Prof. Avi Lifschitz (University of Oxford)

Abstract

Could the common people in eighteenth-century Europe, including the illiterate masses, be

enlightened? How should cultural elites and political leaders embark on the task? Should the

people be exposed to the full gamut of science and philosophy or merely to a small practical

dose that might reduce their misery and make them ‘useful’ citizens? These were the

questions at the centre of discussions between King Frederick II of Prussia (r. 1740-1786) and

major French intellectuals such as Voltaire, d’Alembert and d’Holbach. While these

exchanges eventually led to the Berlin prize contest on the deception of the people (1780),

they encompassed much broader epistemological and socio-political issues, with references to

earlier authors such as Bayle, Fontenelle and Machiavelli. At stake was not only the scope of

public enlightenment but also what many authors regarded as benign prejudices: beliefs and

motives for action that extend beyond the remit of the rational.