Enlightenment and the Encyclopaedia: Two Enlightenments and Two Encyclopaedias

Abstract

This paper questions the relation between Enlightenment and the encyclopaedia through the analysis of two great encyclopaedias of the 18th century Enlightenment: the French Encyclopédie and the Scottish Encyclopædia Britannica, as expressions of the specificity of two projects of Enlightenment: the French radical Enlightenment and the Scottish moderate Enlightenment. Both encyclopaedias were produced under different social and encyclopaedic contexts: the first one was the direct product of the leading Enlighteners fighting for cultural and social change, while the second one grew out of the spiritual atmosphere that shaped the Scottish Enlightenment in an effort to keep the balance between change and tradition, and both had different social impacts: the first one led to a revolution, while the second one legitimised the British system and the imperial rule. Both, however, contributed to the shaping of the modern encyclopaedia and to the gathering impetus in encyclopaedic activity in the 19th and 20th century.