The pessimistic tone employed by Rousseau in his Discourse on the Sciences and Arts, as well as in his Discourse on the Origin of Inequality, draws the attention of the most careless reader. Indeed, when we observe the tone he adopts in these texts, it is no wonder that he dedicated a substantial part of his work to present what could be seen as a handful of attempts to solve the problems he first addressed in the texts presented to (...) the Academy of Dijon. On the other hand, the movements we observe on both Discourses seem to leave no doubt that Rousseau considered the decadence he observed in the society of his time as the inevitable result of a process which, once set in motion, would allow no escape. That would suffice to turn works such as The Social Contract into little more than tools to diagnose the woes that befall a society. The tension between these two points of view, one concerning the desperate perception of our decadence and the other seeming to be the one of an author that aims at promoting change, shall be the guideline of this paper. (shrink)

Si en su “Discurso sobre las ciencias y las artes” (1750) y en su “Discurso sobre el origen de la desigualdad” (1755) –publicados en un solo volumen en esta colección– Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) fue sentando las bases de su pensamiento filosófico y social, el trabajo fundamental que acabó alumbrando el autor en el campo del pensamiento político fue “Del Contrato social”, publicado en 1762. Esta obra, en la que toman cuerpo las inquietudes políticas y la fe en la razón (...) de la corriente ilustrada, puede considerarse la fundadora del derecho político. Su análisis teórico de la soberanía de los Estados como producto de la voluntad general se fundamenta en un contrato por el que el individuo enajena su libertad natural a cambio de convertirse en ciudadano, recibir los derechos inalienables de igualdad jurídica e igualdad moral, y asegurar la libertad de todos los miembros de la sociedad. “Del Contrato social” es uno de los textos capitales para entender el nacimiento de las sociedades modernas. Traducción y prólogo de Mauro Armiño. (shrink)

Even though management scholars have offered several views on the process of corporate sustainability, these efforts have focused mainly on the technical aspects of sustainability while omitting the fundamental role played by individual moral competences. Therefore, previous work offers an incomplete and somewhat reductionist view of corporate sustainability. In this article, we develop a holistic framework of corporate sustainability in which both the moral and technical aspects of sustainability are considered. We do so by integrating the ethical, normative (...) perspective of the Catholic social teaching with the competitive view of the natural resource-based view. This framework highlights the importance of CST principles and ideas in developing executive moral competences such as moral sensitivity and awareness, and moral cognition and motivation. Moral competences, in turn, influence the organizational selection of environmental strategies, giving leaders the intrinsic motivation to promote both a longer-term stance on corporate sustainability efforts and a relentless search for greener business models. Such strategies move the firm closer towards achieving environmental sustainability. Hence, by bridging the individual, normative-ethical with the organizational, implementational levels of corporate sustainability, our framework provides a more realistic, coherent, and complete perspective on the complex process of achieving corporate sustainability. (shrink)

Rousseau is considered to be at once the most modern political thinker of the 18th century and the most ancient in his allegiance to classical republicanism. These essays address the place of liberty in his moral and political philosophy, and the origins, meaning, strength, weakness and significance of his argument.

Even though management scholars have offered several views on the process of corporate sustainability, these efforts have focused mainly on the technical aspects of sustainability while omitting the fundamental role played by individual moral competences. Therefore, previous work offers an incomplete and somewhat reductionist view of corporate sustainability. In this article, we develop a holistic framework of corporate sustainability in which both the moral and technical aspects of sustainability are considered. We do so by integrating the ethical, normative (...) perspective of the Catholic social teaching with the competitive view of the natural resource-based view. This framework highlights the importance of CST principles and ideas in developing executive moral competences such as moral sensitivity and awareness, and moral cognition and motivation. Moral competences, in turn, influence the organizational selection of environmental strategies, giving leaders the intrinsic motivation to promote both a longer-term stance on corporate sustainability efforts and a relentless search for greener business models. Such strategies move the firm closer towards achieving environmental sustainability. Hence, by bridging the individual, normative-ethical with the organizational, implementational levels of corporate sustainability, our framework provides a more realistic, coherent, and complete perspective on the complex process of achieving corporate sustainability. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to analyze the nuances that flow Rousseau both the first Romanticism in Germany the Sturm und Drang , as the political doctrines of the French Revolution , as well as in moral philosophy and the history of Kant.

