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Showing papers on "Enlightenment published in 2017"



Book
25 Jul 2017
TL;DR: Gjesdal as discussed by the authors presents a detailed study of Herder's Enlightenment thought, especially his philosophy of literature, and offers a new and sometimes provocative reading of the historical origins and contemporary challenges of modern hermeneutics.
Abstract: Through a detailed study of Herder's Enlightenment thought, especially his philosophy of literature, Kristin Gjesdal offers a new and sometimes provocative reading of the historical origins and contemporary challenges of modern hermeneutics. She shows that hermeneutic philosophy grew out of a historical, anthropological, and poetic discourse in the mid-eighteenth century and argues that, as such, it represents a rich, stimulating, and relevant engagement with the potentials and limits of human meaning and understanding. Gjesdal's study broadens our conception of hermeneutic philosophy - the issues it raises and the answers it offers - and underlines the importance of Herder's contribution to the development of this discipline. Her book will be highly valuable for students and scholars of eighteenth-century thought, especially those working in the fields of hermeneutics, aesthetics, and European philosophy.

33 citations


01 Jan 2017
TL;DR: O'Mara and LeVine as discussed by the authors investigated the role of apocalyptic and eschatological thought in the development of modern Western science, and found that these ideas still live on in the work of Kant, Hegel, Marx, and the Darwinians.
Abstract: Author(s): O'Mara IV, William Edward | Advisor(s): LeVine, Mark A | Abstract: The problem addressed in this study is nihilism. The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche traced its origin to the long history of apocalyptic and eschatological thought in Western religions, and to the survival of the linear and universalizing aspects of their theology in modern secular thought. Nietzsche saw this unconscious legacy affecting everything from Enlightenment philosophes, to the natural and biological sciences, to politics and economics. An existential crisis in European civilization – the advent of nihilism – thus came about because of the “death of God”, i.e., the loss of unshakeable objective faith amongst Europeans in the truth of the Abrahamic faiths.I take seriously Nietzsche’s suggestion in Thus Spoke Zarathustra of a genealogical relationship between the ancient Iranians and the ancient Hebrews, which Nietzsche scholars have neglected. Exploring that historical interchange allows us to establish that Zoroastrian concepts of universal time and absolute morality entered Judaism, and thus the West, at a formative stage. I then discuss some key modern thinkers to which Nietzsche’s project responded, and show that apocalyptic eschatology lived on in the work of Kant, Hegel, Marx, and the Darwinians. Having established for himself that modernity was tainted at its origin by this kernel of religious dogma, Nietzsche saw no need to save modernity from itself, and thus looked beyond it, and beyond the naive worship of reason that underpinned it.The solution to the problem of nihilism, in Nietzsche’s view, was not to overcome religion, but to transform it. What was needed was a new mythology – one consistent with the natural sciences, and one which glorified the world as it is, and not an ideal world to come. His challenging notions of Eternal Recurrence and Overhumanity were contributions to this new, life-affirming mythology.I make use of an extensive body of primary sources, ranging from the works of philosophers and scientists of the nineteenth century, to that of the ancient Greeks whom Nietzsche so admired, to the scriptural traditions of Zoroastrianism and Judaism. The work involves close reading and historical contextualization, seeking to establish contingent relationships as ideas moved and were transformed over time.

31 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: One could be excused for failing to recognise today’s universities as the inheritors of the global higher education system that arose more than 70 years ago from the ashes of the Second World War.
Abstract: One could be excused for failing to recognise today’s universities as the inheritors of the global higher education system that arose more than 70 years ago from the ashes of the Second World War. A wave of post-war optimism ushered in a global movement with a utopian vision in which arbitrary divisions such as class, gender and race would be transcended in the pursuit of academic enlightenment (Scott, 1995). Universities were to be one of the key drivers of this change. But, contemporary academia is a distinctly different beast. The enlightenment values of the liberal education model, once the dominant philosophy in universities across the world, are gradually being supplanted by a consumerist ideology (Furedi, 2011): Yesterday’s ‘Cathedrals of learning’ are being replaced by today’s ‘Supermarkets of facts’.

