DOCSLIB.ORG

The Philosophy of the Imagination in Vico and Malebranche

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Philosophy of the Imagination in Vico and Malebranche STRUMENTI PER LA DIDATTICA E LA RICERCA – 86 – Paolo Fabiani The Philosophy of the Imagination in Vico and Malebranche Translated and Edited by Giorgio Pinton Firenze University Press 2009 the philosophy of the imagination in Vico and male- branche / paolo Fabiani. – Firenze : Firenze university press, 2009. (strumenti per la didattica e la ricerca ; 86) http://digital.casalini.it/97864530680 isBn 978-88-6453-066-6 (print) isBn 978-88-6453-068-0 (online) immagine di copertina: © elenaray | dreamstime.com progetto grafico di alberto pizarro Fernández © 2009 Firenze university press università degli studi di Firenze Firenze university press Borgo albizi, 28, 50122 Firenze, italy http://www.fupress.com/ Printed in Italy “In memory of my mother ... to honor the courage of my father” Paolo Fabiani “This is more than my book, it also represents Giorgio Pinton’s interpretation of the imagi- nation in early modern philosophy. In several places of my work he felt obliged to simplify the arguments to easy the reading; he did it in agreement with me. In a few others, he substituted, with intelligence and without forcing, the structure of the original academic version in a differ- ent narrative organization of the contents. He has done a great job. It is an honor for me that the most important translator of Vico’s Latin Works into Eng- lish translated and edited my first philosophical essay. I heartly thank Giorgio Pinton, a true master of philosophy; Alexander Bertland, a very good scholar in Vico studies; and the editorial staff of FUP, expecially Patrizia Cotoneschi and Fulvio Guatelli” Paolo Fabiani Paolo Fabiani, The Philosophy of the Imagination in Vico and Malebranche, ISBN 978-88-6453-066-6 (print) ISBN 978-88-6453-068-0 (online) © 2009 Firenze University Press CONTENTS TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE by Giorgio Pinton 9 INTRODUCTION by Alexander Bertland 13 GLOSSARY 22 PROEMIUM 23 PART ONE THE FIRST KIND OF IMAGINATION: FROM ERROR TO THE BIRTH OF THOUGHT ONE The Rules for the Avoidance of Errors 31 TWO The Third Primitive Notion and the Human Fall 37 THREE The Human Fall and the Pagan Mentality 43 FOUR Aristotelianism: The Logical Sublimation of the Pagan Mentality 47 FIVE The Scientific Foundations of Vico’s Psychology 51 SIX The Most Dangerous Error of the Ancients 67 SEVEN The Birth of Thought 83 EIGHT The Metaphorical Nature of Thought 111 PART TWO THE FIRST AND SECOND KIND OF IMAGINATION THE SENSES AND THE INTELLECT NINE The Intelligible Extension: The Idea of Death and of Idolatry 129 TEN The Origin of Idolatry 137 ELEVEN Psychology and Psycho-Linguistics of Paganity 161 TWELVE Sensitivity and Intellect 193 THIRTEEN The Familiar Ideas and Mentality 207 FOURTEEN Verisimilarity and Imagination 215 Paolo Fabiani, The Philosophy of the Imagination in Vico and Malebranche, ISBN 978-88-6453-066-6 (print) ISBN 978-88-6453-068-0 (online) © 2009 Firenze University Press 8 THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE IMAGINATION PART THREE THE SOCIAL FUNCTIONS OF THE IMAGINATION FIFTEEN The Function of the Imagination and of Imitation in Society 233 SIXTEEN The Organicistic Conception of Society 245 SEVENTEEN The Nature of Social Interrelations 253 EIGHTEEN The Communicative Power of the Strong Images 271 NINETEEN The Heroic Mentality 283 TWENTY The Heroes of the Imagination 293 TWENTY-ONE The Power of Imagination and Superstition 305 TWENTY-TWO The Conceit of the Learned and The Problem of Knowledge 313 TWENTY-THREE Passions and Imagination: The Power of Wonder 319 TWENTY-FOUR The Universals of the Imagination 331 NOTES 349 BIBLIOGRAPHY 413 TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE In 1501, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola wrote about imagination. In 1898, Luigi Ambrosini published a history of philosophy focusing on what through the ages philosophers said about the imagination and its psychological functions. In the same year, the American Journal of Psychology published G. V. Dearborn’s study of imagination. Jean Paul Sartre’s works on l’imagination appeared in 1936 and on l’imaginaire in 1940. In 1951, Wallace Stevens called the imagination “the necessary angel.” Jean Piaget analysed mental imagery in children, in 1966. Jacob Bronoski narrated the origin of knowledge and imagination in 1978. Donald Phillip Verene, during the 1981, spoke of imagination as a science in Vico, while Ned Block edited essays on imagery, and Dietmar Kamper offered