Introduction -- "Every Legitimate Government is Republican": Rousseau's Debt to and Departure from Montesquieu on Republicanism -- What if There is no Legislator? Rousseau's History of the Government of Geneva -- Rousseau's Republican Citizenship: The Moral Psychology of The Social Contract -- Rousseau's negative liberty: Themes of domination and skepticism in The Social Contract -- Rousseau's Ancient Ends of Legislation: Liberty, Equality (& Fraternity) -- Property and Possession in Rousseau's Social Contract -- Political (...) Equality Among Unequals -- On the Primacy of Peoplehood: Nations and Nationalism in Rousseau's Social Contract -- Rousseau on Voting and Electoral Laws -- Rousseau and the puzzle of the Roman Republic -- Rousseau's Case against Democracy -- Rousseau's Dilemma or "Of Civil Religion" -- Entreating the Political: Politics and Theology in Rousseau's Social Contract -- Civil Religion and Political Unity: Social Contract 4.8. (shrink)

Health researchers may have a strategic role to play in confronting the predicament of refugee detainees because they can lend their analytic skills and authority to document the personal cost and impact of this practice. The justification for such ‘subversive’ research comes from the discrepancy between the sources of legitimacy and legality for government action. The practice of detention may be legal but illegitimate, judged against the standards of international human rights. Hence, research to explore the consequences of this policy (...) is both morally and politically legitimate. Morally, it reflects a commitment to uncover and oppose unjustified violence against others; politically, it represents an attempt to identify and challenge abuses of power by the state. However, doing research without official approval or with the use of deception raises concerns for the safety of detainees as vulnerable research subjects as well as the credibility of researchers and the research enterprise. Researchers also may face sanctions that will limit their future effectiveness. An international network of researchers working on issues of human rights and the health of asylum seekers can provide an institutional basis to support work that challenges local practices. (shrink)

It behooves us to examine , first, in the work of Rousseau the overlapping of their conception of nature and the foundations of social and political life : it is possible to mention the harmony between man and nature without considerations of politics? Then we examine some aspects of modern subjectivity – feeling of existence , moral conscience , the idea of ​​ happiness, pursuit of the indoor unit.

Resumo: O presente artigo visa esclarecer o conceito de história em Rousseau, em especial, no Discurso sobre a origem e os fundamentos da desigualdade entre os homens e o Contrato Social. Examina não apenas os processos envolvidos no segundo discurso, como também os momentos da filosofia de Rousseau em que ele define a história. Com essa finalidade, é retomado o cenário do movimento Iluminista acerca do conceito, para, comparativamente, distinguir a noção histórica de Rousseau dos demais iluministas (...) como uma definição de progresso material e da degeneração moral do homem. Para compreender melhor toda conjuntura e elucidar a questão, fez-se necessário perpassar pelo conceito de história no segundo discurso, buscando quais foram as causas que levaram a história ao declínio, adentrando em discernimentos da perfectibilidade e da passagem do estado de natureza à civilização, além dos considerados progressos da técnica e da ciência, e, por fim, o questionamento de caminhos para se pensar a história posto todas às problemáticas. Palavras chave: história, progresso, iluminismo, degeneração. Abstract: This article aims to clarify the concept of history in Rousseau's works, particularly in the Discourse on the Origin and Basis of Inequality Among Men and The Social Contract. It also examines not only the historical processes involved in the second discourse, but also moments in Rousseau’s philosophy that he defines history. To achieve this, the article revisits the Enlightenment's discourse on the concept of history to comparatively distinguish Rousseau's historical notion from other Enlightenment thinkers' definitions of material progress and moral man's degeneration. To better understand the whole context and elucidate the issue, it was necessary to explore the concept of history in the second discourse, looking for the causes that led to the decline of history, delving into discernments of perfectibility and the transition from the state of nature to civilization, in addition to the considered progress of technique and science, and finally, questioning ways to think about history given all the problems. Keywords: history, progress, Enlightenment, degeneration. (shrink)