30 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A new discourse needs to start that addresses this problem as mentioned in this paper, and this can only be done via the notion of experience, i.e., experiences of a reality that is experienced to be beyond the ego and its immediate needs.
Abstract: Spirituality is the taboo topic of science. Science, in conjunction with political and secular enlightenment movements, was one of the major drivers of modern enlightenment, secularization and progress. Science has itself become a powerful meta-narrative. And part of this meta-narrative is a materialist view of the world. In such a model consciousness can only be secondary to material events in the brain. Yet, spiritual experiences are, as data show, quite common. Because the enlightenment movement was so successful, it has done away with all that is considered unnecessary baggage, including spirituality. Therefore, a new discourse needs to start that addresses this problem. This can only be done via the notion of experience. Spiritual experiences are experiences of a reality that is experienced to be beyond the ego and its immediate needs. They are the basis of religion that later starts out to interpret and ritualize these experiences. In them human consciousness seems to have direct access to t...

26 citations


Book
28 Aug 2017
TL;DR: The Infidel and the Professor as discussed by the authors is the first book to tell the fascinating story of the friendship of these towering Enlightenment thinkers, and how it influenced their world-changing ideas; it follows Hume and Smith's relationship from their first meeting in 1749 until their death in 1776.
Abstract: The story of the greatest of all philosophical friendships?and how it influenced modern thought David Hume is widely regarded as the most important philosopher ever to write in English, but during his lifetime he was attacked as ?"he Great Infidel" for his skeptical religious views and deemed unfit to teach the young. In contrast, Adam Smith was a revered professor of moral philosophy, and is now often hailed as the founding father of capitalism. Remarkably, the two were best friends for most of their adult lives, sharing what Dennis Rasmussen calls the greatest of all philosophical friendships. The Infidel and the Professor is the first book to tell the fascinating story of the friendship of these towering Enlightenment thinkers, and how it influenced their world-changing ideas. The book follows Hume and Smith's relationship from their first meeting in 1749 until Hume's death in 1776. It describes how they commented on each other's writings, supported each other's careers and literary ambitions, and advised each other on personal matters, most notably after Hume's quarrel with Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Members of a vibrant intellectual scene in Enlightenment Scotland, Hume and Smith made many of the same friends (and enemies), joined the same clubs, and were interested in many of the same subjects well beyond philosophy and economics - from psychology and history to politics and Britain's conflict with the American colonies. The book reveals that Smith's private religious views were considerably closer to Hume's public ones than is usually believed. It also shows that Hume contributed more to economics - and Smith contributed more to philosophy - than is generally recognized. Vividly written, The Infidel and the Professor is a compelling account of a great friendship that had great consequences for modern thought.

25 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
Amin Ghadimi1
10 Aug 2017
TL;DR: Ueki Emori (1857-1892), a prominent thinker and activist in the Japanese enlightenment of the late nineteenth century, denounced imperialism as a form of "greater barbarism" and large-scale slavery as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Ueki Emori (1857–1892), a prominent thinker and activist in the Japanese enlightenment of the late nineteenth century, denounced imperialism as a form of ‘greater barbarism’ and large-scale slavery...

20 citations



Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors describes the correlation between language and nation in Enlightenment thought and its perceived value as a means to pursue investigations aimed at deciphering the "rules of social evolution" and further clarifies the manner in which "the nation" was represented in contemporary texts, lending much needed empirical support to recent overtures in this direction by scholars who have challenged the validity of temporally and spatially fixed ideal types.
Abstract: This article describes the correlation between language and nation in Enlightenment thought and its perceived value as a means to pursue investigations aimed at deciphering the ‘rules of social evolution’. In doing so, it further clarifies the manner in which ‘the nation’ was represented in contemporary texts, lending much-needed empirical support to recent overtures in this direction by scholars who have challenged the validity of temporally and spatially fixed ideal types. Dictionaries and other lexicographical works are used to illuminate the semantic traditions underlying the correlations cited above and the fitness more generally of ‘the nation’ for the anthropological pursuits of the period. The study is then extended to a survey of contemporary works of history, natural philosophy and other episteme, the texts under review supplying further testimony of a theoretical perspective in which nation, ‘manners’ and language were not only connected, but deemed to be in a relationship of cotermino...

