The French enlightenment and the emergence of modern cynicism / Sharon A. Stanley.

"Sharon A. Stanley analyzes cynicism from a political-theoretical perspective, arguing that cynicism isn't unique to our time. Instead, she posits that cynicism emerged in the works of French Enlightenment philosophers, such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Denis Diderot. She explains how eighteenth-century theories of epistemology, nature, sociability, and commerce converged to form a recognizably modern form of cynicism, foreshadowing postmodernism. While recent scholarship and popular commentary has depicted cynicism as threatening to healthy democracies and political practices, Stanley argues instead that the French philosophes reveal the possibility of a democratically hospitable form of cynicism"--Provided by publisher

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Print version record.

Part I The Eighteenth Century -- 1 Enlightenment as Disillusionment 25 -- 2 Unraveling Natural Utopia: Diderot's Supplement to the Voyage of Bougainville and the Legacy of Cynicism 48 -- 3 The Dark Side of Sociability: Philosophes and Libertines 75 -- 4 The Leveling Power of Commerce 106 -- 5 Hermits and Cynics: Rousseau and Rameau's Nephew 128 -- Part II The Present -- 6 From Enlightenment to Postmodernism 157 -- 7 Disenchanted Democracy and the Ineradicability of Cynicism 180.

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