Schmitz, whose insightful crudition matches that of his subject, traces the development of Wojtyla's project from the plays he wrote in the 1940s for the underground "theater of the living word," through his assimilation of the philosophical tradition as professor of ethics at the Catholic University of Lublin, then through the maturation of his own thought as Archbishop of Krakow and active participant in Vatican II, and into its flowering in the remarkable series of papal documents beginning with his Wednesday (...) talks on Genesis and first encyclical, The Redeemer of Man. Schmitz assesses the effort to integrate contemporary phenomenology into the metaphysical tradition as depending on several careful distinctions. The first is between a Husserlian bracketing of being and an algebraic one. Another is between phenomenology as a technique that presupposes a realistic metaphysics, and as an effort to establish realism that must fail because the intended object of consciousness is still consciousness itself, not an extramental world. A third is between value as a felt good and goodness as coincident with being. Only this latter allows for objective moral norms, for moral goodness that coincides with the existential fullness of human nature, and for moral obligation. The answer to the question "Why be moral?" thus has its solid answer in the potentiality of human nature for fuller, self-transcendent being. (shrink)

Segundo Rousseau, no estado de natureza o homem é solitário e independente e, ao se sociabilizar, converte-se num ser moral. Para Sartre, a angústia caracteriza a existência subjetiva do homem ao tomar decisões. Em ambos, o despertar da intersubjetividade depende do reconhecimento do outro e é determinante para a moral.

Segundo Rousseau, no estado de natureza o homem é solitário e independente e, ao se sociabilizar, converte-se num ser moral. Para Sartre, a angústia caracteriza a existência subjetiva do homem ao tomar decisões. Em ambos, o despertar da intersubjetividade depende do reconhecimento do outro e é determinante para a moral. According to Rousseau, in the state of nature man is isolated and independent, but as he becomes a social being, he becomes also a moral (...) being. Sartre thinks that anguish caracterizes the subjective existence of man while making decisions. To both, the beginning of intersubjectivity depends on recognition of the other and is essential to morals. (shrink)

This paper addresses the issue of "new technologies", ie essentially biotechnologies and nanotechnologies. Refute will be two opposing views. The first (in general technophile), considers that every technique is morally good: but its use is susceptible to moral evaluation. The second (usually technophobic), sees the new technologies such transgressions of the natural order that has the right to oppose on principle to these technical operations and scientific investigations that make them possible.

RESUMO É certamente hegemônica na recepção do pensamento político rousseauniano, de seus primeiros momentos à exegese contemporânea, a tese segundo a qual o contrato social seria incompatível com a negação do direito natural. A convicção comum a esses intérpretes, herdada da tradição jusnaturalista moderna, é a de que, na ausência de uma obrigação moral prévia - a lei natural - e, portanto, de uma sanção que confira força vinculante à promessa daqueles que se engajam no ato de contratar, o (...) pacto fundamental não passaria de um formulário vão, cujos termos seus celebrantes dificilmente cumpririam. As teorias contratualistas da origem do corpo político encontrar-se-iam, assim, necessariamente atreladas ao jusnaturalismo. Na contramão desse viés de leitura, pretendemos neste artigo desenvolver e sustentar a hipótese de que o contrato social concebido por Jean-Jacques Rousseau, distinto da forma contratual clássica em aspectos cruciais, dispensa a sanção da lei de natureza. Será o caso, para tanto, de esmiuçar a estrutura sui generis do pacto rousseauniano, revelando, finalmente, de onde emana seu poder coercitivo. ABSTRACT The conception according to which the social contract would not be compatible with the refusal of natural right is widely hegemonic in the reception of the Rousseaunian political thought, from its beginnings to the present day exegesis. The common contention of these interpreters, inherited from the modern jusnaturalistic tradition, is that, in the absence of a previous moral obligation - the natural law - and therefore of a sanction able to procure binding force to the promise of those who engage in the act of contracting, the fundamental pact would be but a vain form, whose terms its celebrants would hardly keep. Thusly, the contratualist theories of the origin of the political body would necessarily find themselves linked to jusnaturalism. As a counterpoint to this interpretative bias, we intend in the present article to develop and sustain the hypothesis that the social contract conceived by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, distinct from the classical contractual form in some crucial aspects, dismisses the sanction from the law of nature. To that end, it will be relevant to unravel the sui generis structure of the Rousseaunian pact, elucidating, lastly, the source of its coercive power. (shrink)

