The Enlightenment and the Origins of European Australia

About this book

The Enlightenment and the Origins of European Australia surveys some of the key intellectual influences in the formation of Australian society by emphasising the impact of the Enlightenment with its commitment to rational enquiry and progress – attitudes which owed much to the successes of the Scientific Revolution. The first part of The Enlightenment and the Origins of European Australia analyses the political and religious background of the period from the First Fleet (1788) to the mid nineteenth century. The second demonstrates the pervasiveness of ideas of improvement – a form of the idea of progress – originally derived from agriculture, but which were to shape attitudes to human nature in fields as diverse as education, penal discipline and race relations. Throughout, The Enlightenment and the Origins of European Australia highlights the extent to which developments in Australia can be compared and contrasted with those in Britain and in the USA.

Contents

List of illustrations
Abbreviations
Preface and Acknowledgements

1. Introduction

Part I. Contexts
2. Religion
3. Politics

Part II. The Possibilities of Improvement
4. The earth and its fruits
5. Science and the land
6. Cultivation of the mind
7. Of crimes and punishments
8. Race and the limits of 'improvement'

Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Customer Reviews

Biography

John Gascoigne is Associate Professor, School of History, University of New South Wales, Sydney and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.