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with the Age of Reason, an era for which the supremacy of the mind over the
emotions is not usually contested.
Using numerous archival materials and primary sources (both textual and vi-
sual), Riskin demonstrates with this book that science and sensibility were in-
deed linked inextricably during the French Enlightenment, thus justifying her
creation of the neologism "sentimental empiricists." Riskin's study of the inter-
sections between science and sensibility complicates our perception of both, yet it
simultaneously elaborates and elucidates their individual contexts. Analyzing the
pervasive influence of sentiment on such diverse disciplines as the study of
blindness, physics, and politics, Riskin underscores the significance of a senti-
mental empiricist historiography: the eighteenth-century rationalism attacked by
sentimental empiricists continues to be perceived as the defining characteristic of
its era. Although this may be the ultimate mark of their success, sentimental em-
piricists deserve and need to be restored to the prominent role they played in es-
tablishing this predominant view of the French Enlightenment, while erasing
themselves in and from the process. Riskin has succeeded exceedingly well in
this worthy endeavor.
The book consists of an introduction, eight chapters, and a conclusion. In chap-
ter 2, Riskin sketches how the experimental study of blindness, rejecting solip-
sism in favor of sensitivity under the influence of sentimentalist empiricism, led
to the creation of a public instruction program for blind children. The allusion to
Benjamin Franklin's "Poor Richard's Almanack" in chapter 3 launches two chap-
ters in which the American scientist and diplomat plays a crucial part: "Poor
Richard's Leyden Jar" describes his sensibilist physics and its eventual triumph
over Nollett's mechanical theory. Chapter 4 traces how the Physiocrats subse-
quently translated Franklin's teleological empiricism into economic policies.
Other chapters also contain section headings facilitating the reader's compre-
hension, but chapter 5 appears even more structured as it is ingeniously presented
as a classical play including a prologue, five acts, and an epilogue. In the final act
of this "play" about a scientist's legal right to install a lightning rod, Robespierre
appears on the scene in his prerevolutionary career as a lawyer and, as the dra-
matic deus ex machina, wins the scientist's case by means of sentimental empiri-
cism-inspired arguments. The chapter's epilogue follows both Robespierre's and
sentimental empiricism's careers into the heart of Revolutionary politics. In chap-
ter 6, Riskin uses the investigation of mesmerism by Louis XV's commissioners to
expose a crisis in sensibilist science heralding the Revolution: the imagination,
found to be a crucial element in mesmerism, weakened the power of the senses
and could thus leave people receptive to fanaticism. Chapter 7 depicts the battles
sentimental empiricists faced in the domain of Revolutionary language: that of a
new chemical nomenclature and that of pedagogy.
An extensive bibliography listing archival materials as well as primary and sec-
ondary sources concludes the book, providing an extensive resource for anyone
interested in the French Enlightenment in general and its newly uncovered
kinder, gentler side in particular. In the index, page ranges where a subject is dis-
cussed at length are listed in bold print, conveniently directing the reader to
more in-depth information on a certain topic.
University of North Texas
1040
FRENCH REVIEW 77.5
Marijn S. Kaplan
