Book reveals how Enlightenment thinkers saw Europe

A new book shows how the great European thinkers of the Enlightenment approached the question of Europe's political and economic future. Students and academics at Oxford University have translated extracts from 18th century thinkers from France, Germany, Italy, Spain and England for a new book called The Idea of Europe. Enlightenment Perspectives, which is published on Friday 23 June - the anniversary of the Brexit vote. Some of the extracts are eerily similar to modern debates about the future of the European Union. Among the ideas discussed by Enlightenment thinkers was whether there should be political unity, whether this union should be backed up by a common army, and whether trading links should be the basis for an association. Charles-Irénée Castel de Saint-Pierre, writing his Project for Perpetual Peace in Europe in 1713, even used the phrase 'European Union', which he saw as the solution to ending war. He wrote: 'The European Union is enough for Europe, sufficient to conserve her perpetual peace, and will be powerful enough to preserve its borders and its trade despite those who would try to impede them.' Catriona Seth, Marshal Foch Professor of French Literature at Oxford University and editor of the book, said: 'With the future of the European Union uncertain, the issues raised in this book have never been more critical.