a history of Einbildungkraft. In 2001, Manuela Sanna wrote La fantasia, ch’è l’occhio dell’ingegno (Fantasy, the eye of the Intellect), and since then she and Monica Riccio have been giving seminars on “perception between sensation and imagination” at the Institute for the History of Modern Philosophical and Scientific Thought (ISPF). In the last two decades of the twenty century, indeed, Centers and Institutes of Learning have studied im- agery and mental representations, under a variety of perspectives and in several different fields of research. Already before 1914, Alexander F. Chamberlain said that the twentieth century was the age of the idea and the intellect, while the twen- ty-first century was going to be the age of images and sensations. All learning and discovery has become representative, graphically expressible, and instantaneously communicable. Though both Malebranche (1638–1715) and Vico (1668–1744) died by the first half of the Eighteenth century, they came to be better known by the end of the Twentieth one. They spoke about imagination in their most important works: La recherche de la vérité (1674, 1675) and La Scienza Nuova (1730, 1744). Fabiani shows how the ventennio of Vico’s studies of human nature and the discovery of the master key of the new science had a constant point of reference in the psy- chology and anthropology of the Cartesian perspectives of Malebranche. But, while Malebranche tells modern human beings to find in the Eternally Divine and Human Being the One Who proclaims “I am the Truth,” freedom from erro- neousness, Vico instead tells them to embrace the poetic wisdom that sees beyond the historical paganist event the primitiveness of a recourse and the surprise of a coming rebirth of cultures. While one speaks of the mystifying power of religious Paolo Fabiani, The Philosophy of the Imagination in Vico and Malebranche, ISBN 978-88-6453-066-6 (print) ISBN 978-88-6453-068-0 (online) © 2009 Firenze University Press 10 THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE IMAGINATION images, the other claims the sole historicizing poetical force of our human creative action. With this work, Fabiani has established several principles that regulate im- ages and imagination and has indicated the passage from the modern to the post- modern era in our conceptions of these two notions. The book deals with human nature per se and assumes that in human beings human nature suffers paganity, which is the natural propensity for error. Pagan mentality is the manifestation of an erroneous conscience in human beings. The hidden message of the work of Fabiani is that the Post-modern world is a pagan world. Pagan, as he suggests, means irrational. The Post-modern Irrationalism originated from the triumph of the corporeal over the mental reality. The supremacy of the visible, the oppres- siveness of the audible, the attractiveness of the tasteful, and the fascination of scent and corporeity are the contemporary jailers of Post-modern human beings. This book speaks of the true Post-modern Irrationality, Irreligiousness, Violence, Solipsism, and destructive Voluntarism, all based on contemporary Instinctiveness and Immediateness. It shows that the present digital generations have truly disre- garded the civilizing principles taught during the early modern courses of Western Civilization. Emanuel L. Paparella said, “There are two dangerous extremes in modern Western philosophy: that of mythos without logos leading to a false tran- scendence and ushering in the Nietzschean charismatic Man; and that of logos without mythos leading to pure rationalism and ushering in technocratic Man. In between those dangerous extremes there is Vico’s poetic philosophy, humanistic, holistic and able to harmonize the two extreme.” An abundant meaningness exists in the fascinating narration of Fabiani, who in the descriptions of the origin through imagination of language and thought lets it known that there is a condi- tion that comes before we have proper language, and let it possible a multiplicity of representations, as Giorgio Colli affirmed. In Poetics of Imagining: Modern to Post- modern, Richard Kearney describes our evolving perception of imagination from the twentieth to the twenty-first century, from phenomenological (Husserl), onto- logical (Heidegger), existential (Sartre), poetical (Bachelard), dialectical (Merleau- Ponty), hermeneutical (Ricoeur), to post-modern imagination (Lacan, Althusser, Foucault as in a labyrinth of mirrors, and Vattimo, Kristeva, Lyotard as hermeneu- ticians). At last, Richard speaks of a narrative imagination with an ethical function, within which