19 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article argued that scholars have been unduly dependent upon theological commentary in reaching the fixed verdict of secularization, inferring "atheism" and disenchantment from the polemical utterances of a privileged orthodoxy rather than the primary sources themselves.
Abstract: Scholarship continues to identify the Enlightenment with secularization, despite the theological tenor of much of the movement's canonical literature. This article proposes an explanation for such a dissonance, before addressing the matter more directly through the work of Baruch Spinoza and Pierre Bayle. The claim is that scholars have been unduly dependent upon theological commentary in reaching the fixed verdict of secularization, inferring ‘atheism’ and disenchantment from the polemical utterances of a privileged orthodoxy rather than the primary sources themselves. Seen apart from such controlling anathemas, icons of the radical Enlightenment such as Spinoza and Bayle emerge as deeply spiritual thinkers, challenging the theocratic assumptions of their age with theological certainties of their own, interrogating orthodoxy with a resolutely biblical rationality. The final section suggests the continuity of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment of Voltaire, Kant and Mary Wollstonecraft with the s...

18 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper argued that women were located as helpmeets to men, a designation that authorised their access to education and to some areas of public debate, but that their authority rested on their ability to improve the position of men, rather than enabling them as autonomous agents.
Abstract: The significance of the Enlightenment for women’s power in society and culture has been a topic of significant historiographical debate. This article looks at how women were located within the discourse of the Scottish Enlightenment and its implications for elite women’s role within public and private life in eighteenth-century Scotland. It argues that women were located as helpmeets to men, a designation that authorised their access to education and to some areas of public debate, but that their authority rested on their ability to improve the position of men, rather than enabling them as autonomous agents. To make this argument it draws together case studies of women’s role in the home and family, with their engagement in public life and as authors, demonstrating how similar values shaped their role in each sphere.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that the very periodicity and materiality of periodicals transformed the character of geographical print culture in the later 18th century and argued that there were competing geographies of trust, authority and credibility at work within Enlightenmentgeography.
Abstract: This article contributes to recent scholarship on the geography and history of the book by arguing for greater attention to ‘periodical geography’, which refers to the geographical knowledge contained in periodicals, and the geographies that shaped the ways periodicals were produced, circulated and read To illustrate the potential for such work, the article discusses geographical periodicals in the context of the German Aufklarung (Enlightenment) It focuses in particular on the Wochentliche Nachrichten von neuen Landcharten und geographischen, statistischen und historischen Buchern und Schriften (Berlin 1773–87), edited by the prominent geographer Anton Friedrich Busching The story of Busching’s periodical merits attention because it throws valuable light on the practical making of geography’s print culture and moral economy of knowledge in the Enlightenment Busching’s story reveals that there were competing geographies of trust, authority and credibility at work within Enlightenment geography It reveals that Busching’s periodical played a central role in reshaping geography’s moral and epistemological order in the later 18th century In recounting this story, my broader agenda is to argue that the very periodicity and materiality of periodicals transformed the character of geographical print culture in the later 18th century

