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In Montaigne: Life without Law, originally published in French in
2014 and now translated for the first time into English by Paul
Seaton, Pierre Manent provides a careful reading of Montaigne's
three-volume work Essays. Although Montaigne's writings resist easy
analysis, Manent finds in them a subtle unity, and demonstrates the
philosophical depth of Montaigne's reflections and the distinctive,
even radical, character of his central ideas. To show Montaigne's
unique contribution to modern philosophy, Manent compares his work
to other modern thinkers, including Machiavelli, Hobbes, Pascal,
and Rousseau. What does human life look like without the imposing
presence of the state? asks Manent. In raising this question about
Montaigne's Essays, Manent poses a question of great relevance to
our contemporary situation. He argues that Montaigne's
philosophical reflections focused on what he famously called la
condition humaine, the human condition. Manent tracks Montaigne's
development of this fundamental concept, focusing especially on his
reworking of pagan and Christian understandings of virtue and
pleasure, disputation and death. Bringing new form and content
together, a new form of thinking and living is presented by
Montaigne's Essays, a new model of a thoughtful life from one of
the unsung founders of modernity. Throughout, Manent suggests
alternatives and criticisms, some by way of contrasts with other
thinkers, some in his own name. This is philosophical engagement at
a very high level. In showing the unity of Montaigne's work,
Manent's study will appeal especially to students and scholars of
political theory, the history of modern philosophy, modern
literature, and the origins of modernity.
"Is not modern democracy the finally-found form of the religion of
Humanity?" (2007) The Religion of Humanity: The Illusion of Our
Time is the first anthology in any language of the writings of the
contemporary French political philosopher, Pierre Manent, on "the
religion of Humanity." The striking phrase comes from
nineteenth-century French thinker, Auguste Comte (1798-1857). Comte
coined the phrase and indeed created an atheistic religion of a
self-adoring Humanity. In the aftermath of the Cold War, Manent
observed victorious democracy interpreting itself in a similar
framework. He took it upon himself to track this development,
analyze it, and warn his fellow Europeans of its deleterious
political, intellectual, moral, and spiritual effects. With
conceptual precision and (most often) a sober tone, many
contemporary sacred cows were gored. But in addition to cursing the
humanitarian darkness, he also lit many candles of judicious
political, philosophical, moral, and spiritual analysis. This
anthology is thus almost unique in its subject matter, and
certainly unique in its treatment of the subject. It is a rarity
and gem: a first-rate work of political philosophy.
This edition of Marcel’s inspiring Homo Viator has been updated
to includle fifty pages of new materials available for the first
time in English, making this the first English-language edition to
conform to the standard French edition. Here, Christianity’s
foremost existentialist of the twentieth century gives us a
prodigious personal insight on ‘man on the way’ that will
reinforce and commend our own pilgrimages in hope. “Homo Viator
– “Homo Viator – or as Marcel calls him, ‘itinerate man’
– is an outstanding example of the philosophy concerned, not with
technical problems, but with the urgent problems of man. Marcel
talks to our condition, emphasizing our urgent need of hope, thus
discovering beyond the lack of stability the values on which we may
depend. “A subtle mind, a dramatist as well as a
philosopher, close to the texture of human experience, he goes far
beyond current platitudes to show that our Western tradition
contains living truths that are as essential to our contemporary
life as they were to our ancestors when they discovered them.”
– Eliseo Vivas “The theme of Marcel’s Homo Viator is close to
the center of all preoccupations: man in his pilgrim condition.
With great virtuosity in the use of his own philosophical method,
he probes into interpersonal relations and the threat to ethical
values. Marcel excels here in his concrete analyses of the attitude
of hope, the family community in its temporal and supratemporal
aspects, and the forgotten virtue of personal fidelity.” –
James Collins
Was humanity created, or do humans create themselves? In this
eagerly awaited English translation of Le Règne de l’homme, the
last volume of Rémi Brague's trilogy on the philosophical
development of anthropology in the West, Brague argues that, with
the dawn of the Enlightenment, Western societies rejected the
transcendence of the past and looked instead to the progress
fostered by the early modern present and the future. As scientific
advances drained the cosmos of literal mystery, humanity
increasingly devalued the theophilosophical mystery of being in
favor of omniscience over one’s own existence. Brague narrates
the intellectual disappearance of the natural order, replaced by a
universal chaos upon which only humanity can impose order; he cites
the vivid histories of the nation-state, economic evolution into
capitalism, and technology as the tools of this new dominion, taken
up voluntarily by humans for their own ends rather than accepted
from the deity for a divine purpose. Brague’s tour de force
begins with the ancient and medieval confidence in humanity as the
superior creation of Nature or of God, epitomized in the biblical
wish of the Creator for humans to exert stewardship over the earth.