cathegory I place Fabiani. His narration detailed the theories of im- agination of two Mercurial philosophers, Malebranche and Vico, and combine them to prepare unexpectedly the foreground for all the perspectives on imagina- tion analyzed by Kearney. The unsuspected symbolic triumph of pagan imagination and mentality in our times as it has even been exemplified in the lite- rary “infinite jest” of David Foster Wallace makes us hopeful for a recourse of a more benevolent imagination equally sponsored by sensation and reason. In its original language, the book has been reviewed by New Vico Studies 22 (2004), Qua- dernos Sobre Vico 15–16 (2003), and Bollettino del Centro di Studi Vichiani XXXIV Translator’s preface 11 (2004). The Centre d’Études en Rhétorique, Philosophie et Histoire des Idées (CERPHI) has also published abstracts of the book in English and Italian. By adding an Index, building a Bibliography of sources available in English, breaking long chapters into sections, and placing the Notes at the end of the book, we hope to have made it handier and suitable to research.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Western Philosophy Rev
    Designed by John Cornet, Phoenix HS (Ore) Western Philosophy rev. September 2012 The very process of philosophy has been a driving force in the tranformation of the world. From the figure who dwells upon how to achieve power, to the minister who contemplates the paradox of the only truth (their faith) yet which is also stagnent, to the astronomers who are searching the stars for signs of other civilizations, to the revolutionaries who sought to construct a national government which would protect the rights of the minority, the very exercise of philosophy and philosophical thought is at a core of human nature. Philosophy addresses what are sometimes called the "big questions." These include questions of morality and ethics, ideology/faith,, politics, the truth of knowledge, the nature of reality, and the meaning of human existance (...just to name a few!) (Religion addresses some of the same questions, but while philosophy and religion overlap in some questions, they can and do differ significantly in the approach they take to answering them.) Subject Learning Outcomes Skills-Based Learning Outcomes Behavioral Expectations and Grading Policy Develop an appreciation for and enjoyment of Organize, maintain and learn how to study from a learning, particularly in how learning should subject-specific notebook Attendance, participation and cause us to question what we think we know Be able to demonstrate how to take notes (including being prepared are daily and have a willingness to entertain new utilizing two-column format) expectations perspectives on issues. Be able to engage in meaningful, substantive discussion A classroom culture of respect and Students will develop familiarity with major with others.
    [Show full text]
  • Works on Giambattista Vico in English from 1884 Through 2009
    Works on Giambattista Vico in English from 1884 through 2009 COMPILED BY MOLLY BLA C K VERENE TABLE OF CON T EN T S PART I. Books A. Monographs . .84 B. Collected Volumes . 98 C. Dissertations and Theses . 111 D. Journals......................................116 PART II. Essays A. Articles, Chapters, et cetera . 120 B. Entries in Reference Works . 177 C. Reviews and Abstracts of Works in Other Languages ..180 PART III. Translations A. English Translations ............................186 B. Reviews of Translations in Other Languages.........192 PART IV. Citations...................................195 APPENDIX. Bibliographies . .302 83 84 NEW VICO STUDIE S 27 (2009) PART I. BOOKS A. Monographs Adams, Henry Packwood. The Life and Writings of Giambattista Vico. London: Allen and Unwin, 1935; reprinted New York: Russell and Russell, 1970. REV I EWS : Gianturco, Elio. Italica 13 (1936): 132. Jessop, T. E. Philosophy 11 (1936): 216–18. Albano, Maeve Edith. Vico and Providence. Emory Vico Studies no. 1. Series ed. D. P. Verene. New York: Peter Lang, 1986. REV I EWS : Daniel, Stephen H. The Eighteenth Century: A Current Bibliography, n.s. 12 (1986): 148–49. Munzel, G. F. New Vico Studies 5 (1987): 173–75. Simon, L. Canadian Philosophical Reviews 8 (1988): 335–37. Avis, Paul. The Foundations of Modern Historical Thought: From Machiavelli to Vico. Beckenham (London): Croom Helm, 1986. REV I EWS : Goldie, M. History 72 (1987): 84–85. Haddock, Bruce A. New Vico Studies 5 (1987): 185–86. Bedani, Gino L. C. Vico Revisited: Orthodoxy, Naturalism and Science in the ‘Scienza nuova.’ Oxford: Berg, 1989. REV I EWS : Costa, Gustavo. New Vico Studies 8 (1990): 90–92.
