Naturalism and Unbelief in France, 1650-1729
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Naturalism and Unbelief in France, 1650-1729 by Alan Charles Kors
Atheism was the most fundamental challenge to early-modern French certainties. Leading educators, theologians and philosophers labelled such atheism as manifestly absurd, confident that neither the fact nor behaviour of nature was explicable without reference to God. The alternative was a categorical naturalism. This book demonstrates that the Christian learned world had always contained the naturalistic 'atheist' as an interlocutor and a polemical foil, and its early-modern engagement and use of the hypothetical atheist were major parts of its intellectual life. In the considerations and polemics of an increasingly fractious orthodox culture, the early-modern French learned world gave real voice and eventually life to that atheistic presence. Without understanding the actual context and convergence of the inheritance, scholarship, fierce disputes, and polemical modes of orthodox culture, the early-modern generation and dissemination of absolute naturalism are inexplicable. This book brings to life that Christian learned culture, its dilemmas, and its unintended consequences.
'.. indispensable ... sure to fruitfully inspire many historians for years to come.' Jeffrey D. Burson, American Historical Review
Alan Charles Kors is the Henry Charles Lea Professor of History, University of Pennsylvania. He taught at the École Pratique des Hautes Études and the Folger Library. He is also co-founder of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. He published the Encyclopaedia of the Enlightenment (2003), Atheism in France, 1650–1729 (1990) and D'Holbach's Coterie: An Enlightenment in Paris (1976).
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781107514348 |
| ISBN 10 | 1107514347 |
| Title | Naturalism and Unbelief in France, 1650-1729 |
| Author | Alan Charles Kors |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| Year published | 2018-11-22 |
| Number of pages | 338 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |