Introduction

In addressing the newly formed Société d'Émulation de Bourg-en-Bresse in 1783, Thomas Riboud stressed to his colleagues the importance of instilling in their compatriots a greater sense of initiative and interest in learning. ¹ Though he found the Bressans to be naturally indolent, Riboud asserted that this obstacle could be vanquished if the notion of emulation were propagated more widely among the inhabitants of the province: "Fill their minds with its [emulation's] salutary fire, give them some spirit, and you will no longer recognize them; make them see what they are and what they could be; present to them the reputation and the tribute paid to great men born in the same province; show to them humankind and the nation thanking the learned men who have worked for them, ignorance scorned, laziness reviled; soon they will be disgusted by their past inaction, soon you will see them act and develop with the greatest force" (14-15). After proposing a number of vital areas for research, he concluded his remarks with an emphatic exhortation to his colleagues: "Let us think continually of the good we can do; let us open to our compatriots a path they are worthy of pursuing; let us earn their esteem, and may Emulation, which is our motto, become that of all Bressans" (28). In this way, starting with a small circle of provincial gentlemen, Riboud imagined the transformation of an entire region. In his eyes, emulation represented the key to building a better world.

From a modern perspective, it might be tempting to discount Riboud's ambitions for his Emulation Society as a particularly exaggerated manifestation of the optimistic rationalism we often associate with the French Enlightenment. As the papers presented in this Forum suggest, however, Riboud's faith in the efficacy of emulation was quite common in eighteenth-century France. In creating the Emulation Society, specifically, he was simply following the precedent of the Parisian Société Libre d'Émulation. ² More generally, emulation figured frequently in proposals for responding to the complex social and political questions that faced France at this time. During a period when traditional markers of distinction were increasingly subject to criticism, theorists in a variety of areas sought new ways of promoting virtue, evaluating individual merit, and inspiring a greater commitment to communal and national interests. In this context, emulation held the advantage of retaining some elements of traditional value structures even while opening the door to innovation. In addition, while linked to qualities often associated with the aristocracy, like nobility of character and the thirst for glory, emulation could be applied to other segments of the population. The natural human desire for distinction could be adjusted to accommodate differences in sensibility or ambition; properly defined, it could direct and reward individual energies in ways that would produce benefits for the rest of society.

Expressive of this faith in the power of emulation, the eighteenth century produced an abundance of texts offering definitions and analyses of the term. Many of these discussions drew heavily from La Bruyère's seminal definition in Les Caracteres, carefully distinguishing between the positive term, emulation, and its negative opposite, jealousy. ³ In the Encyclopédie, for example, the Chevalier de Jaucourt reprinted La Bruyère's commentary with only slight modifications, and in an updated edition of Abbé Girard's Synonymes françois, the pertinent passage from Les Caracteres was reproduced in its entirety. ⁴ Such definitions typically attached significant moral value to the idea of emulation. In this respect, Jaucourt's opening declaration perfectly harmonizes with the greater portion of eighteenth-century commentary: "Emulation, n. f. (Morals.) noble and generous passion which, admiring merit, beautiful things and the actions of others, attempts to imitate them, or even to surpass them, striving to this end courageously and with honorable and virtuous principles" (5:601). The main theme of the one-page article is that emulation, in contrast to jealousy and envy, is a generous, ennobling passion, productive of integrity and virtuous ambition. More...