    [Show full text]
  • Giambattista Vico Y La Hermenéutica Social Cinta Moebio 4: 128-145
    Toledo, U. 1998. Giambattista Vico y la hermenéutica social Cinta moebio 4: 128-145 www.moebio.uchile.cl/04/vico.htm Giambattista Vico y la Hermenéutica Social Ulises Toledo Nickels. Doctor (c) en Filosofía. Profesor Universidad San Sebastián. Concepción "Uno de los signos de los escritores de genio es que lo que dicen, puede, a veces, tocar un nervio central en las mentes o los sentimientos de los hombre que pertenecen a otras épocas, culturas o perspectivas, y establecen trenes de pensamiento y arrastran consecuencias que no se les ocurrieron o pudieron no ocurrírseles a tales escritores y todavía menos preocupar sus mentes" Isaiah Berlin "Vico de hecho lo dice ya todo; pero la abstracción e interpretación conceptual la deja a cargo de la posterioridad" Richard Peters Protosociología y Heterogénesis de los Fines (*) El pensador napolitano Giambattista Vico (1668–1744) de reconocida autoridad en el campo de la investigación histórica es considerado, también, el inaugurador de la Filosofía de la Historia en una época en la cual aún no existía una denominación específica para designar ese tipo de estudio (1). No obstante, en el presente trabajo proponemos que su mérito es más extenso y profundo; de hecho anticipa ideas (2) que posteriormente alcanzan un amplio desarrollo por parte de filósofos, historiadores, politólogos, psicólogos y cientistas sociales. Se mencionan los nombres de Hegel, Dilthtey, Spengler, Niebhur, Mommsen, la teoría sobre Homero de Wolf, la interpretación de la mitología de Bachofen, la reconstrucción del pasado en base a etimologías de Grimm, el entendimiento histórico de las leyes de Savigny y el de la ciudad antigua y el feudalismo de Foustel de Coulanges, la teoría sobre la lucha de clases de Marx y Sorel.
    [Show full text]
  • Metaphysics Today and Tomorrow*
    1 Metaphysics Today and Tomorrow* Raphaël Millière École normale supérieure, Paris – October 2011 Translated by Mark Ohm with the assistance of Leah Orth, Jon Cogburn, and Emily Beck Cogburn “By metaphysics, I do not mean those abstract considerations of certain imaginary properties, the principal use of which is to furnish the wherewithal for endless dispute to those who want to dispute. By this science I mean the general truths which can serve as principles for the particular sciences.” Malebranche Dialogues on Metaphysics and Religion 1. The interminable agony of metaphysics Throughout the twentieth century, numerous philosophers sounded the death knell of metaphysics. Ludwig Wittgenstein, Rudolf Carnap, Martin Heidegger, Gilbert Ryle, J. L. Austin, Jacques Derrida, Jürgen Habermas, Richard Rorty, and, henceforth, Hilary Putnam: a great many tutelary figures have extolled the rejection, the exceeding, the elimination, or the deconstruction of first philosophy. All these necrological chronicles do not have the same radiance, the same seriousness, nor the same motivations, but they all agree to dismiss the discipline, which in the past was considered “the queen of the sciences”, with a violence at times comparable to the prestige it commanded at the time of its impunity. Even today, certain philosophers hastily spread the tragic news with contempt for philosophical inquiry, as if its grave solemnity bestowed upon it some obviousness. Thus, Franco Volpi writes: ‘Grand metaphysics is dead!’ is the slogan which applies to the majority of contemporary philosophers, whether continentals or of analytic profession. They all treat metaphysics as a dead dog.1 In this way, the “path of modern thought” would declare itself vociferously “anti- metaphysical and finally post-metaphysical”.
