Medieval Debates on Voluntary Faith and the Genealogy of Modern Individualism
Robert, Aurélien
Medieval Debates on Voluntary Faith and the Genealogy of Modern Individualism - 2015.
43
Is it possible to will oneself to believe in something? While the debate that opposed William James to William Clifford is well known and continues to fuel modern discussions, the subject of voluntary faith is not a new one. Two recent publications—Laurent Jaffro, Croit-on comme on veut? Histoire d'une controverse, and Christophe Grellard, De la certitude volontaire. Débats nominalistes sur la foi à la fin du Moyen Âge—offer a genealogy of these debates from Saint Augustine to certain fifteenth-century nominalist thinkers, both insisting on the importance of the fourteenth-century philosopher William of Ockham. What role did these medieval debates about belief play in the emergence of modernity, and more particularly individualism? To explore this question, this article brings together recent research in the history of medieval philosophy and the interpretations of modernity proposed by Michel de Certeau and Louis Dumont.
Medieval Debates on Voluntary Faith and the Genealogy of Modern Individualism - 2015.
43
Is it possible to will oneself to believe in something? While the debate that opposed William James to William Clifford is well known and continues to fuel modern discussions, the subject of voluntary faith is not a new one. Two recent publications—Laurent Jaffro, Croit-on comme on veut? Histoire d'une controverse, and Christophe Grellard, De la certitude volontaire. Débats nominalistes sur la foi à la fin du Moyen Âge—offer a genealogy of these debates from Saint Augustine to certain fifteenth-century nominalist thinkers, both insisting on the importance of the fourteenth-century philosopher William of Ockham. What role did these medieval debates about belief play in the emergence of modernity, and more particularly individualism? To explore this question, this article brings together recent research in the history of medieval philosophy and the interpretations of modernity proposed by Michel de Certeau and Louis Dumont.
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