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The Sources of Secularism

Enlightenment and Beyond

  • Book
  • © 2017

Overview

Editors:
  1. Anna Tomaszewska

    1. Institute of Philosophy, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland

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  2. Hasse Hämäläinen

    1. Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland

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  • Provides a wide historical as well as cross-cultural perspective on recent debates about secularism
  • Offers a re-conception of the sources and impact of the secularization process
  • Establishes new connections between historical events and figures that shaped the modern ways of thinking about religion
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

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Table of contents (14 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xiii
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  2. Editors’ Introduction

    • Hasse Hämäläinen, Anna Tomaszewska
    Pages 1-17

  3. Erratum to: The Sources of Secularism

    • Anna Tomaszewska, Hasse Hämäläinen
    Pages E1-E1

  4. The Theory of Secularism

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 19-19
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    2. Towards a Political Theory of Secularism

      • Jocelyn Maclure
      Pages 21-33

    3. The Idea of Immanence in Charles Taylor’s Philosophy of Religion

      • Justyna Miklaszewska
      Pages 35-51

    4. The Rationality of Secularization

      • Ulrich Steinvorth
      Pages 53-69

  5. The Sources of Secularism: Rethinking Religion in the Early Modern Era

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 71-71
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    2. The Secularism of Spinoza and His Circle

      • Henri Krop
      Pages 73-99

    3. Thomas Hobbes and the Secularization of Authority

      • Edgar Straehle
      Pages 101-120

    4. The History and Philosophy of English Freethinking

      • Elad Carmel
      Pages 121-137

  8. Back Matter

    Pages 295-323
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Keywords

About this book

This book examines the importance of the Enlightenment for understanding the secular outlook of contemporary Western societies. It shows the new ways of thinking about religion that emerged during the 17th and 18th centuries and have had a great impact on how we address problems related to religion in the public sphere today. Based on the assumption that political concepts are rooted in historical realities, this collection combines the perspective of political philosophy with the perspective of the history of ideas. Does secularism imply that individuals are not free to manifest their beliefs in public? Is secularization the same as rejecting faith in the absolute? Can there be a universal rational core in every religion? Does freedom of expression always go hand in hand with freedom of conscience? Is secularism an invention of the predominantly Christian West, which cannot be applied in other contexts, specifically that of Muslim cultures? Answers to these and related questions are sought not only in current theories and debates in political philosophy, but also in the writings of Immanuel Kant, Benedict Spinoza, Thomas Hobbes, Anthony Collins, Adriaan Koerbagh, Abbé Claude Yvon, Giovanni Paolo Marana, and others.  

Reviews

“Welcoming so many European scholars into a historically focused conversation is one of the many rewards offered by this collection of essays on secularism.  Religious fundamentalists will learn that secularism has many sources, thrives on their hostility, and is alive and well in Eastern and Western Europe.  Beginning with contemporary philosophers and moving back to Spinoza, Hobbes and the English freethinkers, lingering in the French Enlightenment (with among others the abbé Yvon), and discussing Kant, these essays make us rethink topics that are essential to the secular tradition.” (Margaret C. Jacob, University of California, Los Angeles, USA)

“This collection of thought-provoking and innovative essays sets up a triangular dialogue between scholars of the Enlightenment, historians of particular great modern thinkers (especially Hobbes and Kant) and theorists of secularism in our contemporary world of considerable value. It is most certainly a valuable new perspective on both philosophy of religion and contemporary secularism.” (Jonathan Israel, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, USA)


Editors and Affiliations

  • Institute of Philosophy, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland

    Anna Tomaszewska

  • Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland

    Hasse Hämäläinen

About the editors

Anna Tomaszewska is an assistant professor of philosophy at the Institute of Philosophy, Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland.

 

Hasse Hämäläinen is a postdoctoral researcher in the project The Enlightenment Ideas of Freedom of Thought and Conscience, and Contemporary Secularism at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: The Sources of Secularism

  • Book Subtitle: Enlightenment and Beyond

  • Editors: Anna Tomaszewska, Hasse Hämäläinen

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65394-5

  • Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham

  • eBook Packages: Religion and Philosophy, Philosophy and Religion (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-65393-8Published: 19 October 2017

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-88016-7Published: 15 August 2018

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-65394-5Published: 05 October 2017

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XIII, 323

  • Topics: Secularism, Ancient History, Ethics

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