    [Show full text]
  • Feng Youlan's Interpretation of Western Philosophy
    ASIANetwork Exchange | Fall 2014 | volume 22 | 1 Feng Youlan’s Interpretation of Western Philosophy: A Critical Examination from the Perspective of Metaphysical Methodology Derong Chen Abstract: This paper concentrates on Feng’s interpretation of Western philosophy from the perspective of metaphysical methodology and aims to display a limited observation of Feng’s interpretation of Western philosophy through the window of metaphysical methodology. Based on a brief review of the recent studies of Feng Youlan and Western philoso- phy, this paper analyzes the progress and insufficient aspects in current studies on this issue and particularly clarifies what are the metaphysics and metaphysical methods in the context of Feng Youlan’s philosophy. In clarifying Feng’s interpreta- tion of Western philosophy from the perspective of methodology, this paper further critically analyzes Feng’s positive metaphysical methods and negative metaphysical methods, and assumes that Feng’s negative metaphysical methods essentially is a kind of attitude towards metaphysics but neither a kind of metaphysics nor a kind of metaphysical methods. Instead of characterizing metaphysical methods as positive and negative as Feng did, this paper suggests an alternative division of metaphysical methods: direct and indirect methods of dealing with metaphysical issues. Keywords Feng Youlan; metaphysics; metaphysical methods; Western philosophy; negative metaphysics In the twentieth century, Feng Youlan was one of the Chinese intellectuals most deeply Derong Chen is a Sessional involved in the dialogue and interaction between Chinese and Western philosophies. In Lecturer II at the University of addition to studying Western philosophy at Columbia University, he systematically con- Toronto Mississauga. ducted research on Western philosophy, specifically the philosophy of life.
    [Show full text]
  • “Modern” Philosophy: Introduction
    “Modern” Philosophy: Introduction [from Debates in Modern Philosophy by Stewart Duncan and Antonia LoLordo (Routledge, 2013)] This course discusses the views of various European of his contemporaries (e.g. Thomas Hobbes) did see philosophers of the seventeenth century. Along with themselves as engaged in a new project in philosophy the thinkers of the eighteenth century, they are con- and the sciences, which somehow contained a new sidered “modern” philosophers. That might not seem way of explaining how the world worked. So, what terribly modern. René Descartes was writing in the was this new project? And what, if anything, did all 1630s and 1640s, and Immanuel Kant died in 1804. these modern philosophers have in common? By many standards, that was a long time ago. So, why is the work of Descartes, Kant, and their contempor- Two themes emerge when you read what Des- aries called modern philosophy? cartes and Hobbes say about their new philosophies. First, they think that earlier philosophers, particu- In one way this question has a trivial answer. larly so-called Scholastic Aristotelians—medieval “Modern” is being used here to describe a period of European philosophers who were influenced by time, and to contrast it with other periods of time. So, Aristotle—were mistaken about many issues, and modern philosophy is not the philosophy of today as that the new, modern way is better. (They say nicer contrasted with the philosophy of the 2020s or even things about Aristotle himself, and about some other the 1950s. Rather it’s the philosophy of the 1600s previous philosophers.) This view was shared by and onwards, as opposed to ancient and medieval many modern philosophers, but not all of them.
    [Show full text]
  • Malebranche's Augustinianism and the Mind's Perfection
    University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations Spring 2010 Malebranche's Augustinianism and the Mind's Perfection Jason Skirry University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the History of Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Skirry, Jason, "Malebranche's Augustinianism and the Mind's Perfection" (2010). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 179. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/179 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/179 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Malebranche's Augustinianism and the Mind's Perfection Abstract This dissertation presents a unified interpretation of Malebranche’s philosophical system that is based on his Augustinian theory of the mind’s perfection, which consists in maximizing the mind’s ability to successfully access, comprehend, and follow God’s Order through practices that purify and cognitively enhance the mind’s attention. I argue that the mind’s perfection figures centrally in Malebranche’s philosophy and is the main hub that connects and reconciles the three fundamental principles of his system, namely, his occasionalism, divine illumination, and freedom. To demonstrate this, I first present, in chapter one, Malebranche’s philosophy within the historical and intellectual context of his membership in the French Oratory, arguing that the Oratory’s particular brand of Augustinianism, initiated by Cardinal Bérulle and propagated by Oratorians such as Andre Martin, is at the core of his philosophy and informs his theory of perfection. Next, in chapter two, I explicate Augustine’s own theory of perfection in order to provide an outline, and a basis of comparison, for Malebranche’s own theory of perfection.
