The French Enlightenment and its Others: The Mandarin, the Savage, and the Invention of the Human Sciences (Palgrave Studies in Cultural and Intellectual History)

This book explores the French Enlightenment's use of cross-cultural comparisons - particularly the figures of the Chinese mandarin and American and Polynesian savage - to praise of critique aspects of European society and to draw general conclusions regarding human nature, natural law, and the rise and decline of civilizations.