Moeurs and Manners' book in Eighteen-Century France

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25370383
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: European literature
• Research Institution: Chubu University
• Principal Investigator: TAMADA Atsuko 中部大学, 人文学部, 准教授 (00434580)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 習俗 / フランス / 18世紀 / 啓蒙 / 近代 / ジェンダー / 作法書 / ナショナリズム

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In eighteenth-century France, the notion of moeurs was considered as the rule, based on the establishment of modern society. In his "Virtue, Commerce, History", J.G.A.　Pocock said the Century of Enlightenment marked the turning point from civic virtue to a modern sense of ethics. However, in France, that modern sense of ethics developed by commercial society was not always encouraged. Montesquieu, for example, showed an ambivalent attitude and argued that the role of commerce was not only sophisticated but also that it corrupted the moeurs. For Rousseau, the politesse and feminization of moeurs was a source of corruption of civil society. Considering these philosophical backgrounds, the culture of Manners’ book has certain conflicts with the notion of moeurs, a movement that can be explained by the misogyny that developed during the Century of Enlightenment.

Free Research Field

フランス文学