18th-century French philosophers
18th-century French literature is French literature written between 1715, the year of the death of King Louis XIV of France, and 1798, the year of the coup d'État of Bonaparte which brought the Consulate to power, concluded the French Revolution, and began the modern era of French history. This century of enormous economic, social, intellectual and political transformation produced two important literary and philosophical movements: during what became known as the Age of Enlightenment, the Philosophes questioned all existing institutions, including the church and state, and applied rationalism and scientific analysis to society; and a very different movement, which emerged in reaction to the first movement; the beginnings of Romanticism, which exalted the role of emotion in art and life.
3 episodes
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Emilie du Châtelet
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the 18th-century mathematical genius whose insights into Newton and Leibniz were part of the great advance in science in the Enlightenment.
4 February 2021
Featuring: Patricia Fara, David Wootton, Judith Zinsser
Science18th-century philosophersFrench women philosophers18th-century French mathematicians18th-century French writers18th-century French women writers18th-century French philosophersFrench physicistsContributors to the Encyclopédie (1751–1772)French women physicistsDeaths in childbirthDeaths from pulmonary embolism18th-century French scientistsMontesquieu
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas of the French political philosopher (1689-1755) whose work on liberty and republicanism, banned at home, influenced the US constitution.
14 June 2018
Featuring: Richard Bourke, Rachel Hammersley, Richard Whatmore
HistoryFellows of the Royal SocietyEnlightenment philosophersPhilosophers of lawFrench Roman CatholicsFrench political philosophersMembers of the Académie FrançaiseFrench philosophers of historyMembers of the Prussian Academy of Sciences18th-century French male writers18th-century French philosophersContributors to the Encyclopédie (1751–1772)French political writersOlympe de Gouges
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life, ideas and works of the Frenchwoman who wrote The Declaration of the Rights of Woman in 1791 during the French Revolution
21 April 2022
Featuring: Catriona Seth, Katherine Astbury, Sanja Perovic
Culture18th-century philosophersFrench political philosophersFrench women philosophersWomen religious writersExecuted philosophersDeist philosophersExecuted writers18th-century French women writersFrench deists18th-century French philosophersWomen in the French RevolutionFrench abolitionistsFrench women dramatists and playwrightsFrench people executed by guillotine during the French Revolution, Executed French women