Ideas of Poverty in the Age of Enlightenment HARDBACK 9781526166777

Manchester University Press

Explore the complex conceptualizations of poverty during the Age of Enlightenment with this collection of essays. Experts delve into social, political, and religious discourses, offering pathbreaking discussions on how eighteenth-century thinkers perceived the poor. This book examines key debates surrounding sovereignty, representation, charity, crime, and punishment, extending beyond canonical Enlightenment figures to encompass the wider intellectual culture. A vital resource for understanding historical perspectives on poverty. This collection of essays examines the ways in which poverty was conceptualised in the social, political, and religious discourses of eighteenth-century Europe. It brings together experts with a wide range of expertise to offer pathbreaking discussions of how eighteenth-century thinkers thought about the poor. Because the theme of poverty played important roles in many critical issues in European history, it was central to some of the key debates in Enlightenment political thought throughout the period, including the controversies about sovereignty and representation, public and private charity, as well as questions relating to crime and punishment. The book examines some of the most important contributions to these debates, while also ranging beyond the canonical Enlightenment thinkers, to investigate how poverty was conceptualised in the wider intellectual culture, as politicians, administrators and pamphlet writers grappled with the issue. Keywords: Poverty, Age of Enlightenment, European History, Political Thought, Social Discourse, Religious Discourse, Charity, Crime, Punishment, Intellectual Culture, Niall O'Flaherty, Robin Mills, Manchester University Press, Hardcover Book.