Generally speaking, removing from previous doctrines everything which gives them their apocalyptic and visionary character, you obtain new doctrines which have a skeptical and discouraged aspect, or which, conversely, expect a lot from human forces and very little from natural … Read More
The middle of the century saw the end of all the hopes, more or less sincere, that were placed in the great philosophical and social constructions. The second period opened which lasted until around 1890. The general theme of thought … Read More
From 1800 to the present day, we can distinguish three large, fairly well-defined periods: from 1800 to 1850, an extraordinary flowering of broad and constructive doctrines, which claim to reveal the secret of nature and history and to make known … Read More
Between the great theological systems of Malebranche, Leibniz, Spinoza, and the massive philosophical architectures of Schelling, Hegel and Comte, the eighteenth century seems to be a moment of relaxation for the synthetic and constructive spirit. It has been variously appreciated: … Read More
Never has a century, less than the seventeenth century, had confidence in the spontaneous forces of a nature abandoned to itself: the natural man, the one who is delivered without rule to the conflict of passions, where can one find … Read More
In humanist environments of the 15th century, so different from the Universities, under the protection of princes or popes, secular and ecclesiastical people met indifferently, at the Platonic Academy in the Florence of Lorenzo the Magnificent, as at the Aldine … Read More
(Duns Scotus) The first symptom of this disintegration is found in the movement of ideas inaugurated by Duns Scotus, the subtle doctor. He had a very short career: born in Scotland around 1265, he studied the “arts” and theology at … Read More
We know what magnificent praise Auguste Comte (1) makes of the 13th century: an organic age par excellence which achieved spiritual unity, true catholicity. Towards this century turns the dream of all those who consider all social peace impossible without … Read More
The twelfth century is a century of ardent and varied thought, tumultuous and confused too: on the one hand a need for systematization and unity which gives birth to these kinds of theological encyclopedias which are the books of the … Read More
We had to wait until the end of the 11th century to see, in the West, a real resumption of intellectual activity: not that this intermediate period was empty or unimportant. It is found everywhere, and in monasteries and in … Read More
Around the 5th century, the unity of Mediterranean civilization was broken at the same time as political unity. With the destruction of cities which marked the invasion of the Barbarians throughout the West, the traditional centers of culture disappeared; with … Read More
The history of philosophy has evolved like history in general; the meticulousness brought to the search for sources would not be explained without the will of the historian to arrive at what is individual, irreducible, personal in the past; his … Read More
