The scientific and rational spirit of the Enlightenment provided the French intelligentsia of the late eighteenth century with new ways of dealing with social and political dilemmas.The reformist elite looked to the application of scientif-ic reason to human affairs.This effort underlied the idea that scientific reason and its inherent universality surmounted historical tradition and individual opinion,thus could overcome the hierarchical privileges of the old regime and rationalise national governance.Furthermore,the standards based on natural reason should essentially be universal norms applicable to all.This interaction between politics and scientific reason,which developed at the end of the old regime,was an important feature of the French Revolution and marked the subsequent French political culture.
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