Research paper thumbnail of Language and culture

Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century, 2007

Research paper thumbnail of Adrastus versus Diogenes: Frederick the Great and Jean-Jacques Rousseau on self-love

Reaction and Interpretation from the Eighteenth Century to the Present, 2000

Research paper thumbnail of Epicurus in the Enlightenment

Page 1. Epicurus in the Enlightenment Edited by NEVEN LEDDY and AVI S. LIFSCHITZ VOLTAIRE FOUNDAT... more Page 1. Epicurus in the Enlightenment Edited by NEVEN LEDDY and AVI S. LIFSCHITZ VOLTAIRE FOUNDATION OXFORD 2009 Page 2. © 2009 Voltaire Foundation, University of Oxford ISBN 978 0 7294 0987 2 ISSN 0435-2866 ...

Research paper thumbnail of Prémontval, André Pierre le Guay

In Stammerjohann H Lexicon Grammaticorum a Bio Bibliographical Companion to the History of Linguistics Max Niemeyer Verlag Tubingen Germany, Jun 1, 2009

Research paper thumbnail of From the corruption of French to the cultural distinctiveness of German: the controversy over Prémontval's Préservatif (1759)

Svec 2007 06 265 290, Jun 1, 2007

Research paper thumbnail of The Evolution and Genius of Language

The Berlin Debates of the Eighteenth Century, 2012

Research paper thumbnail of Translation in Theory and Practice: The Case of Johann David Michaelis’s Prize Essay on Language and Opinions (1759)

In Stockhorst S Cultural Transfer Through Translation the Circulation of Enlightened Thought in Europe By Means of Translation Rodopi Amsterdam the Netherlands, 2010

Research paper thumbnail of 'Moses Mendelssohn und Thomas Abbt: Private Correspondence and public exchange at the origins of Phädon'

Jüdische und christliche Intellektuelle in Berlin um 1800, 2021

https://www.wehrhahn-verlag.de/public/index.php?ID\_Section=1&ID\_Product=1422

Research paper thumbnail of ‘Un culte universaliste de la raison? Réflexions sur les Lumières, l’universalisme et les particularismes culturels’, in: The Epoch of Universalism/L’époque de l’universalisme: 1769-1989, eds. Markus Messling and Franck Hoffmann (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2021).

https://www.degruyter.com/view/title/575134

Research paper thumbnail of Philosophy and Political Agency in the Writings of Frederick II of Prussia

The Historical Journal , 2021

https://doi.org/10.1017/S0018246X20000473 Frederick II's writings have conventionally been viewe... more https://doi.org/10.1017/S0018246X20000473

Frederick II's writings have conventionally been viewed either as political tools or as means of public self-fashioning – part of his campaign to raise the status of Prussia from middling principality to great power. This article, by contrast, argues that Frederick's works must also be taken seriously on their own terms, and interpreted against the background of Enlightenment philosophy. Frederick's notions of kingship and state service were not governed mostly by a principle of pure morality or ‘humanitarianism’, as argued influentially by Friedrich Meinecke. On the contrary, the king's views were part and parcel of an eighteenth-century vision of modern kingship in commercial society, based on the benign pursuit of self-love and luxury. A close analysis of Frederick's writings demonstrates that authorial labour was integral to his political agency, publicly placing constraints on what could be perceived as legitimate conduct, rather than mere intellectual window-dressing or an Enlightened pastime in irresolvable tension with his politics.

Research paper thumbnail of ‘The Book of Job and the Sex Life of Elephants: The Limits of Evidential Credibility in Eighteenth-Century Natural History and Biblical Criticism’, The Journal of Modern History 91.4 (2019), 739-775  https://doi.org/10.1086/705813

Research paper thumbnail of ‘Les concours de l’Académie de Berlin, vecteurs de transferts intellectuels franco-allemands, 1745-1786’, in Les échanges savants franco-allemands au XVIIIe siècle: transferts, circulations et réseaux, eds. Claire Gantet and Markus Meumann (Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2019), 205-218

In the second half of the eighteenth century, the Berlin Academy of Sciences and Belles-Lettres w... more In the second half of the eighteenth century, the Berlin Academy of Sciences and Belles-Lettres was a pivotal centre of intellectual transfer within French- and German-speaking Europe. Not only was it the only major royal institution to incorporate under its aegis the natural sciences, mathematics, speculative philosophy, and literature; due to Frederick II’s cultural preferences and the presence of a large Huguenot community in Berlin, the Academy conducted its business mostly in French. But despite the King’s cultural predilections, the Berlin Academy was no French stronghold within Brandenburg-Prussia. It fostered multilateral and reciprocal transfer, as demonstrated in an overview of the prize contests sponsored by the institution during the reign of Frederick II. While sometimes bestowing its annual prize on major French authors, the Academy frequently acknowledged the originality of German intellectuals – thereby broadcasting their works and significance to Francophone readership across Europe. (http://www.pur-editions.fr/detail.php?idOuv=4920)

Research paper thumbnail of From the civic improvement of the Jews to the separation of state and church: languages of reform in Brandenburg-Prussia, 1781-1799

Languages of reform in the eighteenth century: when Europe lost its fear of change, eds. Mauela Albertone, Thomas Maissen, and Susan Richter (London: Routledge, 2019), 296-320, 2019

The chapter compares the debate over Christian Wilhelm Dohm’s call for the ‘civic improvement’ of... more The chapter compares the debate over Christian Wilhelm Dohm’s call for the ‘civic improvement’ of the Jews (Über die bürgerliche Verbesserung der Juden, 1781) to a discussion of a proposal for confessional union between the Jewish and Protestant communities in Berlin (1799), thereby highlighting the changing languages of political reform in Brandenburg-Prussia from the early 1780s to c. 1800. Various contemporary conceptions of the interrelationship between the state and religious associations are examined; particular attention is dedicated to works by Dohm, Moses Mendelssohn, Wilhelm von Humboldt, David Friedländer, and Friedrich Schleiermacher.

Research paper thumbnail of ‘Rethinking Lessing’s Laocoon: an introduction’ (with Michael Squire), in Rethinking Lessing’s Laocoon, eds. Avi Lifschitz and Michael Squire (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017), 1-57

The volume’s introduction sketches the scope of Lessing’s Laocoon and reassess its legacy on the ... more The volume’s introduction sketches the scope of Lessing’s Laocoon and reassess its legacy on the occasion of its 250th anniversary. It outlines Lessing’s arguments about the 'limits’ (Grenzen) of poetry and painting, while situating Lessing’s project against the background of Enlightenment ideas about the Classical past and contemporary aesthetic criticism. The editors also lay out the overall purpose of the volume (and introduce each of the chapters that follow), explaining the need for a cross-disciplinary approach.

Research paper thumbnail of ‘Naturalizing the arbitrary: Lessing’s Laocoon and Enlightenment semiotics’, in Rethinking Lessing’s Laocoon, eds. Avi Lifschitz and Michael Squire (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017), 197-219

The chapter explores Lessing's claim that the poet should try to ‘elevate’ arbitrary linguistic s... more The chapter explores Lessing's claim that the poet should try to ‘elevate’ arbitrary linguistic signs to the status of the natural signs of a vivid painting. It argues that Lessing drew upon a wide range of French and German thinkers who downplayed the arbitrariness of language while simultaneously emphasizing its natural features. Furthermore, Lifschitz shows how Laocoon takes its inspiration from multiple sources, extending far beyond the intellectual remit of Christian Wolff and his German followers. Lessing’s call for the naturalization of arbitrary signs can only be understood against the backdrop of a larger, cross-European debate about linguistic signs.

Research paper thumbnail of 'How to Do Things with Signs: Rousseau’s Ancient Performative Idiom', History of Political Thought 37 (2016), special issue, 46-63

In various writings Rousseau ascribes to the ancient Greeks, Romans, and Israelites a mostly visu... more In various writings Rousseau ascribes to the ancient Greeks, Romans, and Israelites a mostly visual, gestural, and non-semantic idiom of communication: the language of signs. This article examines the performative aspects of this imagined ancient language, while situating it within the context of other eighteenth-century projections of a vivid language of action onto classical antiquity. It is argued that Rousseau's originality lies not only in his emphasis on the performative rather than merely passionate character of this idiom. He also weaved it into a typology of political regimes and performance arts, identifying it with a particular kind of republican politics and public festivals. More generally, the language of signs assisted Rousseau in explaining the establishment of national polities by legendary lawgivers, as well as in fathoming the transformation of human nature in the transition from a state of nature to civil society.

Research paper thumbnail of 'Rousseau’s Imagined Antiquity: An Introduction', History of Political Thought 37 (2016), special issue, 1-7

Research paper thumbnail of Forum: The German Enlightenment (https://doi.org/10.1093/gerhis/ghx104)

Historiographical perspectives on recent research on the German Enlightenment. Participants: Tho... more Historiographical perspectives on recent research on the German Enlightenment. Participants: Thomas Ahnert (University of Edinburgh), Iwan-Michelangelo D’Aprile (University of Potsdam), Elisabeth Décultot (University of Halle-Wittenberg), and Simon Grote (Wellesley College, Massachusetts).

Research paper thumbnail of The Enlightenment: those who dare to know

Research paper thumbnail of The evolution of language and society: can we learn from past questions?

Oxford University Press blog, Jun 17, 2013

Research paper thumbnail of Rousseau 300: Nature, Self, and State. En Exhibition at the UCL Art Museum. 9/1/2012 - 27/4/2012