Dispossession and Civil Society: The Ambivalence of Enlightenment Political Philosophy.

The article examines the 18th-century concept of colonial degeneration, in which European settlers of the Americas, Africa, or Asia were thought to lose crucial characteristics of civilization and become savage. According to the author, this concept reflected the Enlightenment's ambivalence toward E...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Eighteenth Century: Theory & Interpretation Vol. 55; no. 2/3; pp. 153 - 175
Autor principal: Ahmed, Siraj
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: University of Pennsylvania Press Summer/Fall 2014
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
Descripción
Sumario:The article examines the 18th-century concept of colonial degeneration, in which European settlers of the Americas, Africa, or Asia were thought to lose crucial characteristics of civilization and become savage. According to the author, this concept reflected the Enlightenment's ambivalence toward European modernity and specifically toward the origins of private property and civil society. The works of philosophers Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Denis Diderot, and Adam Smith are discussed.