French Thought in the Eighteenth Century

x, 336 pp. Daniel Mornet, born in Bourges on March 21, 1878 and died in Méry-sur-Cher on September 16, 1954, was a historian of French literature and a French literary critic. CONTENTS: Translator's Preface; Author's Foreword; Part I. Survivals of the Classical Spirit: Literary Doctrines; The Society Spirit; Part II. The Prolongation and the Transformation of Classical Rationalism: The Origins; Rationalistic Optimism and Its Consequences; Part III. The New Spirit: Observation and Experience: The Consciousness of Human Diversity; The Experimental Sciences; The Positive Spirit: Facts and the Lessons Drawn from Facts; Part IV. The Philosophy and the Literature of Sentiment: Philosophy; Literature and the Moral Code of Sentiment; Social Ideas and Life; Part V. The Diffusion of the New Spirit: The Resistance of Public Opinion; The Struggle Against Authority; The Dissemination of Higher Education; The General Influence of Philosophy; The Progress of the Critical Spirit and of Incredulity; Political Unrest; Conclusion; Index of Authors and Other Cited in the Historical Notes.