| Authorship Notes |
Anonymous dissertation submitted to the prize contest of the Académie de Lyon. For the jury's opinion, see the author's bio file. The author described himself as the "moral father of young persons".
It suggests there is no reason to suggest travel could be anything but beneficial. It can even correct an otherwise incorrect education - it is more useful than standard forms of education, such as collèges. Natural reason will be perfected by travelling: the young person will be able to recognize what is moral and useful. He will also obtain things that he can use to enrich his conversation. The idea that travel will provide an opportunity to recognize that all men are brothers and that Man was placed in the Universe to rule it betrays the likely influence of the physico-theology movement, and in particular abbé Pluche's "Spectacle de la Nature" (but not the chapter on travels in this work).
The reviewer of the Académie suggests a lengthy discussion on taste, considered here an essential ability for travelling, was borrowed from a different author. |
