A Theory of the Enlightenment in Late Eighteenth-Century Sweden
Nils von Rosenstein and Scotland’s Science of Man and Politics
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11991968 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Max Skjönsberg (0000-0001-7106-3728, Faculty of History, University of Cambridge, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 48 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 427-456 |
| Publication date | 2023-03-19 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Scandinavian Journal of History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0346-8755 • E-ISSN: 1502-7716 |
| Publisher | Routledge (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/03468755.2023.2187879 |
| OpenAlex | W4327844849 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 26 |
Nils von Rosenstein’s Försök til en afhandling om uplysningen, til dess beskaffenhet, nytta och nödvändighet för samhället (An Attempt at a Dissertation on the Enlightenment, its Character, Usefulness and Necessity for Society), published in 1793, presents an unusually comprehensive theory of ‘the Enlightenment’ (Upplysningen) from a contemporary of the period. This article explores the impact of Enlightenment ideas in late eighteenth-century Sweden through the case study of Rosenstein and his remarkable text. While deepening our understanding of the Enlightenment in Sweden, it also expands our knowledge of the impact of the Scottish Enlightenment abroad, the scholarship on which has been mainly focused on Germany. Sweden is further shown to be a fruitful case study for considering the politicization of the late Enlightenment independently of the French Revolution. The French Revolution formed a key part of the political backdrop to the publication of the Dissertation, but its intellectual content was more indebted to the Scottish Enlightenment. Rosenstein’s pragmatic and contextual approach to politics is often explained away by the precarious climate after Gustav III’s assassination. Instead, this article shows that it is better understood as a style of thought which Rosenstein had in common with the leading thinkers of eighteenth-century Scotland
Aesthetics · Archaeology · Economic history · Enlightenment · Epistemology · Historiography · Intellectual history · Period (music · Political science · Politics · Scholarship · Scottish Enlightenment · Social science · Sociology · Style (visual arts · History · Law · Philosophy · Political Theory and Influence
Conflict and Enlightenment
Translating the Enlightenment
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
An essay on the history of civil society (1767)
Politics in Commercial Society
What Is Enlightenment
A Revolution of the Mind
Gustav III of Sweden and the Enlightenment
Adam Ferguson on Partisanship, Party Conflict, and Popular Participation
The Scottish Enlightenment, Unintended Consequences and the Science of Man
Contests about Natural Law in Early Enlightenment Copenhagen
Lord Bolingbroke's Theory of Party and Opposition
Louis Xvi and Gustavus Iii
The Case for the Enlightenment
Charles Francis Sheridan on the Feudal Origins and Political Science of the 1772 Revolution in Sweden
Sweden and the War of American Independence
Northern Lights
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |