Machiavélisme et Staats-Raison au XVIIIe siècle d’après L’Universal-Lexikon de Zedler

This article examines the manner in which the Grosses vollständiges Universal-Lexikon published by Johann Heinrich Zedler from 1732 to 1750 and considered as the most important german language encyclopedia of its time, welcomes and restructures the classical doctrine of the reason of State. Contrary to the interpretation in which the concept of the State developed by the Lexikon would fit into a pure jusnaturalistic logic, it shows the permanence, parallel to wolffian natural law, of a prudential tradition of political thought. The Lexikon, a contemporary of the Anti-Machiavel of Frederic II, thus appears to be the faithful mirror of the heterogeneous tendencies which then illustrate the field of the problems in the reason of State.     

«Une mission glorieuse et profitable» réforme missionnaire et économie sucrière dans la province jésuite du Brésil au début du XVIIe siècle

At the beginning of the seventeenth century, the Jesuit province of Brazil is affected by tensions which reveal the complexity of its relation both with the colonial society and with the Roman center of the order. The paper is focused on an exceptional and original document about which nothing is clearly identified (author, date), theAdvertências para a província do Brasil. It allows a precise analysis of the missionary enterprise, as an economico-political experience (the Jesuits become one of the most important sugar producers of the country), and as a spiritual experience (through the salvation of the missionaries and the conversion of the Indians). This document is centered on thealdeia which is described as the main structure for the action of the Jesuits in Brazil. In that way, it reveals a global vision of the mission, geopolitical, economical and religious, which has systematically been overshadowed by the traditional historiography, whose approach of the missionary phenomenon was exclusively spiritual.     

Les « Causes Secrètes » Causalité et Déterminisme à L’âge Classique

The notion of the “secret cause”, which appears in many classical texts is tied to a particular practice of science and a conception of its methods where the “law” finds itself at the center of the nexus. If certain phenomena appear to escape the law, one is obliged to amend the law through the introduction of a series of “small equations.” If the calculation of probabilities is deployed, this is to precisely reveal causes which are, at their origin, secret, but which will gradually become less so and eventually conform to laws.     

La vertu des images. Analogie, proportion et métaphore dans la genèse des sciences sociales au XVIIIe siècle

Moral newtonianism, in fashion by the middle of the XVIII^th century, is not only a metaphor. Based on the oneness of nature, it assumes a law of society equivalent to the law of distance innewtonian physics, perhaps offering the possibility of measurement. This method of inductive analogy (A/B=C/D) underlies Jean-Jacques Rousseau'sSocial contract: Rousseau uses classical metaphors of clockwork, modeling his notion of government on a watch and including mathematical proportions used by clockmakers to design the parts. Similarly, in hisTheory of moral sentiments, Adam Smith uses the old metaphor of the eye of the mind, modeling his social system on the recent notions of perspective: two persons, when they meet, will regulate their passions — of any type except interest — according to an imaginary distance between them, which varies according to the nature of the passion and its level. It is essential to restore these translations and the subsequent debates in order to understand the implications for sociology throughout the XIX^th century.     

Qu’est-Ce Quela «Littérature Générale»? La Culture Lettrée au Prisme du Marché du Livre de la Première Moitié du XX e Siècle

The aim of this paper is to shed light on the importance, for cultural history, of a professional concept from the publishing worl, for example « general literature » - a concept which goes against most of the usual forms of classification and division of intellectual output. Through the use of an « indigenous » source from within the publishing domain such as the advertisement notices published in Bibliographie de la France, one can show the coherence of a wide domain which encompasses - but also widely surpasses - the boundaries of literature as commonly conceived. As one category of publishing output, general literature can be characterized during the first half of the XX ^th century by the use of the same material form the 12mo whose profound significance is the intention to reach a « wide educated audience ». Thus, it is by taking into account the structure of this output that, through such a domain as general literature, the publishing market allows the question of the actual existence and aspects of learned culture to be raised.     

Marché foncier et systèmes de production agricoles au XIXe siècle: le cas du département de Brescia (Lombardie orientale)

Cet article présente les caractéristiques et l'évolution de la propriété foncière, du marché foncier et des systèmes de production agricoles en Lombardie orientale au 19^e siècle. L'auteur analyse les impacts sur l'exploitation de la terre de la substitution des propriétaires fonciers nobles par des bourgeois; des maladies du ver à soie et des vignobles, de l'arrivée des grains américains moins chers; de l'utilisation d'engrais chimiques et d'équipements modernes. Il montre que si la petite propriété représente toujours près d'un tiers du total et que la magnanerie et la viticulture diminuent, il est relevé une croissance des cultures céréalières et fourragères et des dépenses consacrées aux innovations technologiques. Il signale la rationalisation des cultures, l'amélioration des rendements et de la qualité des récoltes ainsi que des revenus non déclarés pour éviter les impôts et explique pourquoi les investisseurs préfèrent les petits aratori comportant des mûriers et des vignobles. Enfin, il donne à voir que l'organisation des exploitations reste liée au degré de risque pris par le propriétaire (la rente fixe garantie par le bail à ferme payé en argent ou une gestion directe de la propriété) et aux cultures (la présence des vignobles et de la magnanerie favorisant les sharecropping contracts).     

Un « Artiste Connaisseur» ? L’Expertise du Restaurateur Dans L’Institution Muséale à la Fin du XVIIIe Siècle

The conservator's expertise is defined in Paris in the museum at the end of the 18(th) century. On the one hand, this article analyses the competences claimed by the conservator in order to give proof of his expertise and to create a professional identity distinct from other implicated actors. On the other hand, this text shows how this expertise is constructed through the collaboration between the curator and the conservator, and underlines the negotiation and porosity of their respective fields of competence.