Secular Powers : Humility in Modern Political Thought / Julie E. Cooper.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cooper, Julie E., Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Hobbes, Thomas, 1588-1679.

Hobbes, Thomas.

Spinoza, Benedictus de, 1632-1677.

Spinoza, Benedictus de.

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 1712-1778.

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques.

Modesty.

Humility.

Secularism--Europe--History.

Secularism.

Philosophy, European--17th century.

Philosophy, European.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (251 p.)

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, [2013]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Secularism is usually thought to contain the project of self-deification, in which humans attack God's authority in order to take his place, freed from all constraints. Julie E. Cooper overturns this conception through an incisive analysis of the early modern justifications for secular politics. While she agrees that secularism is a means of empowerment, she argues that we have misunderstood the sources of secular empowerment and the kinds of strength to which it aspires. Contemporary understandings of secularism, Cooper contends, have been shaped by a limited understanding of it as a shift from vulnerability to power. But the works of the foundational thinkers of secularism tell a different story. Analyzing the writings of Hobbes, Spinoza, and Rousseau at the moment of secularity's inception, she shows that all three understood that acknowledging one's limitations was a condition of successful self-rule. And while all three invited humans to collectively build and sustain a political world, their invitations did not amount to self-deification. Cooper establishes that secular politics as originally conceived does not require a choice between power and vulnerability. Rather, it challenges us-today as then-to reconcile them both as essential components of our humanity.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1. Toward a Revised History of Modesty and Humility

Chapter 2. Modesty hobbes on how mere mortals can create a mortal god

Chapter 3. Humility spinoza on the joys of finitude

Chapter 4. Self-Love rousseau on the allure, and the elusiveness, of divine self- sufficiency

Conclusion. A Modest Tale about Theoretical Modesty

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 24. Apr 2020)

ISBN:

9780226081328

022608132X

OCLC:

858974885