This book explores the French Enlightenment's use of cross-cultural comparisons-particularly the figures of the Chinese mandarin and American and Polynesian savage-to praise of critique aspects of European society and to draw general conclusions regarding human nature, natural law, and the rise and decline of civilizations. Following such comparisons across a variety of contexts over the course of the eighteenth century, David Harvey concludes that by the eve of the French Revolution, thinkers had mobilized cross-cultural comparisons in order to articulate a vision of Europe's identity and place in the world, defining it both as civilized and also as dynamic and progressive.
- ISBN10 1137002549
- ISBN13 9781137002549
- Publish Date 6 August 2012
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Palgrave Macmillan
- Format eBook
- Pages 280
- Language English