The third earl of Shaftesbury was a pivotal figure in eighteenth-century thought and culture. Professor Klein's new study is the first to examine the extensive Shaftesbury manuscripts and offer an interpretation that relates his ideas about philosophy, morals, religion and the arts to his social and political goals. Through politeness, Shaftesbury conceptualized a new kind of public and critical culture, and greatly influenced the philosophical and cultural models associated with the European Enlightenment.

Shaftesbury's Characteristics of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times was published in 1711. It ranges widely over ethics, aesthetics, religion, the arts (painting, literature, architecture, gardening), and ancient and modern history, and aims at nothing less than a new ideal of the gentleman. Together with Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding and Addison and Steele's Spectator, it is a text of fundamental importance for understanding the thought and culture of Enlightenment Europe. This volume presents a new edition of the text together with an introduction, explanatory notes and a guide to...

The third earl of Shaftesbury was a pivotal figure in eighteenth-century thought and culture. Professor Klein's new study is the first to examine the extensive Shaftesbury manuscripts and offer an interpretation that relates his ideas about philosophy, morals, religion and the arts to his social and political goals. Through politeness, Shaftesbury conceptualized a new kind of public and critical culture, and greatly influenced the philosophical and cultural models associated with the European Enlightenment.