A Missed Opportunity: The Edition of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Gabriel Bonnot de Mably, Paul Pierre Lemercier de la Rivière, Les lumières au chevet de la Pologne. Les projets de Rousseau, Mably et Lemercier de la Rivière à la veille du premier partage (
A Missed Opportunity: The Edition of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Gabriel Bonnot de Mably, Paul Pierre Lemercier de la Rivière, Les lumières au chevet de la Pologne. Les projets de Rousseau, Mably et Lemercier de la Rivière à la veille du premier partage (

Summary/Abstract: The article offers an analysis and assessment of the critical edition of the advice for Poland prepared by three well-known philosophers of the Enlightenment (Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Gabriel Bonnot de Mably, and Paul Pierre Lemercier de la Rivière), as well as of the manuscripts preserved in the Central Archives of Historical Records in Warsaw that were prepared for these philosophers by Michał Wielhorski, together with the record of the discussion between Mably and the Bar Confederates. The author of the article emphasizes that the texts included in the reviewed volume are of great value for research on the political thought of the Enlightenment and bringing them together in a single publication was a highly valuable scholarly initiative. However, in her view, the editors failed to meet this challenge. Their undertaking is burdened by very serious gaps and errors, both in terms of their knowledge of the relevant literature – including the fundamental studies of Jerzy Michalski – and in their editorial work on the source texts themselves. The author presents in detail the technical and substantive mistakes made by the editors and ultimately concludes that they disqualify the work as a reliable scholarly resource.

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