4 Secular millenarianism as a radical utopian project in Shaftesbury
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Patrick Müller
Abstract
Patrick Müller asks whether a new interpretation of third Earl the Earl of Shaftesbury as a radical political theorist is justifiable and whether the term “radical” can be applied to a man who has traditionally been regarded as an aesthete and a moralist rather than a political writer. To answer this question he proposes a chronological survey of Shaftesbury’s development as an actor on the political scene. He first reviews Shaftesbury’s early political career and shows the influence of his grandfather, who helped to forge a new, distinctively Whig ideology, on Shaftesbury’s political socialisation. Patrick Müller then discusses Shaftesbury’s early years in Parliament, when he was committed to the tenets of Old Whiggism and conversed with a number of radical figures, especially Toland. Finally, Müller studies Shaftesbury’s Characteristicks as a utopian text which makes a case for dispensing with the political influence of the Church and even all established forms of religion.
Abstract
Patrick Müller asks whether a new interpretation of third Earl the Earl of Shaftesbury as a radical political theorist is justifiable and whether the term “radical” can be applied to a man who has traditionally been regarded as an aesthete and a moralist rather than a political writer. To answer this question he proposes a chronological survey of Shaftesbury’s development as an actor on the political scene. He first reviews Shaftesbury’s early political career and shows the influence of his grandfather, who helped to forge a new, distinctively Whig ideology, on Shaftesbury’s political socialisation. Patrick Müller then discusses Shaftesbury’s early years in Parliament, when he was committed to the tenets of Old Whiggism and conversed with a number of radical figures, especially Toland. Finally, Müller studies Shaftesbury’s Characteristicks as a utopian text which makes a case for dispensing with the political influence of the Church and even all established forms of religion.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Introduction 1
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PART I Radical language and themes
- 1 Community of goods 41
- 2 Thomas Paine’s democratic linguistic radicalism 60
- 3 English radicalism in the 1650s 80
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PART II Radical exchanges and networks
- 4 Secular millenarianism as a radical utopian project in Shaftesbury 103
- 5 The diffusion and impact of Baron d’Holbach’s texts in Great Britain, 1765–1800 125
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PART III Radical media and practices
- 6 The parliamentary context of political radicalism in the English revolution 151
- 7 Toasting and the diffusion of radical ideas, 1780–1832 170
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PART IV Radical fiction and representation
- 8 Contesting the press-oppressors of the age 193
- 9 Ways of thinking, ways of writing 211
- 10 ‘The insane enthusiasm of the time’ 229
- Select bibliography 251
- Index 270
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Introduction 1
-
PART I Radical language and themes
- 1 Community of goods 41
- 2 Thomas Paine’s democratic linguistic radicalism 60
- 3 English radicalism in the 1650s 80
-
PART II Radical exchanges and networks
- 4 Secular millenarianism as a radical utopian project in Shaftesbury 103
- 5 The diffusion and impact of Baron d’Holbach’s texts in Great Britain, 1765–1800 125
-
PART III Radical media and practices
- 6 The parliamentary context of political radicalism in the English revolution 151
- 7 Toasting and the diffusion of radical ideas, 1780–1832 170
-
PART IV Radical fiction and representation
- 8 Contesting the press-oppressors of the age 193
- 9 Ways of thinking, ways of writing 211
- 10 ‘The insane enthusiasm of the time’ 229
- Select bibliography 251
- Index 270
