Philosophy of the Enlightenment

This chapter investigates how the names of continents interacted across three historical periods of the Eighteenth-Century Collections Online corpus. Using a custom-designed measure of word co-association, it makes visible the associations between geographical designators in the early, middle and late century. Semantic network diagrams visualise the often-surprising ways in which global place names and adjectives kept company within sentences in the historical corpus.
Because this study takes as its field of enquiry the whole of ECCO, what is being made visible is how knowledge about ‘Asia’, ‘Africa’, ‘America’ and ‘Europe’ among other domains, was structured in a common, non-individual sense. That is, the chapter demonstrates how these place names associated in the vast, impersonal, aggregated repository of the historical corpus.  ECCO is constituted of many thousands of written voices and no single voice can predominate. This chapter therefore reconstructs the most-common ways in which the printed anglophone century understood relations between ‘Europe’ and its others.

Ilustración y Romanticismo. Introducción a la polémica entre Kant y Herder
Gonçal Mayos Solsona
Herder, Barcelona, 2006, págs.

RESUMEN
Tradicionalmente se han opuesto Ilustración y Romanticismo, como si fuesen de naturalezas y orígenes diferentes e irreductibles, pero en realidad tienen más puntos en común de lo que habitualmente se sospecha (y por supuesto otros muchos de divergencia). Gonçal Mayos Solsona, en esta obra, nos sumerge en su reflexión en torno a estas dos corrientes de pensamiento de la mano de Kant, maestro de la Ilustración y Herder, discípulo díscolo de Kant e inspirador del Romanticismo.
Gonçal Mayos huye del tópico de reducir a Kant y Herder a los dos polos opuestos de un eterno debate. El autor, por el contrario, nos presenta a los filósofos en su contexto histórico y a sus pensamientos en los lugares de coincidencia y de divergencia, finalizando con una reflexión sobre la significación de dichas corrientes para el mundo contemporáneo. Se trata de una aproximación a dos filosofías contemporáneas del inicio del poderío económico y militar de lo que se llama Occidente durante el último tercio del siglo XVIII. Es decir, una Ilustración en su período de madurez y un Romanticismo en su infancia, el denominado Sturm und Drang (Tormenta e ímpetu).
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ABSTRACT
Traditionally, Enlightenment and Romanticism have been opposed, as if they were of different and irreducible natures and origins, but in reality they have more points in common than is usually suspected (and of course many others of divergence). Gonçal Mayos Solsona, in this work, immerses us in his reflection on these two currents of thought at the hands of Kant, master of the Enlightenment, and Herder, a wayward disciple of Kant and inspirer of Romanticism.
Gonçal Mayos flees from the cliché of reducing Kant and Herder to the two opposite poles of an eternal debate. The author, on the contrary, presents the philosophers in their historical context and their thoughts in the places of coincidence and divergence, ending with a reflection on the significance of these currents for the contemporary world. It is an approach to two contemporary philosophies of the beginning of the economic and military power of what is called the West during the last third of the 18th century. That is to say, an Enlightenment in its mature period and a Romanticism in its infancy, the so-called Sturm und Drang (Storm and momentum).

Draft, preedited, of upcoming Conversation Guide to the Classics on Voltaire's Candide, its contents, its form, its relation to Voltaire's larger work and achievements.  And because Candide is right, of course, that it is necessary (il faut) that we cultivate our garden, especially if we are in lockdown.

Locke’s consciousness-based theory of personal identity resulted not only from his agnosticism on substance, but also from his biblical theology. This theory was intended to complement and sustain Locke’s moral and theological commitments to a system of otherworldly rewards and sanctions as revealed in Scripture. Moreover, he inferred mortalist ideas from the Bible, rejecting the resurrection of the same body and maintaining that the soul dies at physical death and will be resurrected by divine miracle. Accordingly, personal identity is neither in the soul, nor in the body, nor in a union of soul and body. To Locke, personal identity is in consciousness, which, extending “backwards to any past Action or Thought,” enables the self, both in this life and upon resurrection for the Last Judgment, to recognize that “it is the same self now it was then; and ‘tis by the same self with this present one that now reflects on it, that that Action was done” (Essay II.xxvii.9).

