A series of meetings organized by Bettina Laville, President of the Paris IAS, Honorary State Councillor, founder and Honorary President of Comité 21.

Presentation

Our age, haunted by a nostalgia for the Enlightenment, is seeking to reconnect with the founding ideals of our republican values and European universalism. But in the face of crises, the challenge of reinventing the Enlightenment seems more relevant than ever. This series of meetings will invite historians, philosophers and sociologists to discuss the legacy of the Enlightenment and consider how its principles can meet the challenges of the 21st century.

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Since the 19th century, the Enlightenment has been seen as the founding era of our values, our republican foundation, the universal message of our nation and of Europe. “We need a new Enlightenment” is a remark we often read, expressing nostalgia for our past glory and power, a feeling that our values are crumbling and a desire to rebuild a philosophical and political foundation. The European lighthouse that was the Age of Enlightenment is losing its lustre in the 21st century in the face of the crisis of politics and democracy, the building of the Global South, the rise of imperialism, and the questioning of reason and science. Beyond this sense of loss, beyond this fear that our European civilisation is being “darkened”, the question “How can we build a new Enlightenment?” is a legitimate one, in that it sums up both an aporia and a desire for meaning.

Over the course of five meetings with historians, philosophers and sociologists, we will first try to establish what the Enlightenment was, how it was sustained over the following two centuries, and what criticism and opposition it provoked, laying the foundations for the current crisis. Then, in three sessions, we will revisit some of the fundamental values of the Enlightenment, comparing them with our own times: firstly, knowledge, reason and progress, then cosmopolitanism and universalism, and finally the quest for freedom and happiness. Finally, in the last session, we will discuss the concept of the “obscure Enlightenment”, and the possibility, remote or not, of revisiting the Enlightenment with other values, which, without denying them, harmonise them with the world's contemporary realities and aspirations.

Practical information

Detailed program upcoming.
On site sessions only.
Free admission with mandatory registration (registration form for each session).