Showing papers by "Marcel Gauchet published in 1998"

The disenchantment of the world : a political history of religion

Abstract: "The scope, freedom of thought, and analytical rigor of this book make it essential reading."--Jean-Jacques Courtine, University of California, Santa BarbaraMarcel Gauchet has launched one of the most ambitious and controversial works of speculative history recently to appear, based on the contention that Christianity is "the religion of the end of religion." In The Disenchantment of the World, Gauchet reinterprets the development of the modern west, with all its political and psychological complexities, in terms of mankind's changing relation to religion. He views Western history as a movement away from religious society, beginning with prophetic Judaism, gaining tremendous momentum in Christianity, and eventually leading to the rise of the political state. Gauchet's view that monotheistic religion itself was a form of social revolution is rich with implications for readers in fields across the humanities and social sciences.Life in religious society, Gauchet reminds us, involves a very different way of being than we know in our secular age: we must imagine prehistoric times where ever-present gods controlled every aspect of daily reality, and where ancestor worship grounded life's meaning in a far-off past. As prophecy-oriented religions shaped the concept of a single omnipotent God, one removed from the world and yet potentially knowable through prayer and reflection, human beings became increasingly free. Gauchet's paradoxical argument is that the development of human political and psychological autonomy must be understood against the backdrop of this double movement in religious consciousness--the growth of divine power and its increasing distance from human activity.In a fittingtribute to this passionate and brilliantly argued book, Charles Taylor offers an equally provocative foreword. Offering interpretations of key concepts proposed by Gauchet, Taylor also explores an important question: Does religion have a place in the future of Western society? The book does not close the door on religion but rather invites us to explore its socially constructive powers, which continue to shape Western politics and conceptions of the state.

Essai de psychologie contemporaine. I : Un nouvel âge de la personnalité

Abstract: L'A. postule que, dans nos societes, notre epoque se caracterise par une reduction des conflits (recul du modele revolutionnaire, recul de la revolte adolescente, reaction de rejet de la violence physique). Cet « apaisement » est d'origine economique (paradoxe : les trente glorieuses, au meme titre que la crise) et sociologique (changement dans l'education et dans la sexualite). Il se penche sur la nature de l'individualisme contemporain, base essentiellement sur la desinstitutionnalisation de la famille. Des changements dans la socialisation accompagnent cet individualisme : on passe ainsi d'une personnalisation des adhesions a un individualisme de desengagement. L'A. decrit ensuite trois âges de la personnalite : la premiere, traditionnelle, peut etre considere comme sans inconscient puisque regie explicitement par le symbolique. La seconde, moderne, comporte une forte interiorisation de la norme, c'est une personnalite a surmoi, a responsabilite et a culpabilite. La personnalite conformiste servirait de transition vers la personnalite contemporaine, deconnectee du tout. Des pathologies nouvelles sont associees a cette personnalite : sentiment de vide interieur, peur et evitement d'autrui, actes de rupture