This article maintains that Locke’s consciousness-based theory of personal identity, which Locke expounded in book 2, chapter 27 of the second edition of An Essay concerning Human Understanding (1694), perfectly fits with his views on the resurrection of the dead, the Last Judgment, and salvation. The compatibility of Locke’s theory of personal identity with his soteriology has been questioned by Udo Thiel and Galen Strawson. These two authors have claimed that Locke’s emphasis on repentance, which he described as necessary to salvation in The Reasonableness of Christianity (1695), clashes with his notion of punishment as annexed to personality and, hence, to consciousness. Pace Thiel and Strawson, I argue that Locke’s theory of personal identity is compatible with his concept of repentance. To this purpose, I first explain Locke’s views on the soul’s death and the resurrection of the dead on Judgment Day, when, according to Locke, we will all be raised from death by divine miracle, but only the repentant faithful will be admitted to eternal bliss while the wicked will be annihilated. Locke’s mortalism, along with his agnosticism on the ontological constitution of thinking substances or souls, played a role in his formulation of a non-substantialist account of personal identity, because it denied the temporal continuity of the soul between physical death and resurrection and it rejected the resurrection of the same body. I then analyze Locke’s consciousness-based theory of personal identity, with a focus on the implications of this theory regarding moral accountability. Finally, I turn my attention to Thiel’s and Strawson’s considerations about Locke’s views on consciousness and repentance. To prove that Locke’s views on salvation are consistent with his theory of personal identity, I clarify Locke’s soteriology, which describes not only repentance, but also obedience, faith, and the conscientious study of Scripture as necessary to salvation.

Wie verhält sich das Verwenden von Worten anderer im Modus des Zitats zum Denken und zur Form eines skeptischen Diskurses in der französischen Spätrenaissance und Frühaufklärung?
Montaignes emprunts der humanistischen Gelehrsamkeit sind zentraler Bestandteil der Poetik seiner Essais; seine charakteristische peinture de passage orchestriert einen Wechsel der Stimmen innerhalb seines großen humanistischen Selbstportraits. Zitieren – avant la lettre, da Montaigne noch nicht über den Begriff und die Konvention verfügt – wird zum formalen Mittel eines skeptischen Schreibens, das die Dinge in der Schwebe halten will. Bayle greift diese Technik in seiner „Rüstkammer der Aufklärung“ auf, um sie mit den Mitteln der bibliographischen Akribie neu zu gestalten; nunmehr auf den Begriff gebracht, wird Zitieren zum kritischen modus operandi einer skeptischen Erschütterung des historischen Bestands der philosophischen Tradition.

Н. А. Дмитриева , А. С. Зильбер, В. А. Чалый, А. С. Киселев, П. Р. Бонадысева

Освещено содержание докладов и дискуссий XII Кантов-ских чтений, которые были организованы в апреле 2019 г. научным подразделением «Академия Кантиана» Балтий-ского федерального университета им. И. Канта. Традици-онно Кантовские чтения отличались универсальностью тематики, охватывали все области кантовского наследия. На этот раз тематическим фокусом конференции стала практическая философия, а именно исторические осно-вания и современное значение этической мысли И. Канта в сопоставлении ее с другими философскими проектами эпохи Просвещения. Должное внимание при этом было уде-лено рецепции этики Канта и Просвещения в философии России и Запада. Специальные секции были отведены об-суждению аспектов взаимосвязи просветительской этики и эстетики, а также междисциплинарным проблемам на стыке философии политики и философии образования, включая пути противодействия различным формам ин-теллектуального порабощения. Возможности применения кантовских этических принципов обсуждались в тесной связи с осмыслением новейших тенденций развития науки и технологий. Было отмечено, что интеллектуальная и социальная коммуникативная среда нашего времени имеет немало общего с эпохой Просвещения, что делает предло-женные в ту эпоху философские стратегии пригодными для адаптации и развития. Ключевые слова: Кант, Просвещение, историко-фи-лософская рецепция, глобальные проблемы современности, этика науки и техники, человеческое достоинство, полити-ческая рациональность, современные проблемы образования.

When attempting to capture the concept of enlightenment that underlies and motivates philosophical (and political and scientific) developments in the 18th century, historians of philosophy frequently rely upon a needlessly but intentionally exclusive account. This, namely, is the conception of enlightenment first proposed by Kant in his famous essay of 1784, which takes enlightenment to consist in the “emergence from the self-imposed state of minority” and which is only possible for a “public” to attain as a result of the public use of reason, a privilege enjoyed by citizens and exemplified in the activity of the scholar (Gelehrter). That women, among other groups, did not hold the status of citizens and did not enjoy access to the institutions or training that might gain them recognition as scholars is apparently not a concern for Kant, as he notes that the enlightened condition is likely out of reach anyway for “by far the greatest part of humankind (including the entire fair sex)” (AA 8:35). This naturally leads one to wonder what a history of this period could look like when considered from the perspective of a different, more inclusive conception of enlightenment, and in this chapter I propose to conduct an experiment of sorts just along these lines. As opposed to Kant’s exclusionary conception, I will instead take that proposed by his distinguished contemporary, Moses Mendelssohn, as my starting point. In addition to offering a conception of enlightenment distinctive both for its wide scope and progressive character, Mendelssohn’s has the advantage, or so I will show, of bringing the manifold intellectual contributions of a diverse set of women into focus, though it does more than this in that it also reveals these women to actively and critically engage with key aspects of Mendelssohn’s and others’ philosophical views.