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that Kant's argument in Groundwork III is a weak deduction that makes use of a merely problematic notion of transcendental freedom, and that the moral law is no longer the conclusion of his argument; instead it functions as the premise of an argument that establishes our freedom.
Abstract: Abstract: In Groundwork III, Kant attempts to give a deduction of the categorical imperative. There is widespread disagreement as to how Kant’s argument is supposed to proceed. Many commentators believe that Kant’s deduction fails because some of its argumentative moves are unjustified. In particular, Kant makes a mistaken inference from theoretical freedom to practical freedom, and his axiological ‘superiority claim’ regarding the noumenal world’s priority over the sensible world is unjustified. According to the standard incompatibilist story, Kant came to see that his deduction was flawed by the time he wrote the Critique of Practical Reason, at which point he claimed that the truth of the moral law does not require a deduction since it is a “fact of pure reason”. The moral law is no longer the conclusion of his argument; instead, it functions as the premise of an argument that establishes our freedom. Other commentators endorse a compatibilist reading, according to which the justifications of the moral law in Groundwork III and the second Critique are compatible because Kant never attempted to give the strong kind of deduction that he rightly rejects in the second Critique. On the view I develop here, the particular argumentative moves that the standard incompatibilist takes issue with are not flawed and incompatible with Kant’s second Critique. I argue for a compatibilist reading of these moves. I think the compatibilist is right to claim that the deduction Kant considered impossible in both the Groundwork and the second Critique is what I call a strong deduction. I also agree with compatibilists that the deduction he actually delivers in Groundwork III is only a weak deduction that makes use of a merely problematic conception of transcendental freedom. However, I do think that Kant’s argument in Groundwork III remains question begging in the final analysis. The facticity claim in the second Critique, by contrast, can provide a non-question-begging account of moral obligation. Here, I agree with the optimistic incompatibilist, who views the argument in the second Critique as an improvement on his argument in the Groundwork. However, in my novel account of Kant’s argument, I endorse what I call ‘radical incompatibilism’ because it concerns the roots of Kant’s approach to the justification of the moral law. What is novel about my account is the claim that the deduction in Groundwork III rests on the false assumption that practical cognition, like theoretical cognition, requires a critique of pure reason. In the second Critique, Kant revised his argument because he realized that, in contrast to synthetic a priori judgments of theoretical cognition, the possibility of synthetic a priori judgments of practical cognition can be derived from the actuality of a “deed”. With respect to pure practical reason, the second Critique proceeds metaphysically ‒ i. e. dogmatically ‒ rather than critically. Hence Kant came to view a deduction of the categorical imperative as unnecessary and abandoned the project of a critique of pure practical reason. We should, for this reason, resist the generality of Kant’s claim in the first Critique to the effect that, for all synthetic judgments a priori, “if not a proof then at least a deduction of the legitimacy of its assertion must unfailingly be supplied” (KrV, B 286).

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors argue that Indian Buddhist marvelous phenomena are embedded within a different worldview, and further propose that wondrous events and phenomena found in Sinitic Buddhist narratives are best understood with reference to the Chinese concept of sympathetic resonance ( ganying ).
Abstract: The hesitation of scholars of Buddhism in their use of the term miracle is rooted in an understanding of the miraculous that is grounded in the Enlightenment philosophical critique of Christian theology. By highlighting the differences between the nature of the miraculous in this Western context and marvelous and wondrous phenomena in the Buddhist context, this article argues that Indian Buddhist marvelous phenomena are embedded within a different worldview, and further proposes that wondrous events and phenomena found in Sinitic Buddhist narratives—although still established on Indian Buddhist presuppositions—are best understood with reference to the Chinese concept of sympathetic resonance ( ganying ).

Book
28 Feb 2017
TL;DR: The Art of Philosophy as discussed by the authors explores the different ways in which visual culture enters into the teaching, study, and practice of philosophy, focusing mainly on the seventeenth century, and explores how visual culture entered into philosophy.
Abstract: “Focusing mainly on the seventeenth century, The Art of Philosophy explores the different ways in which visual culture enters into the teaching, study, and practice of philosophy. Highly original and filled with convincing arguments, this book is virtually the only treatment of a fascinating and largely unknown area in the history of philosophy.” —Daniel Garber, Princeton University The Art of Philosophy Visual Thinking in Europe from the Late Renaissance to the Early Enlightenment