    [Show full text]
  • Time Atomism and Ash'arite Origins for Cartesian Occasionalism Revisited
    Time Atomism and Ash‘arite Origins for Cartesian Occasionalism Revisited Richard T. W. Arthur Department of Philosophy McMaster University Hamilton, Ontario Canada Time Atomism and Ash’arite Origins for Occasionalism Revisited Introduction In gauging the contributions of Asian thinkers to the making of modern “Western” philosophy and science, one often encounters the difficulty of establishing a direct influence. Arun Bala and George Gheverghese Joseph (2007) have termed this “the transmission problem”. One can establish a precedence, as well as a strong probability that an influence occurred, without being able to find concrete evidence for it. In the face of this difficulty (which appears to occur quite generally in the history of thought) I suggest here that the influence of earlier thinkers does not always occur through one person reading others’ work and becoming persuaded by their arguments, but by people in given epistemic situations being constrained by certain historically and socially conditioned trends of thought—for which constraining and conditioned trends of thought I coin the term "epistemic vectors"—and opportunistically availing themselves of kindred views from other traditions. As a case in point, I will examine here the claim that the doctrine of Occasionalism arose in seventeenth century Europe as a result of an influence from Islamic theology. In particular, the Ash’arite school of kalâm presented occasionalism as a corollary of time atomism, and since to many scholars the seventeenth century occasionalism of Cartesian thinkers such as De la Forge and Cordemoy has appeared as a direct corollary of the atomism of time attributed to Descartes in his Meditations, Ash’arite time atomism is often cited as the likely source of Cartesian Occasionalism.
    [Show full text]
  • Dificultades De Lectura De Textos Académicos Polifónicos En Inglés
    Dificultades de lectura de textos académicos polifónicos en inglés como lengua extranjera para alumnos universitarios con un nivel básico de conocimientos de la lengua meta González, María Susana 2006 Tesis presentada con el fin de cumplimentar con los requisitos finales para la obtención del título Magister de la Universidad de Buenos Aires en Análisis del Discurso 1 T UULT,: -SiS ce FftC;; 2ODIC 2006 AgrjJ. Maestría en Análisis del Discurso Tesis de Maestría: Dificultades de lectura de textos académicos polifónicos en inglés como lengua extranjera para alumnos universitarios con un nivel básico de cónocimientos de la lengua meta Tesista: María Susana González Teléfono: 4943 5055 E- mail: sgonzalez(wamanLapcorg .UN1EsJ9;D 1)F. BUEN S MRES ACULTAI) hE FIIX)SO FíA Y LETRAS Direcciói, de Mibiiió:tetas Capítulo 1: Planteo del problema 1- Introducción al problema a. La relevancia del presente estudio deriva del hecho de que no ha habido trabajos de investigación de este tipo en los que los sujetos sean estudiantes con un nivel básico de conocimientos de inglés como lengua extranjera ya que los estudios generalmente se centran en los problemas de procesamiento que tienen los estudiantes extranjeros que poseen un nivel avanzado de conocimientos de la lengua meta y que cursan en universidades estadounidenses o inglesas. Partiendo de los estudios relacionados con la reconstrucción de los textos académicos en lengua materna, se avanzará sobre las dificultades de procesamiento de un texto en lengua extranjera. Las dificultades del procesamiento de textos académicos en lengua materna por parte de un rnmero importante de alumnos universitarios son conocidas y existen algunos trabajos sobre los problemas de reformulación de este tipo textual.
