The Philosopher in Early Modern Europe
The Philosopher in Early Modern Europe
Stephen Gaukroger, University of Sydney
Ian Hunter, University of Queensland
In this groundbreaking collection of essays the history of philosophy appears in a fresh light, not as reason's progressive discovery of its universal conditions, but as a series of unreconciled disputes over the proper way to conduct oneself as a philosopher. By shifting focus from the philosopher as proxy for the universal subject of reason to the philosopher as a special persona arising from rival forms of self-cultivation, philosophy is approached in terms of the social office and intellectual deportment of the philosopher, as a personage with a definite moral physiognomy and institutional setting. In so doing, this collection of essays by leading figures in the fields of both philosophy and the history of ideas provides access to key early modern disputes over what it meant to be a philosopher, and to the institutional and larger political and religious contexts in which such disputes took place.
- Approaches the history of the early modern philosopher in terms of arguments over how one should conduct oneself as a philosopher
- Offers fresh insight into the role of political and religious disputes in shaping the history of philosophy
- Very strong international team of contributors, with many of the recognised 'stars' of intellectual history and the history of ideas
Reviews & endorsements
“This is a thought-provoking collection. It fits a now-familiar scholarly mold of seeing knowledge as embedded in particular societies and their histories. In this case, contributors show how what counts as ‘philosophy’ in any time and place depends on these local particularities, detailing the assertion, for Early Modern Europe, via arguments both of wider temporal sweep and of intricate analysis of particular figures and their writings. At the same time, and for this reader more interestingly, some of its contributors explore how those who then carried out the tasks of philosophy did so within a context of changing experiences of personhood…This work is a major contribution to such a project.”
Timothy J. Reiss, Metascience
Product details
November 2006Adobe eBook Reader
9780511248030
0 pages
0kg
This ISBN is for an eBook version which is distributed on our behalf by a third party.
Table of Contents
- List of contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1. The persona of the natural philosopher Stephen Gaukroger
- 2. The university philosopher in early modern Germany Ian Hunter
- 3. The persona of the philosopher and the rhetorics of office in early modern England Conal Condren
- 4. From Sir Thomas More to Robert Burton: the laughing philosopher in the early modern period Catherine Curtis
- 5. 'Vaine philosophy': Thomas Hobbes and the philosophy of the Schools Richard Serjeantson
- 6. The judicial persona in historical context: the case of Matthew Hale David Saunders
- 7. Persona and office: Althusius on the formation of magistrates and councillors Robert von Friedeburg
- 8. Descartes as sage: spiritual askesis in Cartesian philosophy John Cottingham
- 9. The natural philosopher and the virtues Peter Harrison
- 10. Fictions of a feminine philosophical persona: Christine de Pizan, Margaret Cavendish, and philosophia lost Karen Green and Jacqueline Broad
- 11. John Locke and polite philosophy Richard Yeo.