He sees the Enlightenment as a transition period, taking as a given
that humankind should be masters of the world but rejecting the
imposition of that duty by a deity. Before the Enlightenment, who
the creator was and whom the creator dominated were clear. With the
advance of modernity and banishment of the Creator, who was to be
dominated? Today, Brague argues, “our humanism . . . is an
anti-antihumanism, rather than a direct affirmation of the goodness
of the human.” He ends with a sobering question: does humankind
still have the will to survive in an era of intellectual
self-destruction? The Kingdom of Man will appeal to all readers
interested in the history of ideas, but will be especially
important to political philosophers, historical anthropologists,
and theologians.
Was humanity created, or do humans create themselves? In this
eagerly awaited English translation of Le Règne de l’homme, the
last volume of Rémi Brague's trilogy on the philosophical
development of anthropology in the West, Brague argues that, with
the dawn of the Enlightenment, Western societies rejected the
transcendence of the past and looked instead to the progress
fostered by the early modern present and the future. As scientific
advances drained the cosmos of literal mystery, humanity
increasingly devalued the theophilosophical mystery of being in
favor of omniscience over one’s own existence. Brague narrates
the intellectual disappearance of the natural order, replaced by a
universal chaos upon which only humanity can impose order; he cites
the vivid histories of the nation-state, economic evolution into
capitalism, and technology as the tools of this new dominion, taken
up voluntarily by humans for their own ends rather than accepted
from the deity for a divine purpose. Brague’s tour de force
begins with the ancient and medieval confidence in humanity as the
superior creation of Nature or of God, epitomized in the biblical
wish of the Creator for humans to exert stewardship over the earth.
He sees the Enlightenment as a transition period, taking as a given
that humankind should be masters of the world but rejecting the
imposition of that duty by a deity. Before the Enlightenment, who
the creator was and whom the creator dominated were clear. With the
advance of modernity and banishment of the Creator, who was to be
dominated? Today, Brague argues, “our humanism . . . is an
anti-antihumanism, rather than a direct affirmation of the goodness
of the human.” He ends with a sobering question: does humankind
still have the will to survive in an era of intellectual
self-destruction? The Kingdom of Man will appeal to all readers
interested in the history of ideas, but will be especially
important to political philosophers, historical anthropologists,
and theologians.
The Legitimacy of the Human presents itself as a satellite work to
a more voluminous effort by Remi Brague, The Kingdom of Man. The
larger book argues the thesis of the increasingly visible failure
of the modern project, founded upon a view of man as thoroughly
emancipated and autonomous, his own sovereign and the world's. This
is most visible in our technological powers and predicaments, with
their ever-growing capacity to destroy or fundamentally transform
our humanity, but understandings of freedom and equality unable to
justify themselves before the bar of reason, but willfully
asserting themselves, complement the picture. If modernity's
precious gains are to be preserved, and with them their
beneficiaries, modern human beings, then the founding thoughts of
the modern world need to be revisited and revised, often in terms
of a creative reengagement with premodern ones. A new, truly
humanistic, culture needs to be sought. The Legitimacy of the Human
drives home that basic argument, surveying contemporary challenges
to the very existence of humanity, then interrogating modern
thought and philosophy for reasons it might have for the
continuation of the human adventure. Brague finds the
self-proclaimed advocates of the modern strikingly silent or even
negative about the proposition. To be sure, in many instances
modern philosophy has helped humanity organize itself better in
terms of justice, peaceful coexistence, and prosperity. But on the
basic question whether it is good that humans exist, it is
strangely tongue-tied. Other authorities must be consulted, other
sources drawn from, to credibly answer that fundamental existential
question. The last two chapters of the book hearken to the answer
of the biblical God, as expressed in Genesis 1 and recapitulated by
the Word Incarnate of the Gospels.
This volume of essays explores the bases and significant aspects of
the thought of contemporary French philosopher, historian of ideas,
and novelist Chantal Delsol. A member of the French Academy of
Moral and Political Sciences, she is well known in France as a
political analyst and cultural diagnostician. This collection is
the first book-length treatment of her thought available in
English, bringing together studies that analyze her work. In
between, essays present her remarkable portrait of human beings
increasingly characteristic of Western societies, as well as her
defense of the human person rightly understood. An exposition of
the virtues of her conception of the family, as well as her
analysis of contemporary "matriarchy," complements those
treatments. The authors highlight her unique mode of cultural
analysis, together with her stout defense of genuine political
life. The volume also includes translations of two chapters of her
fundamental work of philosophical anthropology, Qu'est-ce que
l'homme?, appearing here for the first time in English. A
thoughtful examination of Delsol's work, this book provides new
resources to those studying this French philosopher and author.
In this book, distinguished French philosopher Pierre Manent
addresses a wide range of subjects, including the Machiavellian
origins of modernity, Tocqueville's analysis of democracy, the
political role of Christianity, the nature of totalitarianism, and
the future of the nation-state. As a whole, the book constitutes a
meditation on the nature of modern freedom and the permanent
discontents which accompany it. Manent is particularly concerned
with the effects of modern democracy on the maintenance and
sustenance of substantial human ties. Modern Liberty and its
Discontents is both an important contribution to an understanding
of modern society, and a significant contribution to political
philosophy in its own right.
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