International Conference: The Useful Enlightenment. Theories, Practices and Representations of Usefulness in the long Eighteenth Century
Tagung
26. bis 28. Juni 2025
Internationale Tagung / International Conference
The Useful Enlightenment. Theories, Practices and Representations of Usefulness in the long Eighteenth Century
Organized by
Dr. Jean-Alexandre Perras, Stipendiat der Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung / Humboldt Research Fellow am IZEA
Ort: IZEA, Christian-Thomasius-Zimmer
The Useful Enlightenment conference will question how specific kinds of knowledge, technologies or reform projects were valued for their usefulness, for whom they were considered useful, and how this valorisation was carried out. To this end, some of the invited speakers at the conference will focus on a key category of actors dedicated to the circulation of useful knowledge: economic, patriotic and improvement societies. These associations of intellectuals, reformers, scientists and landowners, which flourished throughout Europe and in the colonies during the eighteenth century, were central to the global implementation of the culture of improvement. They played a crucial role in the conceptualisation, dissemination and implementation of useful knowledge and useful arts. By promoting the circulation of useful knowledge and implementing projects of experimentation and social reforms, these societies had significant impact on their communities. By helping to redefine the spheres of knowledge and their applications, they have also had a major influence on shaping the epistemological conceptions of their time. Through their role as mediators between different types of knowledge, European and non-European, popular and scientific, practical and theoretical, the members of these societies have contributed not only to the global circulation of knowledge but also to the promotion of the notion of utility in the evaluation of epistemological, social, economic and commercial issues. This conference will shed new light on these issues by looking at the role of learned societies in the development of a culture of useful knowledge in the 18th century.
Die interdisziplinäre und internationale Tagung wird freundlicherweise durch die Fritz Thyssen-Stiftung sowie durch die Dr. phil. Fritz Wiedemann-Stiftung gefördert.
Kontakt und weitere Informationen:
Tel.:+49 (0)345 55 21781
izea(at)izea.uni-halle.de