Showing papers on "Enlightenment published in 1969"

The Florentine Enlightenment 1400-1450

Abstract: This is a study of the revolutionary development in art and thought which took place in early fifteenth-century Florence. A new approach to political philosophy, history, art, and architecture was inspired by the teaching and writings of a group of humanist thinkers, and paved the way for the great achievements of the later Renaissance. George Holmes explores the ideas of the humanists, and traces their influence on the writing of history, political philosophy, and aesthetics. The new humanist secular thought was paralleled, and even directly applied in some cases, by a number of brilliant Florentine artists headed by Brunelleschi, Donatello, and Masaccio. In architecture, sculpture, and painting these men produced masterpieces which gave form to the humanist ideal of classical inspiration related to real life. Professor Holmes examines this brief but enlightened phase in the history of art and ideas within its historical context, setting it against the background of Florence's fluctuating relationship with an enfeebled papacy and the wider Italian political scene. The Florentine Enlightenment provides a fascinating preview of the greatest movement in the cultural history of Europe: the Renaissance. This book is intended for scholars and students of medieval European history; especially fifteenth-century cultural and art historians; historians of the Renaissance; historians of Florence.

The Enlightenment and the Evolution of a Language of Signs in France and England

Abstract: During the XVIIIth century France and England turned for the first time to the systematic education of the deaf. In these years rich in scientific, philosophical, psychological, and political speculation there was often crossfertilization of ideas between the two countries. The visits of Voltaire, Montesquieu, Buffon, Rousseau, and Helv6tius to England were as unprecedented as those of Horace Walpole, David Hume, and Edward Gibbon to France.1 Despite this exchange, however, the revolutionary and creative speculations of the French concerning the psychology of the deaf had little or no effect on the teaching of the deaf in England. In France, during the Enlightenment, l'esprit philosophique precipitated a complex of intellectual activities which illuminated the whole second half of the century: this spirit elicited new concepts and theories relating to the problems of language and its transmission, new epistemological speculations about those unfortunate enough to be deprived of some of their senses, namely the deaf and the blind. In England, on the contrary, religious zealotry, political conservatism, a stereotyped social philosophy, and a basically utilitarian methodology of education inhibited the creative and speculative thinking that might have occurred there.

Gibson Winter's "Elements for a Social Ethic": A Review

Abstract: admit this today. In any case, Durkheim's system does not collapse on the issue of totemism. His basic problem is the notion of the "collective" and " projection." The history of the study of religion remains to be written. When it appears, I hope we will not have to choose either nineteenth-century evolutionism or diffusionism, either reason or faith, science or poetry, the enlightenment or romanticism. Though such a study will certainly mention obvious errors in the past, I hope that it will analyze the contributions of Spencer, Comte, Durkheim, and Freud to our understanding and use of such basic terms as structure, function, the sacred, and symbolic meaning. Perhaps it will also include some of the great minds who stood against Comte, Spencer, and Renan in their own day. In this way we may, indeed, find the historical roots of our own approach to the study of religion. With due respect for the scholarship of de Vries, I can only conclude that if this is the best book on the subject, representing a total view, the time may be ripe for translating a few excellent English studies into Dutch and German.

Biblisches und emblematisches Wörterbuch

Abstract: This text, a summary of Friedrich Christoph Oetinger's theosophical system, was first published in 1776, and is presented here in an historico-critical edition. As a peculiarly original exegete of scripture and with profound knowledge both of kabbalistic traditions and Jakob Bohme, Oetinger views a new stage of development of humanity as being on the way to the fulfilment of creation. Within the horizon of his century's enlightenment, he combines piety with the optimism of progress.

Joseph de Maistre, Cassandra of Science

Abstract: papal authority has appeared to typify conservative hostility to religious toleration and modern pluralism. So too his bitter attacks on the French philosophes and the eighteenth-century Enlightenment have made him an exemplar of obscurantist resistance to the growth of modern science. These various aspects of the writer and his reputation are intimately bound together, but the last, Maistre's relation to science, has been the least explored.' By the late 1870's, when warfare between "science" and "religion" was reaching a political climax in France in the debate over the role of the church in education, Joseph de Maistre could be invoked as a symbol of what was wrong with Catholic education. One deputy, arguing the case for secular education before the chamber of deputies, referred to Maistre as a man whose spirit dominated Catholic education and averred that he could not refrain from recalling Maistre's maxim that "ignorance is better than knowledge [science], for knowledge comes from men and ignorance from God."2 Liberal critics have

Hume e os limites da educação

Abstract: The modern philosophy, especially with the enlightenment, propose the human emancipation from error and investigations that do not go beyond the capacity of human faculties. In that sense, how do they comprehend the role of education? In this context, we can emphasize Hume`s work on philosophy. Indeed, he does not have any specific philosophy of education, but, is possible and fruitful try to present a new approach on education that have their ground on humean philosophy. It is the intent of this paper, taking into consideration the naturalistic and skeptic aspects of the Scottish philosopher, trying to support that a skeptical and naturalistic education is coherent with Hume intentions.

Review of Medard Boss' A Psychiatrist

Abstract: This is a delightful and yet profound book by the Swiss psychiatrist Medard Boss. It is well written, with fascinating insights at a variety of levels and in many dimensions. It is both a travelogue of two trips to India, Ceylon, and Indonesia in 1956 and 1958 and an introduction to the advaita philosophy which the 9th Century sage Shankara helped bring to full power. It is told essentially as an "intellectual" adventure in the responsible first-person singular and in the form of dialogues with the various gurus, rishis, and saints, and the just plain great men and women he somehow met in his journeys about South Asia. For this, he deserves one's deepest respect. The advertised gurus that are easiest to meet and who have the largest (numerical) following do not inspire much confidence in the would-be Western disciple and the true gurus are too self-effacing to be easily reached by those who otherwise would sincerely respond to their wisdom. R. K. Narayan's waggish, The Guide, or David Rubin's delightful satire, Cassio and the Life Divine, are too typical of the "spiritual situation" one first encounters. My first "guru" recommended coincidentally both by strangers on a train and a friend, turned out to be in the "hair oil" business. Rub some in for further enlightenment. Well, it might work too on a plastic hippie, but I did not have the patience to pursue it further. In a way, Boss' essay is a further testament to the essential non-difference between East and West. But whereas in the East the great philosophers are permitted to have simultaneous existence with the rest of their culture - to stand aside, comment, yet be a part of it, ours have been - except on rare occasion - relegated to "history." By this, I mean those great individuals who transcend their culture in the East and are still retained within it as for example are additional layers of the onion. Thus, they extend the range of effectiveness of the culture - the range of the distribution of human potentialities. In the West, although this can and does happen, the usual case is to treat such an individual as an "exceptional" person - someone basically not relevant to the practical affairs of the nation-culture or nation-church, and who remains excluded as an isolate, excommunicated (Spinoza), or madman (Nietzsche) until the needs of the moment change sufficiently to