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Eighteenth-century republicanism and the critique of commercial society: the case of Rousseau and Ferguson

Objective

The project’s key assumption is that Rousseau and Ferguson offer a distinctive “partisan-republican” perspective. More strongly than fellow-republicans like Montesquieu, Hume and Smith, they focus on commercial society’s corrupting effects, concluding that the only remedy is a recovery of traditional civic virtues.

Objectives
1. The project fills a major lacuna in Enlightenment historiography: the strong kinship between Ferguson and Rousseau is evident, but no sustained comparative study exists. 2. The project forms a significant contribution to the debate on the (dis)continuities in the republican tradition and its relation to the natural law tradition. 3. A joint reading of Rousseau and Ferguson vis-à-vis the debate on virtue and commerce sharpens and modifies our insight in this debate. They express most uncompromisingly the worries that also plague Smith, Montesquieu and Hume. Hence, the project demonstrates that Rousseau and Ferguson are no outdated Romantics in a general discourse of optimism.

Method
The comparative historico-philosophical method has an interdisciplinary character: the project’s focus on intellectual and socio-economic contexts relates it closely to intellectual history and economics. The comparative methodology allows the project to transcend dichotomies between Continental and Anglo-Saxon scholarship.

Expected results: 4 peer-reviewed articles. 1 popular article. 1 conference.

Impact
-Through participation in international workshops and publication of articles in high-impact journals, the researcher gains an excellent academic standing.
-The opportunity offered at Lausanne to connect with researchers in various countries gives the researcher a broad European profile and enhances his network.
-By working in a competitive team, he sharpens his linguistic, cooperative and argumentative skills
-Through various public engagement activities (public lectures; blogs; popular article) his research is disseminated beyond the academic world.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EF

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Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2015

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Coordinator

UNIVERSITE DE LAUSANNE
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 175 419,60
Address
QUARTIER UNIL CENTRE - BATIMENT UNICENTRE
1015 LAUSANNE
Switzerland

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Region
Schweiz/Suisse/Svizzera Région lémanique Vaud
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 175 419,60
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