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Voltaire Foundation

The Voltaire Foundation is a world leader for eighteenth-century scholarship, publishing the definitive edition of the Complete Works of Voltaire (Œuvres complètes de Voltaire), as well as Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment (previously SVEC), the foremost series devoted to Enlightenment studies, and the correspondences of several key French thinkers.

# Episode Title Description People Date
13 Hegel's Enlightenment Professor Richard Bourke delivers the 2023 Annual Besterman Lecture. Richard Bourke 14 Nov 2023
12 Rule-Mania in Enlightenment Paris Professor Lorraine Daston delivers the 2019 Besterman Lecture Lorraine Daston 21 Nov 2019
11 Inaugural George Rousseau Lecture - Liberty as equality: Rousseau and Roman constitutionalism Dan Edelstein from Stanford University gives the Inaugural George Rousseau Lecture, the convenor is Avi Lifschitz, Magdalen College. Dan Edelstein, Avi Lifschitz 01 May 2019
10 Writing Rights in 1789 Keith M Baker, professor of Early Modern European History at Stanford University, explains a Digital Humanities project mapping the debates on the constituent articles of the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. Keith M Baker 23 Nov 2018
9 Creative Commons Methusela and the unity of mankind: late Renaissance and early Enlightenment conceptions of time Martin van Gelderen delivers a talk for the Besterman Lecture 2018 Martin van Gelderen 25 Jul 2018
8 Digital Rhetoric, literae humaniores and Leibniz's dream Willard McCarty, King's College, London, gives the 2017 Besterman lecture. Willard McCarty 13 Dec 2017
7 Creative Commons Adam Smith, Poverty and Famine A highly critical account of Adam Smith's views on famine, which fail to recognize that you can have starvation in the midst of plenty. David Wootton 02 Jun 2017
6 The Lure of Paris: The Republic of Letters and Eighteenth-Century Speed-Dating Final talk of the Besterman Enlightenment Workshop 2017, Laurence Brockliss explains the popularity of Paris as a place to visit in the 18th century and explores the opportunities for and obstacles to making contacts in the European Republic of Letters. Laurence Brockliss 22 Mar 2017
5 Creative Commons Writing the Enlightenment: Reflections on Work in Progress Professor Ritchie Robertson FBA, Taylor Professor of German at the University of Oxford, will speak on ‘Writing the Enlightenment: Reflections on Work in Progress’. Ritchie Robertson 18 Nov 2016
4 The French Revolutionary Terror: Proto-Totalitarian or Public Sphere? Professor Colin Jones CBE (Queen Mary University of London) delivers the annual Besterman Lecture for the Voltaire Foundation at Wolfson College, Oxford Colin Jones 20 Nov 2015
3 ‘True Enlightenment can be both achieved and beneficial.’ The German Enlightenment and its Interpretation Professor Joachim Whaley, Professor of German History and Thought, Cambridge, gives the 2014 Besterman Lecture, hosted by The Besterman Centre for the Enlightenment and the TORCH Enlightenment Programme. Joachim Whaley, Richie Robertson 20 Nov 2014
2 Creative Commons Rousseau's copy of La Lettre à d'Alembert Short podcast looking at Enlightenment philosopher Rousseau's copy of La Lettre à d'Alembert, housed in the Bodleian Library. Nathalie Ferrand 23 Nov 2012
1 Creative Commons Rousseau: Archive et Invention. Professor Nathalie Ferrand (École Normale Supérieure Paris) gives the 2012 Besterman Lecture for the Voltaire Foundation. This lecture is in French. Nathalie Ferrand 23 Nov 2012