Sade's Philosophical System in its Enlightenment Context

This book connects the philosophy of the Marquis de Sade-one of the most notorious, iconic, and yet poorly-understood figures within the history of European thought-with the broader themes of the Enlightenment. Rather than seeing himself as a mere pornographer, Sade understood himself as continuing the progressive tradition of French Enlightenment philosophy. Sade aspired to be a philosophe. This book uses intellectual history and the history of philosophy to reconstruct Sade's philosophica...