The Normativity of Formal Knowledge: Exact Sciences, Equality and Situated Universalism in the 18th Century

Project management: Prof. Dr. Moritz Epple

The project examines the interplay between formal knowledge and the formulation of normative positions in the European Enlightenment using the French encyclopedist Jean d’Alembert as an example. The aim is to publish an annotated translation of his work “Essai sur les Éléments de Philosophie”, which will include three interpretative essays on the aspects of ‘Natural Science’, ‘Moral Philosophy’ and ‘Epistemology’. The focus of interest is the alliance between the increasingly influential mathematical sciences and the sensualist-materialist epistemological positions of the time on the one hand, and certain political currents of the Enlightenment on the other. For example, in the discussion about which knowledge can claim certainty (certitude), not only is knowledge itself defined, but at the same time any kind of metaphysics is rejected. This not only answers epistemological questions, but also rejects religious and traditional claims to validity. D’Alembert combines this with conclusions about the social order that is based on such knowledge: For him, a radical policy of redistribution follows from the anthropological law of self-preservation of a being dependent on society as long as luxury and poverty coexist in a society.

The study draws a connecting line from epistemological questions and positions to normative, socio-political concepts of order. It thus provides a historical contribution to the understanding of the central justification concepts of equality and justice, which are dealt with in the cluster. The ambivalence contained in these concepts sheds light on normative conflicts that occur in the implementation of concepts of justice.

The essay was translated and annotated in close cooperation with the French editorial team of D’Alembert’s Œuvres and the French research group “Groupe d’Alembert” (Paris Académie des sciences). Knowledge transfers took place at lectures, cooperation and working meetings in Lyon, Paris, Montpellier, Göttingen and in Marseille / Luminy. Christophe Schmit, who spent a month in Frankfurt, was also recruited there. The project work is being carried out by research assistant Dagmar Comtesse, who completed her doctorate in philosophy during the second funding period. Bilingual research assistant Céline Volders is helping with the revision of the translation. The manuscript is currently being finalized and submitted to Meiner-Verlag.

During the second funding period, the working hypothesis that a connection can be developedbetween D’Alembert’s epistemological perspective on formal sciences and his concept of a science moralewas further developed. This connection was developed by Moritz Epple in several lectures and publications on the concept of ‘equality’. In addition, the draft of a larger research project on the political philosophy of the Encyclopédie is emerging from the work on D’Alembert’s practical philosophy. Both interim results draw a connecting line from epistemological questions and positions to normative, socio-political concepts of order.

The results of the project were also presented by Dagmar Comtesse at the congress of the German Society for Philosophy (DGPhil) in Münster in September 2014. The title of the lecture was: “The Political Philosophy of the Encyclopédie.” In October 2017, Dagmar Comtesse will present further results as part of the international conference on the 300th anniversary of D’Alembert at the Université Montpellier. The title of her lecture is: “D’Alembert dans les débats de son temps”.

The most important publications in this project:

Comtesse, Dagmar and Moritz Epple: Jean D’Alembert: Versuch über die Elemente der Philosophie, ed.

Comtesse, Dagmar and Moritz Epple: “Between Appropriation and Rejection: Translating D’Alembert into German”, and “D’Alembert on Translation”, in: A. Guilbaud/C. Schmit (eds.): Tercentenary of Jean Le Rond D’Alembert’s Birth (1717-1783). A Review of the Latest Research, special issue of the Journal Centaurus, ed.

Comtesse, Dagmar: “Religion, Religionskritik, Zivilreligion und Revolution”, in: Franziska Flügel-Martinsen (ed.): Staatsverständnisse in Frankreich, Baden-Baden: Nomos, ed.

*Epple, Moritz: “Ulikhet, grenser og alliansen mellom de lærde og de store: Utidssvarende betraktninger fra en encyclopedist”, in: ARR – Idéhistorisk Tidsskrift 4, 2015, (= Liv, Arr, idéhistorie: Festtidskrift til Espen Schaanning), 2015, pp. 27-49.

Epple, Moritz and Dagmar Comtesse: “Auf dem Weg zu einer Revolution des Geistes? Jean d’Alembert as a test case”, in: A. Fahrmeir and A. Imhausen (eds.): Die Vielfalt normativer Ordnungen: Conflicts and Dynamics in Historical and Ethnological Perspective, Frankfurt am Main: Campus, 2013, pp. 21-47.

people in this project:

Project management / contact person

Epple, Moritz, Prof. Dr.

Project staff

Comtesse, Dagmar, Dr.