The Exchange of Ideas in the Public Sphere

Over the course of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the public sphere became an increasingly important component in the spread and development of Enlightenment ideas. As networks of informal socialization and intellectual exchange, coffeehouses provided a setting in which people from all social backgrounds who had the luxury of leisure could share ideas and opinions without fear of punishment from the state or church. Salons likewise served as important centers of philosophical discussion. They also enabled the small number of women from the upper and middle classes who hosted them to play leadership roles in the Enlightenment, though guests from less privileged backgrounds were generally excluded. Along with the emergence of academies, print shops and a flourishing long-distance community of writers, salons and coffeehouses ensured the development of a public sphere that stimulated the free and open exchange of Enlightenment ideas.            All images referenced in this podcast can be found at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/7-2-the-exchange-of-ideas-in-the-public-sphere            Welcome to A Journey into Human History.    This podcast will attempt to tell the whole human story.       The content contained in this podcast was produced by OpenStax and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.     Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/world-history-volume-2/pages/1-introduction    Podcast produced by Miranda Casturo as a Creative Common Sense production.

Om Podcasten

Welcome to a journey into human history. This podcast will attempt to tell the whole human story. You may be asking yourself what is history? Is it simply a record of things people have done? Is it what writer Maya Angelou suggested—a way to meet the pain of the past and overcome it? Or is it, as Winston Churchill said, a chronicle by the victors, an interpretation by those who write it? History is all this and more. Above all else, it is a path to knowing why we are the way we are—all our greatness, all our faults—and therefore a means for us to understand ourselves and change for the better. But history serves this function only if it is a true reflection of the past. It cannot be a way to mask the darker parts of human nature, nor a way to justify acts of previous generations. It is the historian’s task to paint as clear a picture as sources will allow. Will history ever be a perfect telling of the human tale? No. There are voices we may never hear. Yet each new history book written and each new source uncovered reveal an ever more precise record of events around the world. You are about to take a journey into human history. The content contained in this podcast was produced by OpenStax and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. For more information please review the links and resources in the description. Podcast produced by Miranda Casturo as a creative common sense production.