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Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Aspects of religions (non-Christian) > Theology
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Fallen Nature, Fallen Selves - Early Modern French Thought II (Hardcover, New)
Loot Price: R5,482
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Fallen Nature, Fallen Selves - Early Modern French Thought II (Hardcover, New)
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From the late sixteenth to the late seventeenth centuries, French
writing is especially concerned with analyzing human nature. The
ancient ethical vision of man's nature and goal (we achieve
fulfillment by living our lives according to reason, the highest
and noblest element of our nature) survives, even, to some extent,
in Descartes. But it is put into question especially by the revival
of St. Augustine's thought, which focuses on the contradictions and
disorders of human desires and aspirations. Analyses of behavior
display a powerful suspicion of appearances. Human beings are
increasingly seen as motivated by self-love: they are driven by the
desire for their own advantage, and take a narcissistic delight in
their own image. Moral and religious writers re-emphasize the
traditional imperative of self-knowledge, but in such a way as to
suggest the difficulties of knowing oneself. Operating with the
Cartesian distinction between mind and body, they emphasize the
imperceptible influence of bodily processes on our thought and
attitudes. They analyze human beings' ignorance (due to self-love)
of their own motives and qualities, and the illusions under which
they live their lives. Their critique of human behavior is no less
searching than that of writers who have broken with traditional
religious morality, such as Hobbes and Spinoza. A wide range of
authors is studied, some well-known, others much less so: the
abstract and general analyses of philosophers and theologians
(Descartes, Jansenius, Malebranche) are juxtaposed with the less
systematic and more concrete investigations of writers like
Montaigne and La Rochefoucauld, not to mention the theatre of
Corneille, Moliere, and Racine.
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