O artigo versa sobre duas passagens cruciais em que toma forma o tema da comunicação entre vida humana e vida não humana: o século XVI, com Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) e Giordano Bruno (1548-1600), e o século XVIII, com Jean-Jacques Rous-seau (1712-1778), o qual se inspira directamente nos Essais. O artigo mostra até que ponto a ética de Montaigne se concentra sobre a escuta da natureza imanente a cada indivíduo, comportando em si a ideia da solidariedade que une todos (...) os seres vivos, reconhecendo na comunicação entre a subjectividade humana e a natureza animal a primeira modalidade de identificação com a vida débil, oprimida e sofredora, a qual é condição de explicação de uma ideia de justiça "natural e universal". A piedade constitui já uma disposição para a alteridade que brota do sentimento de identificação com a vida, na sua contingência e capacidade de sofrer. O artigo mostra também até que ponto a reflexão moral de Bruno chega a uma conclusão similar, na medida em que se afasta de uma antropologia que se recusa a conceber o ser humano como centro privilegiado de sentido no universo, antes colocando o homem e o animal numa relação de reciprocidade e de copertença. Será precisamente na medida em que retoma esta elaboração antidualista que Rousseau transformará a piedade no principal eixo da moral. /// The article focuses on the two crucial moments in which the theme of communication between human life and non-human life takes form: the XVI century, with Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) and Giordano Bruno (1548-1600), and the XVIII century, with Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), who directly takes inspiration from the Essais. The article shows how the ethics of Montaigne is centred upon the auscultation of the nature immanent to each individual, and at the same time embraces the idea of the solidarity which connects all living beings, acknowledging in the communication between human subjectivity and the animal nature the first modality of an identification with forms of life which are weak, oppressed and suffering, as condition of explanation for an idea of justice that is both natural and universal Piety constitutes thus a disposition for the alterity which grows from the feeling of identification with life in its contingency and capacity for suffering. The article also shows to what extent Bruno's moral reflexion comes to a similar conclusion, to the extent that it distances itself from an anthropology that refuses to take the human being as a privileged centre of meaning in the universe, placing rather the human being and the animal in a relation of reciprocity and mutual belonging. It shall precisely be to the degree that he takes up this antidualistic formulation that Rousseau will transform piety into the main axis of the moral life. (shrink)

A partir do sistema político-filosófico de Jean-Jaques Rousseau, o objetivo deste artigo é iniciar uma possível compreensão genealógica acerca da relação entre o bem comum e o bem de si mesmo. Através de uma análise parcial do arcabouço teóricoconceitual sobre a natureza humana e do modelo de soberania popular e de estruturação da sociedade civil proposto pelo filósofo, será posta em discussão arelação entre a vontade geral – que sempre quer o bem comum – e as vontades particulares (...) – que sempre buscam o bem de si. Concluí-se que, para Rousseau, saber conformar as vontades particulares à vontade geral é uma exigência da virtude moral, além de ser uma necessidade incontornável para a manutenção do pacto social de um povo soberano. (shrink)

A partir do sistema político-filosófico de Jean-Jaques Rousseau, o objetivo desteartigo é iniciar uma possível compreensão genealógica acerca da relação entre o bemcomum e o bem de si mesmo. Através de uma análise parcial do arcabouço teóricoconceitualsobre a natureza humana e do modelo de soberania popular e deestruturação da sociedade civil proposto pelo filósofo, será posta em discussão arelação entre a vontade geral – que sempre quer o bem comum – e as vontadesparticulares – que sempre buscam o (...) bem de si. Concluí-se que, para Rousseau, saberconformar as vontades particulares à vontade geral é uma exigência da virtude moral,além de ser uma necessidade incontornável para a manutenção do pacto social de umpovo soberano.Based on Jean-Jaques Rousseau’s political and philosophical system, the goal of thisarticle is to begin a possible genealogical understanding about the relation betweencommon good and private good. Through a partial analysis of a theoretical andconceptual framework about human nature and of the model for popular sovereigntyand for the structure of civil society proposed by the philosopher, this work willbring into discussion the relation between the general will, which always seeks thecommon good, and the private will, which in turn seeks only the private good. ForRousseau, knowing how to conform the private wills for the general will is a requirement by moral virtue and an indispensable necessity to sustain the socialcontract of a sovereign people. (shrink)

Este artigo trata aspectos centrais da noção de Nietzsche, como a relação entre transvaloração e vontade de poder.

O texto estabelece um diálogo entre o pensamento de Jean-Jacques Rousseau e de Nietzsche no que diz respeito ao conceito de natureza e sua relação com o devir.