Czym jest dziedzictwo Oświecenia? Co z niego wynika? Dlaczego od przesądów nie są wolni nawet ludzie wykształceni? Wiek rozumu obrał zbyt radykalne środki i coś ważnego utracono. Rozumienie świata zostało zawężone i w takiej kondycji weszliśmy w nowoczesność. Co jest do odzyskania?

A detailed account of the theory of consciousness has been presented that firstly examines the 3D Earth mainstream science theories of consciousness based upon the notion that consciousness is created in, and is process by, the brain. It is elucidated that these theories lack adequacy in describing the phenomenon of consciousness mainly due to the fact they neither explain the phenomenon of consciousness being associated with a unified individuated entity that is commonly referred to as the ‘Self’ or ‘Soul,’ nor the fact of Principle of Free Will and Sovereignty, the most fundamental aspect or Right of our existence, equally holding us to the doctrine of self-responsibility and self-accountability by which we are judged and viewed within our human society. And, although other desperate attempts have been made, for example, by concocting the concept of “microtubules” as very minutes protein structures found in all cells being responsible for our conscious awareness, conducting thoughts, or in other words, the ‘Soul’ or the ‘Self,' yet, the fact remains that such protein structures are first of all found all over the body and even in in simple single celled organisms such as amoeba, as well as the fact that such a theory still fails to answer the fundamental question of how subjective experiences and thought processes arise, particularly that it is clinically observed that drugs that can damage the structure of “microtubules” have no effect on consciousness. Thus, non of the brains-based theories or the theory based upon “microtubules” can explain the concept of Self or Soul. The author has previously explored the theory of consciousness with reference to quantum mechanics with the overall conclusion that  consciousness is a non-local phenomenon that originates from what is commonly referred to as the God-SOURCE, an Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent source that epitomizes a gigantic fountain or reservoir composed of infinite frequential energy that initially exists as a giant Scalar or Stationary wave capable of vibrating longitudinally withing the positive and negative infinity of time, a phenomenon that is commonly referred to as the NOW moment, disseminating ITS quanta of energy into what is initially a Void or Abyss, transforming it to a well ORDERED edifice of may be referred to as 356 DISCRETE space-time dimensions that form ITS body as the absolute macrocosm and what the author refers to as the Neural Network of God. Accordingly, without redundant duplication of what was presented in the aforementioned previous works in which the author concludes consciousness observation is what gives rise to ‘manifestation,’ by virtue of what quantum mechanics views as collapse of a ‘wave function’ when “measurement” is conducted, the author herein reaffirms that our consciousness is a ‘local’ quantum phenomenon that emanates from the said non-local SOURCE, which epitomizes ITS self-similar fractilized holographic aspect, giving rise to the concept of a ‘local’ soul, essentially being an offspring of the God-SOURCE, in which through the dissemination of ITS quanta of energy as to create us, breaks down the perpetual NOW moment into DISCRETE intervals of time represented as (bidirectional) vectors connecting us (and our Twin Soul) to God, about which our (or God’s) local quanta of energy divided into two parts, sequentially torsionally vibrate in time, simultaneously spinning in a counterclockwise-clockwise and clockwise-counterclockwise (our Twin) manner, simultaneously and symbiotically, fulfilling what the author has introduced as the ‘Dualism Principle of Creation.’ Finally, this paper concentrates on the overall or the Cosmic aspect of the phenomenon of consciousness, deferring further details with regard to the details of our nature of quantum consciousness or what the author also refers to as sentient vibration about the Neural Network of God, in companion paper(s).

La physiocratie occupe une place majeure dans l’histoire du siècle des Lumières. La doctrine élaborée par le docteur François Quesnay, le marquis de Mirabeau et leurs disciples constitue un modèle original de réforme de la société d’Ancien Régime. Liberté du commerce, impôt unique sur les terres, abolition des corporations, établissement du « despotisme légal », reconnaissance du triptyque « liberté, propriété, sûreté » au rang de droits fondamentaux, les propositions des physiocrates bouleversent l’ordre juridique et social traditionnel. Par ses théories universalistes, la physiocratie s’exporte bien au-delà des frontières françaises. De quelles manières les idées de cette « science nouvelle » ont-elles circulées et comment ont-elles été reçues en Europe ?

