Humankind and Humanity in the Philosophy of the Enlightenment

Humankind and Humanity in the Philosophy of the Enlightenment PDF

Author: Stefanie Buchenau

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2023-08-24

Total Pages: 470

ISBN-13: 1350142956

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

What makes us human beings? Is it merely some corporeal aspect, or rather some specific mental capacity, language, or some form of moral agency or social life? Is there a gendered bias within the concept of humanity? How do human beings become more human, and can we somehow cease to be human? This volume provides some answers to these fundamental questions and more by charting the increased preoccupation of the European Enlightenment with the concepts of humankind and humanity. Chapters investigate the philosophical concerns of major figures across Western Europe, including Montesquieu, Diderot, Rousseau, Locke, Hume, Ferguson, Kant, Herder, Johann Friedrich Blumenbach and the Comte de Buffon. As these philosophers develop important descriptive and comparative approaches to the human species and moral and social ideals of humanity, they present a view of the Enlightenment project as a particular kind of humanism that is different from its Ancient and Renaissance predecessors. With contributions from a team of internationally recognized scholars, including Stephen Gaukroger, Michael Forster, Céline Spector, Jacqueline Taylor, and Günter Zöller, this book offers a novel interpretation of the Enlightenment that is both clear in focus and impressive in scope.

Humankind and Humanity in the Philosophy of the Enlightenment

Humankind and Humanity in the Philosophy of the Enlightenment PDF

Author: Stefanie Buchenau

Publisher:

Published: 2023

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781350142961

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

What makes us human beings? Is it merely some corporeal aspect, or rather some specific mental capacity, language, or some form of moral agency or social life? Is there a gendered bias within the concept of humanity? How do human beings become more human, and can we somehow cease to be human? This volume provides some answers to these fundamental questions and more by charting the increased preoccupation of the European Enlightenment with the concepts of humankind and humanity. Chapters investigate the philosophical concerns of major figures across Western Europe, including Montesquieu, Diderot, Rousseau, Locke, Hume, Ferguson, Kant, Herder, Johann Friedrich Blumenbach and the Comte de Buffon. As these philosophers develop important descriptive and comparative approaches to the human species and moral and social ideals of humanity, they present a view of the Enlightenment project as a particular kind of humanism that is different from its Ancient and Renaissance predecessors. With contributions from a team of internationally recognized scholars, including Stephen Gaukroger, Michael Forster, Céline Spector, Jacqueline Taylor, and Günter Zöller, this book offers a novel interpretation of the Enlightenment that is both clear in focus and impressive in scope.

Humankind and Humanity in the Philosophy of the Enlightenment

Humankind and Humanity in the Philosophy of the Enlightenment PDF

Author: Stefanie Buchenau

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2023-08-24

Total Pages: 281

ISBN-13: 1350142948

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

What makes us human beings? Is it merely some corporeal aspect, or rather some specific mental capacity, language, or some form of moral agency or social life? Is there a gendered bias within the concept of humanity? How do human beings become more human, and can we somehow cease to be human? This volume provides some answers to these fundamental questions and more by charting the increased preoccupation of the European Enlightenment with the concepts of humankind and humanity. Chapters investigate the philosophical concerns of major figures across Western Europe, including Montesquieu, Diderot, Rousseau, Locke, Hume, Ferguson, Kant, Herder, Johann Friedrich Blumenbach and the Comte de Buffon. As these philosophers develop important descriptive and comparative approaches to the human species and moral and social ideals of humanity, they present a view of the Enlightenment project as a particular kind of humanism that is different from its Ancient and Renaissance predecessors. With contributions from a team of internationally recognized scholars, including Stephen Gaukroger, Michael Forster, Céline Spector, Jacqueline Taylor, and Günter Zöller, this book offers a novel interpretation of the Enlightenment that is both clear in focus and impressive in scope.

Ideas for the Philosophy of the History of Mankind

Ideas for the Philosophy of the History of Mankind PDF

Author: Johann Gottfried Herder

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2024-02-27

Total Pages: 792

ISBN-13: 0691147183

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

One of the most important works of the Enlightenment—in the first new, unabridged English translation in more than two centuries Published in four volumes between 1784 and 1791, Herder’s Ideas for the Philosophy of the History of Mankind is one of the most important works of the Enlightenment—a bold, original, and encyclopedic synthesis of, and contribution to, the era’s philosophical debates over nature, history, culture, and the very meaning of human experience. This is the first new, unabridged English translation of the Ideas in more than two centuries. Gregory Martin Moore’s lively, modern English text, extensive introduction, and commentary bring this neglected masterpiece back to life. The Ideas—which engages with many of the leading thinkers of the eighteenth century, such as Montesquieu, Kant, Gibbon, Ferguson, Buffon, and Rousseau—is many things at once: an inquiry into the unity and purpose of history, a reflection on human nature and the place of humans in the cosmic order, an examination of what was beginning to be called “culture,” and a narrative of cultural progress across time among different peoples. Along the way, Herder considers a dizzying variety of topics, including the formation of the earth and solar system, species change, race, the immortality of the soul, the establishment of society, and the pursuit of happiness. Above all, the Ideas is an anthropology—what Alexander Pope had termed an “essay on man”—pervaded by an appropriately humane spirit. A fresh and much-needed modern translation of the complete Ideas, this volume reintroduces English readers to a classic of Enlightenment thought.

The Enlightenment

The Enlightenment PDF

Author: Anthony Pagden

Publisher: OUP Oxford

Published: 2013-05-23

Total Pages: 456

ISBN-13: 0191636711

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

The Enlightenment and Why It Still Matters tells nothing less than the story of how the modern, Western view of the world was born. Cultural and intellectual historian Anthony Pagden explains how, and why, the ideal of a universal, global, and cosmopolitan society became such a central part of the Western imagination in the ferment of the Enlightenment - and how these ideas have done battle with an inward-looking, tradition-oriented view of the world ever since. Cosmopolitanism is an ancient creed; but in its modern form it was a creature of the Enlightenment attempt to create a new 'science of man', based upon a vision of humanity made up of autonomous individuals, free from all the constraints imposed by custom, prejudice, and religion. As Pagden shows, this 'new science' was based not simply on 'cold, calculating reason', as its critics claimed, but on the argument that all humans are linked by what in the Enlightenment were called 'sympathetic' attachments. The conclusion was that despite the many tribes and nations into which humanity was divided there was only one 'human nature', and that the final destiny of the species could only be the creation of one universal, cosmopolitan society. This new 'human science' provided the philosophical grounding of the modern world. It has been the inspiration behind the League of Nations, the United Nations and the European Union. Without it, international law, global justice, and human rights legislation would be unthinkable. As Anthony Pagden argues passionately and persuasively in this book, it is a legacy well worth preserving - and one that might yet come to inherit the earth.

Toward a New Enlightenment

Toward a New Enlightenment PDF

Author: Paul Kurtz

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-04-17

Total Pages: 401

ISBN-13: 1351294385

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Paul Kurtz has been the dominant voice of secular humanism over the past thirty years. This compilation of his work reveals the scope of his thinking on the basic topics of our time and his many and varied contributions to the cause of free thought. It focuses on the central issues that have concerned Kurtz throughout his career: ethics, politics, education, religion, science, and pseudoscience. The chapters are linked by a common theme: the need for a new enlightenment, one committed to the use of rationality and skepticism, but also devoted to realizing the highest values of humanist culture. Many writings included here were first published in magazines and journals long unavailable. Some of the essays have never before been published. They now appear as a coherent whole for the first time. Also included is an extensive bibliography of Kurtz's writings. Toward a New Enlightenment is essential for those who know and admire Paul Kurtz's work. It will also be an important resource for students of philosophy, political science, ethics, and religion. Among the chapters are: "Humanist Ethics: Eating the Forbidden Fruit"; "Relevance of Science to Ethics"; "Democracy without Theology"; "Misuses of Civil Disobedience"; "The Limits of Tolerance"; "Skepticism about the Paranormal: Legitimate and Illegitimate"; "Militant Atheism vs. Freedom of Conscience"; "Promethean Love: Unbound"; "The Case for Euthanasia"; and "The New Inquisition in the Schools."

The Enlightenment

The Enlightenment PDF

Author: John Robertson

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 169

ISBN-13: 0199591784

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This introduction explores the history of the 18th-century Enlightenment movement. Considering its intellectual commitments, Robertson then turns to their impact on society, and the ways in which Enlightenment thinkers sought to further the goal of human betterment, by promoting economic improvement and civil and political justice.

Mastery of Nature

Mastery of Nature PDF

Author: Svetozar Y. Minkov

Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press

Published: 2018-04-02

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 0812249933

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Ranging from ancient Greek thought to contemporary quantum mechanics, Mastery of Nature investigates to what extent nature can be conquered to further human ends and to what extent such mastery is compatible with human flourishing.

Human Culture and Enlightenment

Human Culture and Enlightenment PDF

Author: Oscar Ichazo

Publisher:

Published: 2023-09-15

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780916554583

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This book is concerned with producing an organic view of the history of human culture and enlightenment, which has culminated in the highest values and attainments of the Spirit. Oscar takes us on an enlightened journey from 20,000 B.C. from the Magdalenian period up through Egyptian, Phoenician, Babylonian, Persian, and Greek culture. He shows how this line of culture proceeds through the Milesians, Eleatics and Platonism up to Proclus and Damascius, and presents a continuous truth that unifies and makes sense of the whole. This narrative includes the Teachings of the realized Wise Man of the ancient Platonists, Cynics, Stoics, Megarians, and Skeptics, and the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the Mahayana Tradition. He analyzes the origins of Christianity from a historical perspective, explaining and making transparent the meaning of the Mysteries of the pre-Christian world. Sources are clearly delineated, including those that show a Eurocentric point of view. This is a fascinating, thought-provoking book that opens our understanding of the earliest peoples who were totally conscious of the spiritual life and the Soul that survived death and entered immortality; and of how through different schools this consciousness perdured through the millennia. Through Oscar's Teachings, Human Culture and Enlightenment will open a deep appreciation of the importance of the Higher States of Consciousness as a cultural manifestation and generate an immense gratitude for the blessings of our beloved School.