This essay employs Jean‐Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778) as a vehicle to explore love in eighteenth‐century French moral philosophy and theological ethics. The relation between love of self and love of God was understood variously and produced contrasting models of the relation between the public and the private. Rousseau, perhaps more than any other figure in the eighteenth century, wrestled with the complex, competing traditions of love, and in doing so he probed and articulated the tension between and the (...) harmony of life alone and life together. Using as ideal types a set of historical models of private and public vice and virtue, the author describes Rousseau's three contradictory proposals for dealing with the corruption of social institutions and the human heart and discloses their underlying cohesion. (shrink)

This essay employs Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) as a vehicle to explore love in eighteenth-century French moral philosophy and theological ethics. The relation between love of self and love of God was understood variously and produced contrasting models of the relation between the public and the private. Rousseau, perhaps more than any other figure in the eighteenth century, wrestled with the complex, competing traditions of love, and in doing so he probed and articulated the tension between and the (...) harmony of life alone and life together. Using as ideal types a set of historical models of private and public vice and virtue, the author describes Rousseau's three contradictory proposals for dealing with the corruption of social institutions and the human heart and discloses their underlying cohesion. (shrink)

Nosso objetivo é analisar alguns elementos do pensamento do filósofo suíço, sobretudo no que se refere às formulações teóricas que envolvem os conceitos de estado de natureza, desnaturação do homem, responsabilidade ética e participação política.

RESUMO Na flosofa de Rousseau expõe-se a paulatina construção de uma ideia ocidental de humanidade: a história de como o ser humano assim denominou-se ser, bem como a história do abuso dessa denominação. Trata-se, sobretudo, da crítica sobre a construção de um mito da dignidade exclusiva da natureza humana, tema que percorre as obras de diferentes flósofos, dos modernos aos contemporâneos, dos ocidentais aos não ocidentais. O presente artigo aborda, a partir de Rousseau e em diálogo com (...) outros autores, o “ciclo maldito” característico da modernidade, uma ideia que separa os humanos dos animais e segrega os humanos entre si. Começa-se por apartar o ser humano da natureza e constituí-lo como um ser à parte em um processo de monopolização progressiva do valor da existência: aparece em um primeiro momento o especismo, subsequentemente a desigualdade sociopolítica, o etnocentrismo e outras formas derivadas de exclusão. ABSTRACT In Rousseau’s philosophy, the gradual construction of a western idea of humanity is exposed: the history of how the human being naming himself being, as well as the history of the abuse of that denomination. It is, above all, a critique of the construction of the myth of the exclusive dignity of human nature, a theme that permeates the works of diferent philosophers, from the modern to contemporary ones, from western to non-western. This article discusses, based on Rousseau and in dialogue with other authors, the “cursed cycle” characteristic of modernity, an idea that separates humans from animals and segregates humans from each other. It starts with separating human being from nature and constituting him as a distinct part in a process of progressive monopolization of the value of existence: speciesism appears at frst, then sociopolitical inequality, ethnocentrism and other forms derived from exclusion. (shrink)

Rousseau and Nietzsche: Toward an Aesthetic Morality offers a vivid depiction of the problems and potential of modernity through the words of two of its most poignant voices. The book focuses upon the modern self's desire to individuate while facing the ethical responsibility to integrate into the world. Katrin Froese elegantly juxtaposes Nietzsche's drive for extraordinary individualism with Rousseau's call for the dependable citizen, demonstrating that where Nietzsche's aestheticism embraces the limitless and irreconcilable longings of a divided being, (...) Rousseau's approach emphasizes the imposition of limits to ensure that harmony and contentment prevail. Going beyond conventional scholarship, the work emphasizes the similarities at the heart of Rousseau's notion of morality and Nietzsche's aestheticism: the moral vision that underlies Nietzsche's notion of art and the aesthetic understanding prevalent in Rousseau's moral system. This stunning new work of political philosophy will be of great use to scholars of political thought and readers seeking to understand what made Rousseau and Nietzsche's thought so decidedly modern. (shrink)

