The Laboratory of Freedom

Résumé du document

The Enlightenment movement, in which France takes the lead, is a yearning for freedom. This idea of Lights will also highlight the concept of unity among citizens within a nation. After the death of Louis XIV, his funeral procession was booed. The Regency organizes orgies. We see a total reaction against the previous Iron Age. It is the conquest of the body, the era of Casanova. Lights are indeed a European movement. It began in 1688 in England which created a parliament, or the beginnings of a democracy. John Locke wrote in 1690, The Essay Concerning Human Understanding: There is nothing sure, everything depends on experience. The human mind does not suffer an immutable truth. Immanuel Kant said that there is a discovery to be done to be a citizen is morality. This moral law is based on the most precious link, the more difficult to conceive freedom. It is education that will allow it. Beaumarchais, an adventurer, also played an important role.

Extraits

[...] There is a physiocrat, a friend of progress and philosophers. It attempts to abolish the borders between provinces. It removes the drudgery by a financial contribution. When Turgot explains that France goes bankrupt and must generalize tax, Turgot was dismissed after a year and a half year. In 1783, while war raged in the United States, Calonne reinjected six hundred million pounds. In 1787, he proposed to the king to convene the Assembly of notables, nobles and higher clergy for the purpose of reforming the state. [...]

[...] The people are sovereign. Rousseau defends the right of insurrection. Voltaire is too rich to be attended by the left, and too mocking to attract the right. He knows very well the Chinese philosophy. It was the philosophy that to relax. He became famous through the Case Callas (in Toulouse, one of three Callas son hanged himself, the Parliament said that Joseph Callas pushed his son to kill himself). He takes up the cause of Callas. This is the first man since Cicero who dares do justice to admit that she was mistaken. [...]

[...] He is very focused on sex, drinking, jokes, etc. Anti-slavery, it is a kind of empiricist conviction. Philosopher, chemist, lawyer, architect, he is curious about everything. He met D'Alembert, a mathematician educated by a glazier. They wonder why not pay tribute to all that exists. He suggested the draft Encyclopedia. In 1750, he distributes the Prospectus. The book is an outreach tool of the state of knowledge in all areas. It is a tribute to the work of the head and hands. [...]

[...] The Starr Affair, tells the story of John Renshaw Starr. Ian Dear. Sabotage and Subversion (Arms and Armour 1996, Cassell Military Paperbacks 1999, ISBN 0-304-35202-0) General chapters on origins, recruitment and training, and then describes in detail thirteen operations in Europe and around the world, some involving the OSS. Bruce Marshall. The White Rabbit (Evans Bros 1952, Cassell Military Paperbacks 2000, ISBN 0-304-35697-2) Famous biography of Wing Commander Yeo-Thomas who made secret trips to France to meet senior Resistance figures. [...]

[...] SOE Syllabus: Lessons in Ungentlemanly Warfare World War II. Secret History Files, National Archives. ISBN 1-903365-18-X. Authentic training manuals used to prepare agents covering the clandestine skills of disguise, surveillance, burglary, interrogation, close combat, and assassination. Also published as "How to be a Spy". Stafford, David (2000). Secret Agent: The True Story of the Special Operations Executive. BBC Worldwide Ltd. ISBN 0563-53734-5. Professor David Stafford has written several books on resistance and the secret war, and contributed the foreword for MFD Foot's book. [...]