The 6th International Conference of the International Society for the
Study of European Ideas will convene at the University of Haifa from
August 16-21, 1998. The theme of the conference will be "Twentieth Century
European Narratives: Tradition & Innovation."
Benjamin C. Sax, University of Kansas, has organized and will chair a
session at this conference entitled "The Embattled Enlightenment: Narrating
the Limits of Ethics, Culture & Politics."
>From its initial formulation in the eighteenth century down to the twentieth
century, the Enlightenment has been a much-contested concept: whether as a
description of an historical epoch that has ended, or as a cultural and/or
political project that (for better or worse) continues to shape Euro-
American traditions in multiple ways. The session gives participants
the flexibility to address either the 17th-18th century origins and implica-
tions of "E
nlightenment" thought and values, or the ongoing twentieth
century debates over the nature and significance of such patterns of
thought and action (patterns which perhaps only retrospect can be seen to
belong to those cultural movements). The session proposes that interpreters
sympathetic to, as well as critical of, the Enlightenment's legacy now
recognize that narrating the conditions under which key components of
the Enlightenment developed can help open up important questions about
the Enlightenment's own self-understanding (its own narrative and self-
legitimation) as well as about the limits -- whether chosen or imposed --
of its cultural, ethical, or political horizons. Exploring such competing
narratives can also provide a perspective on efforts at cultural innovation
that often define themselves in terms of a rejection, return to, or
internal "exhuasion" of the Enlightenment project.
Those interested in participating in this panel should contact Prof. Benjamin
C. Sax, Department of History, University of Kansas, 3001 Wescoe Hall,
Lawrence, KS 66045, (913) 864-3569; (913) 864-5046 (Fax); and e-mail
address bensax@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Study of European Ideas will convene at the University of Haifa from
August 16-21, 1998. The theme of the conference will be "Twentieth Century
European Narratives: Tradition & Innovation."
Benjamin C. Sax, University of Kansas, has organized and will chair a
session at this conference entitled "The Embattled Enlightenment: Narrating
the Limits of Ethics, Culture & Politics."
>From its initial formulation in the eighteenth century down to the twentieth
century, the Enlightenment has been a much-contested concept: whether as a
description of an historical epoch that has ended, or as a cultural and/or
political project that (for better or worse) continues to shape Euro-
American traditions in multiple ways. The session gives participants
the flexibility to address either the 17th-18th century origins and implica-
tions of "E
nlightenment" thought and values, or the ongoing twentieth
century debates over the nature and significance of such patterns of
thought and action (patterns which perhaps only retrospect can be seen to
belong to those cultural movements). The session proposes that interpreters
sympathetic to, as well as critical of, the Enlightenment's legacy now
recognize that narrating the conditions under which key components of
the Enlightenment developed can help open up important questions about
the Enlightenment's own self-understanding (its own narrative and self-
legitimation) as well as about the limits -- whether chosen or imposed --
of its cultural, ethical, or political horizons. Exploring such competing
narratives can also provide a perspective on efforts at cultural innovation
that often define themselves in terms of a rejection, return to, or
internal "exhuasion" of the Enlightenment project.
Those interested in participating in this panel should contact Prof. Benjamin
C. Sax, Department of History, University of Kansas, 3001 Wescoe Hall,
Lawrence, KS 66045, (913) 864-3569; (913) 864-5046 (Fax); and e-mail
address bensax@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx