Introduction

The ideas associated with the concept of sensibility in the eighteenth century were a powerful force in the development of art, philosophy, and social thinking. The didactic and progressive tendency of sensibility lay in its expansion and refinement of emotional response, unlocking human potentialities undreamed of by former cultures. Most of the writers of radical sensibility were influenced by Rousseau, especially by his criticism of the artificialities and inequalities of high society. Radical writers of sensibility stressed qualities in direct contrast to the popular degenerate model of the 'man of feeling' in emphasizing action and intervention. The project of both radical and conservative after the confrontations of the 1790s was to stabilize the language, to accommodate the demands of the mind and those of reality. The chapter presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book. It discusses the historical evolution of sensibility as a complex of ideas, to indicate some of its main preoccupations and internal conflicts.