Avi Lifschitz

Historian @OxfordHistory, @MagdalenOxford, @VoltaireOxford & @OxfordCIH. Hovering between the 18th century and the 21st. Tweeting in personal capacity.

[Avi Lifschitz @Diderotesque]

Enlightened Absolutism, social contract, the ruler as ‘the first servant of the state’, critiques of Christianity and kingship by divine grace: all for less in the new paperback edition of Frederick the Great’s Philosophical Writings @PrincetonUPress. https://t.co/UaGITtp1Q8

[schopenhauerfreund @schopenhau26922]

Toller - und preiswerter! - Katalog einer Göttinger Ausstellung von Brian Kjær Olesen: "Seeing Things Their Way. Carsten Niebuhr and the Art of Oriental Travel". Muß man haben.
https://t.co/x54R1pm60b

[Avi Lifschitz @Diderotesque]

@Pete_Candy Not necessarily. The prescribed anonymity allowed women, non-Christians or autodidacts of many stripes to compete and occasionally win — people who wouldn’t usually be able to access academies and other such venues in the 18thC.

[Avi Lifschitz @Diderotesque]

Bring back the public prize contests? In the book, we suggest that to an extent, they were forerunners of modern peer-review procedures.

[Peter Candy @Pete_Candy]

I'm judging an essay prize for 18yos based on the (now defunct) single-word element of the All Souls prize fellowship exam. I set the word 'Friendship'. The quality of the entries is fantastic.

[Oxford Centre for Intellectual History @OxfordCIH]

📣New publication!

Avi Lifschitz, 'Enlightenment for the Common People? Frederick II and the Philosophes on Popular Prejudice, Deception, and Education,' Modern Intellectual History, https://t.co/IoxQhF1OcZ.

[Avi Lifschitz @Diderotesque]

@rensch95874 @HannesKerber Only anonymously and addressing a specific question, as in the 18th century!

[Varad Mehta @varadmehta]

We wouldn't have heard of Rousseau without them, most likely.

[Avi Lifschitz @Diderotesque]

An excellent book indeed by the co-editor of the new collection. We refer often to the French contests.

[schopenhauerfreund @schopenhau26922]

There is also another pertinent book on the topic concerning French academies - and luckily available for download:
https://t.co/IHLOvNt9NM

[Sylvana Tomaselli St Andrews @sylvana_st]

Out in June !

[Avi Lifschitz @Diderotesque]

Why was the 18th century the heyday of prize contests on virtually everything? Many answers in this new book, now available with a discount from @LivUniPress:
https://t.co/egkvCsgb2P

[Bruno Leipold @BrunoLeipold]

Our final ERC postdocs have now been advertised. These are with my co-PI @welpita.bsky.social at the University of Girona focusing on the empirical study of popular government

[Mónica Bolufer Peruga @MonicaBoluferP]

My forthcoming book "Constructions of femininity in the Spanish Enlightenment" already has a cover!
It will be coming out in the fall at Oxford Studies in the Enlightenment, Liverpool University Press.
https://t.co/IdZiiiXZCd
@Diderotesque @ASECSOffice @SigloDieciocho

[Intellectual History Review @IHRjournal]

[🆕WINNER OF THE 2025 CHARLES SCHMITT PRIZE 🔓] Ross Moncrieff (All Souls College), “When sinologists were geologists: Chinese chronology in early modern England and the heterodox Chinese studies of Robert Hooke and John Beaumont” IHR 36 (2): 239-259. https://t.co/i3E0S5lqCY.

[Brycchan Carey @Brycchan]

Applications are now open for the 2026/27 BSECS-Northumbria Fellowship, offering expenses up to the value of £4000 to support a visiting scholar undertaking research into the long eighteenth century. More information and apply at https://t.co/TW2TDQ6pbI

[Avi Lifschitz @Diderotesque]

TODAY, 5pm @magdalenoxford. All welcome!

[Avi Lifschitz @Diderotesque]

What linked the first partition of Poland and American independence? David Armitage (@davidrarmitage) explores the question at the George Rousseau Lecture, 13 May, 5pm @magdalenoxford. Free admission, but book your tickets here: https://t.co/kBTLRhYqoa

[Martin Welsch @welsch_martin]

Diese Woche in Marburg: Aufklärung, Toleranz, Fortschritt. Ein deutsch-japanischer Dialog – organisiert von Eva Buddeberg und Masahide Goto, mit Vorträgen u.a. von Achim Vesper und Sofie Møller sowie einer Keynote von Rainer Forst. Die Anmeldung ist noch möglich!

[Hegel Society GB @HegelSocietyGB]

CfA for the 2026 #HSGB Annual Conference: “Hegel and the Modern World”
3–4 September, Oxford
Submission by 29.5.
#Hegel #germanidealism #modernity #conference #philosophy #unitedkingdom #oxford #CallForAbstracts @hegelpd @hegelsocietyAU @SEHegelianos @theBSHP

[Avi Lifschitz @Diderotesque]

What linked the first partition of Poland and American independence? David Armitage (@davidrarmitage) explores the question at the George Rousseau Lecture, 13 May, 5pm @magdalenoxford. Free admission, but book your tickets here: https://t.co/kBTLRhYqoa

[Voltaire Foundation @VoltaireOxford]

Don’t miss this term‘s programme of our Enlightenment Workshop! Further info here: https://t.co/Tv2vdnI2Zc

[Ere Nokkala @EreNokkala]

Excited to share the Spring/Summer 2026 programme of the Online Enlightenment Club — featuring an outstanding lineup from Uppsala to Bologna, Berlin, London, Cardiff and beyond.
For the latest updates, see our website: https://t.co/EhfHXLtDCR

[Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins @daniel_dsj2110]

A new Modern Intellectual History article by Avi Lifschitz: https://t.co/wSFMcAxrzf