Introduction Savoirs d’État et sciences de gouvernement à la lumière des Dictionnaires et des Encyclopédies francophones de la fin du XVIIIe siècle

Abstract

The articles in this special issue are based on papers presented at the  International workshop « Droit et savoirs d'État dans les dictionnaires et les encyclopédies du XVIIIe siècle » organised by the Centre d'Études et de Recherches en Histoire des Idées et des Institutions Politiques (CERHIIP) of Aix-Marseille University. In a resolutely interdisciplinary spirit, this event brought together researchers from different backgrounds: historians, legal historians, philosophers and political scientists. The studies gathered in this dossier have the merit, each in their own field, of shedding fruitful light on the importance of the circulation of works and materials from one Encyclopaedia to another. They suggest that, beyond the inevitable compilation of this type of source, the editors of these dictionaries, through the choices they made, demonstrated a desire to contribute to the promotion of a new way of understanding state knowledge and the sciences of government in the Enlightenment.
 
English title: Introduction: the Sciences of Government in the Light of Francophone Dictionaries and Encyclopaedias at the End of the 18^th Century
 
Keywords: French Dictionaries and Encyclopedias, Late 18^th Century, Sciences of Government, State-related Knowledge, Circulation of Knowledge and Ideas