Partimos do estudo na noção de homem presente no pensamento de Maquiavel para estabelecer a idéia de Estado e sua relação com a ética. Existe, quanto a esta questão, uma vasta polêmica na tradição interpretativa e que podemos reduzir a duas perspectivas fundamentais. Primeira: Maquiavel compreende a natureza humana como corrompida de forma definitiva, o que transforma o Estado em instrumento puramente coator da malevolência humana. Nesta ótica, não há espaço para pensar em finalidades éticas do Estado. Segunda: mesmo (...) partindo da idéia de que há no homem uma inclinação à maldade, não considera isso algo irreversível. Destaca a importância da educação como instrumento de formação humana e de cultivo de valores morais. O trabalho mostra que o Estado maquiaveliano se fundamenta na natureza humana e tem por objetivo possibilitar o agir ético do homem. (shrink)

Resumo Este artigo analisa a influência da filosofia de Rousseau na teoria antropológica de Kant. No primeiro momento, apresentam-se as semelhanças e diferenças acerca do modo como cada autor compreende o estado de natureza. No segundo momento, estabelece-se uma comparação entre o conceito de sociabilidade insociável de Kant e os conceitos de piedade e amor próprio, na filosofia de Rousseau.This paper analyses the influence of Rousseau’s philosophy on Kant’s anthropological theory. Firstly, the similarities and differences between (...) each philosopher’s understanding of the state of nature is presented. Secondly, a comparison between Kant’s concept of unsocial sociability and Rousseau’s concepts of piety and self-love is presented. (shrink)

Why Rousseau, this modern, has much more to say about nature than most of his contemporaries? And as he speaks it? This is what we investigate, taking the issue from three relationships: the humanity with nature (in its global dimension and a first approach, metaphysics), the human societies with nature, by the technique, and, finally, the lone hiker, the independent individual.

The thesis analyses the relation between Rousseau’s musical writings and elements of his moral, social and linguistic philosophy. In particular, I am concerned to demonstrate: (i.) how the core of Rousseau’s theory of musical imitation is grounded in the same analysis of the nature of man which governs his moral and social philosophy; (ii.) how this grounding does not extend to the stylistic prescriptions the justification of which Rousseau intended his musical writings to offer. The (...) central argument draws on Rousseau’s analysis of the origin of man as distinctively human. This origin extends to the awareness of moral and aesthetic value, and to communication in speech and song. Rousseau’s moral analyses of social and political life usually take the form of relating contemporary practice to the original structure in which man’s awareness of his own good is commensurate with that of the good of others. The analysis of music follows a similar model: music is to be considered good in so far as it replicates, or faithfully reflects, the original model of communication. The value of music is thereby understood to extend to moral as well as aesthetic goodness. Given the subtlety of Rousseau’s understanding of the ‘origin’, I argue that this analysis of music’s aesthetic value is powerful and far‐ reaching in its relevance for contemporary musical aesthetics. However, I also argue that while the analysis in general is good in this way, it does not entail the specific kind of musical‐stylistic preferences which Rousseau sought to use it to advance. (shrink)

Human rights do not represent an absolute truth. Otherwise, they would represent ideology, which is contradictory to the basic idea of human rights itself. Consequently, there is a need for redefinition of the main presuppositions of modern conception of human rights represented in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This paper argues that Rawls’s conception of human rights is significant for the refiguration of human rights. It.

This article focuses on one dimension of the interplay of national decline and urban corruption in Rousseau's thought -- what I call Rousseau's analysis of the moral economy of the modern city. It is perhaps fitting that E.P.Thompson has used the concept of 'moral economy' to describe a popular consensus embedded in patterns of deeply rooted assumptions, belief and conduct among the urban poor in eighteenth-century England. Food riots, rooted in a belief in the customary practice (...) of sale of food at fair prices even when production was low, were a response to prices designed to achieve the greatest profit the market allowed. (shrink)

This article analyses how Rousseau's First Discourse and the questions it posed about human progress and the reform of society were debated in the institutional context of the Berlin Academy by Formey and Herder. Despite some important disagreements, Formey and Herder fundamentally shared Rousseau's assumption that erudition could be detrimental both to society and to the individual. In order to limit the socially corrosive effects of the arts and the sciences, and in an attempt to realize their full (...) beneficent potential, they called for their reform through institutional regulation and management by a meritocracy of scholarly experts. Drawing on Hume, Herder in particular developed a positive role for the modern state as an active agent of enlightenment, provided it not only promoted the arts and sciences but also guaranteed freedom and the rule of law to ensure their flourishing. (shrink)