The ethics of catholicism and the consecration of the intellectual / Andre J. Belanger.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bélanger, André J., 1935-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Intellectuals--History.

Intellectuals.

Intellectual life--History.

Intellectual life.

Christian ethics--History.

Christian ethics.

Religion and culture--History.

Religion and culture.

Religion and ethics--History.

Religion and ethics.

Catholics--France--Attitudes.

Catholics.

Intellectuals--France--History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (viii, 242 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Montreal ; Buffalo : McGill-Queen's University Press, c1997.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Using France as the most representative case of a Catholic context, Bélanger argues that as French society became more secularized intellectuals replaced the clergy as arbitrators of justice and enlightenment. Catholic morality was consolidated by the scholastic tradition and confirmed by the Counter-Reformation, providing the foundation that allowed the establishment of a lay elite. Bélanger describes the progressive takeover of positions of influence by the new elite in Catholic society and examines arguments used by thinkers from the seventeenth to the twentieth century to legitimize their positions. In contrast, the Anglo-Saxon Protestant tradition, due to its emphasis on the priesthood of all believers, led to recognition of the individual's conscience as the sole judge of her or his deeds and failed to provide intellectuals with the basis for any claim to serve as moral leaders in political affairs. Straddling a variety of disciplines, this study will be interest to students of political science, sociology, philosophy, and history.

Contents:

Front Matter

Contents

Preface

Introduction

Objective Justice and Its Demise

Catholic Ethics

The British Moralists: The Eclipse of Natural Law

The American Assessment of Natural Law

From the Clerisy to a Sparse Intelligentsia

The Rise and Fall of the Intellectual: The French Experience

The Counter-Reformation and the Impact of Jesuit Pedagogy

Lay Ethics within the Bounds of the Church

The Philosophe: The Prefiguration of the Intellectual

The Revolutionary Reading of Justice

An Anti-Individualist Liberalism

Positivism: The Path Leading to the Intellectual

The Emergence of the Intellectual

The Consecration of the Intellectual

Conclusion

The Latin American Experience

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [203]-236) and index.

ISBN:

1-282-85427-5

9786612854279

0-7735-6636-8

OCLC:

1097108935