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors argued that the modern state was the product of the sacralization of politics, which resulted from the way these philosophers interpreted the Scriptures as part of their philosophical inquiries. But they did not consider the role of the Church in the development of the state.
Abstract: Almost all scholars of the Enlightenment consider Hobbes, Spinoza, and Locke as the founding theorists of the “secular modern state.” In contrast to the widely held view of the modern state, I argue that far from being “secular” it was the product of the sacralization of politics, which resulted from the way these philosophers interpreted the Scriptures as part of their philosophical inquiries. The analysis of the “linguistic turn” in their biblical interpretations reveals how they tried to undermine the power of the Church to claim greater freedoms for the state. Their philosophical inquiries initiated the secularization of the Christian religion and the sacralization of politics as two correlative developments, rather than the secularization of the state per se, as is usually supposed. The philosophical arguments proposed by Hobbes, Spinoza, and Locke helped to resolve the religious battles of Europe’s many confessions in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but are still pertinent to our c...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that Kant could have offered a cogent argument that all humans have an efficacious moral law within the formula of humanity, which is the best formulation of the CI.
Abstract: Abstract: Although many take the formula of humanity to be Kant’s best formulation of the CI, there is no agreement on his argument for it. Kant says that the argument comes in GMM3, but that section is difficult to interpret. I draw on his remarks about cognizing other minds in the Paralogisms to interpret the argument of sub-section 2 of GMM3, the argument that rational beings must “lend” the idea of freedom to all rational beings. Kant later rejects his attempt to establish the CI in GMM3 and tries again in the fact of reason passages of the Second Critique. I follow Willaschek’s reading of these texts: Humans can cognize their freedom by performing a Gedankenexperiment where they experience their wills being moved through the moral law. Kant tries to move from that demonstration to the claim that pure reason gives the moral law to all humans, but his argument fails. Appealing again to his theory of other minds, I argue that he could have offered a cogent argument that all humans have an efficacious moral law within.

Journal Article
TL;DR: In this article, the authors recovered the tradition of the revolutionary press and situates it in the history of Indonesian national struggles by examining the production and development of the newspaper Sinar Hindia.
Abstract: In the historiography of Indonesian nationalism and the press, much has been made of the vernacular press and its role in the emergence of national consciousness. However, this work has not typically distinguished between the vernacular press and the self-identified “revolutionary press,” which emerged during the early communist movement of 1920–1926. This article recovers the tradition of the revolutionary press and situates it in the history of Indonesian national struggles by examining the production and development of the revolutionary newspaper Sinar Hindia . An investigation of the paper’s content, production, and distribution practices reveals how Sinar Hindia not only embodied the anticolonial national struggle but also became a voice for a project of enlightenment in the colony. By uncovering this “revolutionary” paper’s own discourses of enlightenment and revolutionary struggle, this study sheds light on the role of the press in the production of enlightenment ideas and practices in colonial Indonesia.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a special issue on religious tolerance in the age of the Enlightenment is presented, which characterizes the Enlightenment's attitude towards religion as an opposition to its own beliefs.


Dissertation
01 Jan 2017
TL;DR: In this article, the fall of the Delinquent Angels: A Narrative Decline is discussed.4 Declaration and Copyright Statement 5 Acknowledgements 6 Introduction 7 i. The Writers and a Deist Interpretation of Hinduism 12 ii. Method and Structure 27 Chapter One: The Company, Politics and Religion 32 i.e., the Political Backdrop 33 ii.
Abstract: 4 Declaration and Copyright Statement 5 Acknowledgements 6 Introduction 7 i. The Writers and a Deist Interpretation of Hinduism 12 ii. Enlightenment and Deism 17 iii. The Company 23 iv. Method and Structure 27 Chapter One: The Company, Politics and Religion 32 i. The Political Backdrop 33 ii. The Religious Policies of the East India Company 42 iii. Europe, India and Deism 49 iv. Enlightenment and Orientalism 62 v. Conclusion 65 Chapter Two: Holwell's „Religion of the Gentoos‟ 66 i. The Gentoo Shastah 68 ii. The Fall of the Delinquent Angels: A Narrative Decline 78 iii. The Doctrine of Metempsychosis 86 iv. Theodicy 92 v. A „Christian Deist‟ 102 vi. Conclusion 108

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The success of the Scientific Revolution led to the development of the worldview of scientific naturalism, or the belief that the world is governed by natural laws and forces that can be understood, and that all phenomena are part of nature and can be explained by natural causes, including human cognitive, moral and social phenomena.
Abstract: The success of the Scientific Revolution led to the development of the worldview of scientific naturalism, or the belief that the world is governed by natural laws and forces that can be understood, and that all phenomena are part of nature and can be explained by natural causes, including human cognitive, moral and social phenomena. The application of scientific naturalism in the human realm led to the widespread adoption of Enlightenment humanism, a cosmopolitan worldview that places supreme value on science and reason, eschews the supernatural entirely and relies exclusively on nature and nature’s laws, including human nature.


