<P> The target audience of natural history was French polite society, evidenced more by the specific discourse of the genre than by the generally high prices of its works . Naturalists catered to polite society's desire for erudition--many texts had an explicit instructive purpose . However, natural history was often a political affair . As Emma Spary writes, the classifications used by naturalists "slipped between the natural world and the social...to establish not only the expertise of the naturalists over the natural, but also the dominance of the natural over the social". The idea of taste (le goût) was a social indicator: to truly be able to categorize nature, one had to have the proper taste, an ability of discretion shared by all members of polite society . In this way natural history spread many of the scientific developments of the time, but also provided a new source of legitimacy for the dominant class . From this basis, naturalists could then develop their own social ideals based on their scientific works . </P> <P> The first scientific and literary journals were established during the Enlightenment . The first journal, the Parisian Journal des Sçavans, appeared in 1665 . However, it was not until 1682 that periodicals began to be more widely produced . French and Latin were the dominant languages of publication, but there was also a steady demand for material in German and Dutch . There was generally low demand for English publications on the Continent, which was echoed by England's similar lack of desire for French works . Languages commanding less of an international market--such as Danish, Spanish and Portuguese--found journal success more difficult and more often than not a more international language was used instead . French slowly took over Latin's status as the lingua franca of learned circles . This in turn gave precedence to the publishing industry in Holland, where the vast majority of these French language periodicals were produced . </P> <P> Jonathan Israel called the journals the most influential cultural innovation of European intellectual culture . They shifted the attention of the "cultivated public" away from established authorities to novelty and innovation and instead promoted the "enlightened" ideals of toleration and intellectual objectivity . Being a source of knowledge derived from science and reason, they were an implicit critique of existing notions of universal truth monopolized by monarchies, parliaments and religious authorities . They also advanced Christian enlightenment that upheld "the legitimacy of God - ordained authority"--the Bible--in which there had to be agreement between the biblical and natural theories . </P> <P> Although the existence of dictionaries and encyclopedias spanned into ancient times, the texts changed from simply defining words in a long running list to far more detailed discussions of those words in 18th - century encyclopedic dictionaries . The works were part of an Enlightenment movement to systematize knowledge and provide education to a wider audience than the elite . As the 18th century progressed, the content of encyclopedias also changed according to readers' tastes . Volumes tended to focus more strongly on secular affairs, particularly science and technology, rather than matters of theology . </P>

Ideas of the enlightenment in the french revolution