Minerva's Message

Download or read book Minerva's Message written by Martin S. Staum and published by McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. This book was released on 1996-10-17 with total page 359 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In theory the CMPS was set up to enshrine the human and social studies that were at the heart of Enlightenment culture. Staum illustrates, however, that the Institute helped transform key ideas of the Enlightenment in order to maintain civil rights while upholding social stability, and that the social and political assumptions on which it was based affected notions of social science. He traces the careers of individual members and the factions within the Institute, arguing that the discord within the CMPS reflects the unravelling of Enlightenment culture. Minerva's Message presents a valuable overview of the intellectual life of the period and brings together new evidence about the social sciences in their nascent period.