Republic of Letters

Common card · No. 374441

The Republic of Letters (Res Publica Litterarum or Res Publica Literaria) was the long-distance intellectual community that began during the early 16th century through the early 19th century in Europe and the Americas. It was a network of intellectual communication that emerged as a way to overcome distance between scientific communities and to overcome the growing polarization between nations and the political tension. It is believed that references to a republic of letters date back as far as the 13th century, but that the first time the term came into broader circulation was beginning in 1684 as a result of new publications in Amsterdam by French philosopher Pierre Bayle . It fostered communication among the intellectuals of the Age of Enlightenment, or philosophes as they were called in France, and ultimately arose as a way to combat growing censorship from the Catholic Church during the Protestant Reformation. These communities that transcended national boundaries formed the basis...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Nitot, CC BY-SA 2.5