Book ChapterDOI
02 Jun 2017
TL;DR: This article argued that the European Enlightenment, with its emphasis on the t riumph of reason over religious authority, and the Buddhist concept of enlightenment, as a transformative awakening, have nothing in common.
Abstract: Some claim that the European Enlightenment, with its emphasis on the t riumph of reason over religious authority, and the Buddhist concept of enlightenment, as a transformative awakening, have nothing in common – indeed I have been told that “it is a mere coincidence that they share a similar sounding word”; that asking how they are related is nothing but a “conceptual confusion,” an equivocation that is on a par with confusing the bank of a river with a bank for cash deposits. Of course, the two historical traditions are indeed different in countless ways. The European Enlightenment was rooted in the acceptance of the new scientific method, the industrial revolution, the emergence of politically p owerful merchant classes, the resulting disruption of established social h ierarchies, factional religious disputes, and bloody religious wars. For complex socio‐cultural reasons, and philosophical reasons too, a skepticism and rejection of religious authority and traditional hierarchies became increasingly widespread. The enlightenment instead emphasized relying on one’s own j udgment and this fueled the nascent and emerging republican sentiments for representative government. In contrast, Buddhism began over 2,000 years ago as a monastic tradition focused on the ultimate goal of achieving nirvana, which is understood to be a release from samsara, that is, the otherwise endless cycle of suffering and rebirth. From its humble beginnings, Buddhism spread and diversified into one of the major world religions with perhaps 500 million people across the globe identifying as Buddhist. Indeed, there are a vast diversity of Buddhist religious sects, and each has its own favorite doctrines and texts, traditions and rituals. Unlike the European Enlightenment, the objection might continue, Buddhism is a sectarian religion, not a scientific and secular rejection of religious authority. The practice of Buddhism involves superstitions, folk rituals, prayer, and worship of buddhas and bodhisattvas all of which contrasts with the rationalism of the European Enlightenment. In addition, the monastic pursuit of personal Buddhist Modernism and Kant on Enlightenment

Posted Content
TL;DR: In this article, the role of Muhammadiyah as a religious group through the harmonization of religion and education is discussed, and the importance of education is the means to acquire knowledge.
Abstract: This paper discusses an Indonesian Islamic reform movement established in early 20th century, which has been then known as Muhammadiyah. It was astablished on awareness to direct the people and guide them to be dignified. The mission of the organization is to spread the values and teachings of Islam to educate and empower the people.This paper is focused on the role of Muhammadiyah as a religious group through the harmonization of religion and education. It is believed that education is the means to acquire knowledge. Muhammadiyah is still consistent with its original objective in community development through the religious teaching and education for empowerment and enlightenment, and has paid attention to the importance of education to improve the lives of the people and this nation. So, this organization has become one of empowerment and enlightenment agents for the dignity of the Indonesian nation. Its services are not only for its members, but it is for the nation and humans, as well as its participation on peace project in the international world. The importance of this study lies on the existence of Muhammadiyah as a social group which plays some roles of the state responsibility, that is to educate and empower the people.