    [Show full text]
  • Hume and the Metaphysics of Agency
    +XPHDQGWKH0HWDSK\VLFVRI$JHQF\ Joshua M. Wood Journal of the History of Philosophy, Volume 52, Number 1, January 2014, pp. 87-112 (Article) 3XEOLVKHGE\7KH-RKQV+RSNLQV8QLYHUVLW\3UHVV DOI: 10.1353/hph.2014.0013 For additional information about this article http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/hph/summary/v052/52.1.wood.html Access provided by Wellesley College Library (24 Mar 2015 17:53 GMT) Hume and the Metaphysics of Agency JOSHUA M. WOOD* Was it not Matter of every Day’s Experience, the moving of the Hand by a meer Volition, would be as strange a Thing as an Apparition. —Robert Bragge (1725)1 1 . introduction my topic is hume’s construal of the metaphysics of human agency. I take this to be distinct from, and ultimately to underlie, his discussions of free will and moral psychology. Therefore my concern in this paper, as I shall more often refer to it, is Hume’s “construal of the basic structure of human agency.” This construal includes two claims. The first holds that volition occurs independently of action. The second holds that, no matter how we look at it, the causal mechanism presumed to be operative in voluntary action remains incomprehensible. These two claims play a crucial role in a separate feature of Hume’s treatment of human agency. This is his “analysis of human agency,” or his assessment of what the basic structure of human agency means for our understanding of causation generally. Of particular interest is his argument that, given the truth of the above two claims, we cannot draw the concept of causal power from a consideration of voluntary action.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 the Specter of Spinozism: Malebranche, Arnauld, Fénelon
    The Specter of Spinozism: Malebranche, Arnauld, Fénelon What might a French Bishop, a German Lutheran polymath, two unorthodox Catholic priests—both French, one an Oratorian Cartesian in Paris and the other a Jansenist on the lam in the Spanish Low Countries—and a Huguenot exile in the Dutch Republic, all contemporaries in the second half of the seventeenth century, possibly have in common? The answer is not too difficult to find. François Fénelon, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Nicolas Malebranche, Antoine Arnauld and Pierre Bayle—like so many others in the period—all suffered from Spinozaphobia (although Bayle, at least, had some admiration for the “atheist” Spinoza’s virtuous life). Just as the specter of communism united Democrats and Republicans in the rough and tumble world of American politics in the 1940s and 50s, so the specter of Spinozism made room for strange bedfellows in the equally rough and tumble world of the early modern Republic of Letters. One of the topics which accounts for a good deal of the backlash against Spinoza, and which led some thinkers to accuse others of being—willingly or in spite of themselves—Spinozists, was the perceived materialism of Spinoza's theology. If one of the attributes of God is extension, as Spinoza claimed, then, it was argued by his critics, matter itself must belong to the essence of God, thereby making God material or body.1 And anyone whose philosophy even looks like it places extension or body (in whatever form) in God must be a Spinozist. Thus, Arnauld explicitly invokes Spinoza (a philosopher “who believed that the matter from which God made the world was uncreated”) as he insists that Malebranche's claim, in the Vision in God doctrine, that something called "intelligible extension" is in God—which is why we are able to cognize 1 material bodies by apprehending their ideas or intelligible archtypes in God—is tantamout to making God Himself extended.2 Arnauld was certainly not alone in claiming that Malebranche’s theory of “intelligible extension” implies a kind of Spinozism.
    [Show full text]
  • A Theological Comparison of Joseph Ratzinger and John Milbank
    THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA Truth and Politics: A Theological Comparison Of Joseph Ratzinger and John Milbank A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Faculty of the School of Theology and Religious Studies Of The Catholic University of America In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree Doctor of Sacred Theology By Peter Samuel Kucer Washington, D.C. 2012 Truth and Politics: A Theological Comparison Of Joseph Ratzinger and John Milbank Peter Samuel Kucer, S.T.D. Director: Chad C. Pecknold, Ph.D. Joseph Ratzinger and the Anglican scholar John Milbank have written extensively on the social and political order from a theological perspective. The main aspect which distinguishes Ratzinger’s theology of politics from Milbank’s political theology is how each theologian orients his thought on the question of truth, and most specifically how each theologian understands and relocates Vico’s claim that verum est factum (the truth is made). While Ratzinger is critical of Vico’s account of the socially constructed nature of truth, Milbank, on the other hand, embraces Vico in a way which validates it. The political consequences which logically follow these two philosophical approaches to Vico illustrate a central difference between Ratzinger and Milbank. As a result of these differing responses to Vico on truth, the dissertation argues that Ratzinger and Milbank take up different ways of relating socialism to the Trinitarian faith. Ratzinger’s critical appreciation of socialism, but rejection of all political models as expressive of Trinitarian faith, and Milbank’s promotion of socialism as integral to Trinitarian faith in practice are rooted in their reactions to Vico.
    [Show full text]