Augustana-Hochschule Neuendettelsau | Forum Religionsphilosophie
Waldstr. 11 | 91564 Neuendettelsau | 23.-25.03.2022

Kaum ein Thema hat die Gemüter in der klassischen deutschen Philosophie so sehr bewegt wie die Religion. Hinter die erschütternden Erkenntnisse des ›Alleszermalmers‹ aus Königsberg, Kant, so das bekannte Epitheton Mendelssohns, führte für Fich-te, Schleiermacher, Schelling und Hegel kein Weg zurück. Also traten die großen und ganz großen Denker der ›idealistischen‹ Epoche auf getrennten und doch vielfach parallel verlaufenden Pfaden die Flucht nach vorne an, um der Religion weiterhin einen Platz auf der Landkarte des Geistes zu sichern. Die alte Gleichung von Religion und Gottesgedanke ging nicht mehr auf. Stattdessen musste ebenso dem Bewusstsein vom Göttlichen eine mehr oder weniger ausgezeichnete Stellung eingeräumt werden, sollte das Kind ›Religion‹ nicht vollends mit dem Bade ausgeschüttet werden. Fichte suchte das Göttliche auf dem Feld der Sitt-lichkeit, was ihm bekanntermaßen den Vorwurf des Atheismus bescherte. Schleiermacher erstieg als Redner über die Religion das (literarische) Podium, um das Gefühl als eigentlichen Ort des Gottesbe-wusstseins zu postulieren. Der jugendlich-geniali-sche Schelling suchte das Absolute in der Natur und Kunst, bevor er dessen Offenbarung in den Mythologien des Christentums ausmachte. Und Hegel trat angesichts der Gefahr für das Wissen um die absolute Religion entschlossen die ›Flucht in den Begriff‹ an, wobei ihm Zufluchtsort und verlo-rene Heimat nicht immer gleichrangig erschienen. Die großen Systementwürfe des Idealismus drehen sich in immer neuen Varianten um die Religion und entwickelten dabei eine enorme Wirkung, die zu einem lebhaften Weiterdenken, zu vielfältigen Transformationen, weitreichenden Assimilationen und heftigen Rejektionen führte. Darin wurzelt bis heute ihre Bedeutung für alle akademischen Fä-cher, die sich aus unterschiedlichen Perspektiven dem Phänomen des religiösen Menschen zuwenden wie Religionsphilosophie, Theologie, Soziologie oder die Kulturwissenschaften. Die Tagung erkundet die Topologie des Nachden-kens über die Religion in der Klassischen deutschen Philosophie in seiner ganzen Bandbreite. Ebenso steht die Rezeption der ›idealistischen‹ Religions-theorien im 20. und 21. Jahrhundert auf dem Pro-gramm. Grundsätzlich aber bestimmen-wie in den vergangenen Tagungen-die Vorschläge der Beiträger*innen die Ausrichtung des Programms. Die Tagung wird an der Augustana-Hochschule Neuendettelsau stattfinden. Die Hochschule hat ei-gene Möglichkeiten zur Übernachtung, die sehr günstig sind; es können im Ort auch andere preis-werte Übernachtungsmöglichkeiten bereitgestellt werden. In Einzelfällen kann ein Zuschuss zu den Reisekosten gewährt werden. Insgesamt hängt die Tagung natürlich davon ab, wie sich die Corona-Pandemie entwickelt. An oberster Stelle steht bei der Hochschule und den Organisatoren die Ge-sundheit der Teilnehmer*innen. Sollte es Ein-schränkungen der Teilnehmer*innenzahl geben, sollte es zu Restriktionen bei der Unterbringung kommen oder gar ein Lockdown verhängt werden, behalten wir uns vor, die Tagung abzusagen, die Teilnehmer*innenzahl zu reduzieren usw. Wir bitten was zur Zeit ja selbstverständlich ist-, diese Umstände bei einer möglichen Reiseplanung und-buchung zu berücksichtigen. Interessent*innen werden gebeten, bis Ende November 2020 einen Vortragstitel nebst einigen aus-sagekräftigen Zeilen zu ihrem Vortragsvorhaben an die unten angegebene Email-Adresse zu senden. Die Vorträge sollten die Länge von 30 Minuten nicht überschreiten.