01 Jan 2017
TL;DR: Brown as mentioned in this paper argues that Demos is in grave danger and we have to respond to it by deconstructing and dissecting the phenomena of neoliberalism for us, while at the same also showing the limitations of Foucault's theoretical edifice, and using it as a scaffolding to construct a theoretical position.
Abstract: Philosophers, down the ages, have shown remarkable reluctance to engage with their contemporary milieu. The archetypal philosopher, Plato, had his gaze turned toward the essence and form. For philosophy, it has been an unending search for Truth, Beauty, and Being. It was only with Immanuel Kant that the question of present, nowness gets its first serious theoretical surgeon. Kant analyzed his present and wrote a brilliant essay entitled “What is Enlightenment?” Pace, Michel Foucault it was the first time that a philosopher thought it worthy to study, analyze, dissect and put his hand on the pulse of the contemporary life. One of the most intractable problem in dealing with ‘the present’ is that not only all of us, including the thinker, are shaped by it, the curvature of the present eludes our system building impulse. Any position, argument can only hope to capture some part of it and thereby the whole enterprise of critically evaluating the present remains a difficult, if not impossible task. However, there is no way we can go to the past nor fast forward into future. We are ensconced in the present. The present is here and now and we have to generate the health report of the present. Our present age is the age of Neoliberalism. But what is this beast and how do we respond to it? Wendy Brown has assumed the role of Theoretical surgeon and has used her formidable knowledge of modern philosophy to dissect, deconstruct and analyze the phenomena of neoliberalism for us. Undoing the Demos lays bare the pathologies of our contemporary society and polis. According to her, neoliberalism “cauterizes “democracy’s radical expressions and gives birth to a mutant called “Homo Economics”. This text draws from Michel Foucault’s The Birth of Bio politics, lectures delivered at College de France in 1978-79 and uses it as a scaffolding to construct a theoretical position, while at the same also shows the limitations of Foucault’s theoretical edifice and argues that Demos is in grave danger and we have to respond to it.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In the early modern period, Tertullian's original Credo quia absurdum (est) was first misrepresented and modified by the Enlightenment philosophe Voltaire, who added the absurdity condition and gave us the modern version of the paradox as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Tertullian is widely regarded as having originated the expression Credo quia absurdum (est) (I believe because it is absurd) and the phrase often appears in contemporary polemics about the rationality of religious belief. Patristic scholars have long pointed out that Tertullian never said this or meant anything like it. However, little scholarly attention has been paid to the circumstances in which this specific phrase came into existence and why, in spite of its dubious provenance, it continues to be regarded by many as a legitimate characterization of religious faith. This paper shows how Tertullian's original expression - It is certain, because impossible - was first misrepresented and modified in the early modern period. In seventeenth century England a credo version - I believe because it is impossible - became the common form of Tertullian's maxim. A further modification, building on the first, was effected by the Enlightenment philosophe Voltaire, who added the absurdity condition and gave us the modern version of the paradox: I believe because it is absurd. These modifications played a significant role in Enlightenment representations of religion as irrational, and signal the beginning of a new understanding of faith as an epistemic vice. This doubtful maxim continues to play a role in debates about the cognitive status of religious faith, and its failure to succumb to the historical evidence against it is owing to its ongoing rhetorical usefulness in such debates.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Ferrone, professor of history at the University of Turin, has written an impressive defense of the Enlightenment against the charges of philosophers and post-modern critics as mentioned in this paper, arguing that th...
Abstract: Vincenzo Ferrone, professor of history at the University of Turin, has written an impressive defense of the Enlightenment against the charges of philosophers and postmodern critics. Arguing that th...


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors examines the use of metaphors in a prominent Hindu scripture named Bhagavad-gītā and identifies the source and target domains for the metaphors, and interprets their functions.
Abstract: The article examines the use of metaphors in a prominent Hindu scripture named Bhagavad-gītā. Although Hindu scriptures have been analyzed for centuries, the focus is rarely on metaphors. Bhagavad-gītā has 700 verses in 18 chapters and it records a historical conversation between Lord Krishna and Prince Arjuna. Krishna teaches Arjuna philosophical concepts, which are frequently articulated through metaphors. The article selects an English translation of Bhagavad-gītā by Swami Prabhupāda and it pursues a text analysis, which is grounded in conceptual metaphor theory (CMT). The analysis identifies the source and target domains for the metaphors, and interprets their functions. The article only explores metaphors of enlightenment, as Bhagavad-gītā instructs people to become enlightened. The concept of enlightenment is conceptualized by enlightenment is a journey, knowledge is sight, knowledge is taste and knowledge is an object. Bhagavad-gītā conceives people as body, mind and soul because a body and mind (matter) are required to understand a soul (spirit). It endorses four yogas or methods (devotion, meditation, transcendental knowledge, virtuous acts) to obtain the results of enlightenment, which terminate reincarnation and grant Paradise. Bhagavad-gītā lists two guides (mentor, scripture) although personal endeavor must be invested to move from matter to spirit. The article traces the choice of metaphors to physical and cultural experiences, besides the motivation of the translator. These metaphors may be inspired by the human body or ancient India but they should resonate with modern people. Moreover, Prabhupāda’s translation utilizes the metaphors to make Vaishnavism comprehensible to Westerners and to validate the denomination.