John A. Davis
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198207559
- eISBN:
- 9780191716720
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198207559.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
The second major distortion of the Neapolitan Republic derived from the long-standing association with the popular counter-revolutionary Santafede. The counter-revolution against Naples was real ...
More
The second major distortion of the Neapolitan Republic derived from the long-standing association with the popular counter-revolutionary Santafede. The counter-revolution against Naples was real enough, but popular counter-revolutionary insurrections in the South were only one amongst the many popular risings against the French that took place throughout Italy between 1796 and 1799. Nor did Santafede conform to later images of a spontaneous popular reaction driven by religious fanaticism and ignorance. Although differing from region to region, the popular anti-republican insurrections in the South were driven not be religious enthusiasm, but by local conflicts generated by the monarchy's earlier campaigns against feudalism. The counter-revolution brought about the collapse of the Republic, although a more decisive role was played by Admiral Nelson's warships. The brief and bloody Royalist restoration contributed no less than the Republic to making the crisis of the Bourbon monarchy irreversible.Less
The second major distortion of the Neapolitan Republic derived from the long-standing association with the popular counter-revolutionary Santafede. The counter-revolution against Naples was real enough, but popular counter-revolutionary insurrections in the South were only one amongst the many popular risings against the French that took place throughout Italy between 1796 and 1799. Nor did Santafede conform to later images of a spontaneous popular reaction driven by religious fanaticism and ignorance. Although differing from region to region, the popular anti-republican insurrections in the South were driven not be religious enthusiasm, but by local conflicts generated by the monarchy's earlier campaigns against feudalism. The counter-revolution brought about the collapse of the Republic, although a more decisive role was played by Admiral Nelson's warships. The brief and bloody Royalist restoration contributed no less than the Republic to making the crisis of the Bourbon monarchy irreversible.
Jessica N. Berry
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195368420
- eISBN:
- 9780199867479
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195368420.003.0008
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
This brief concluding chapter summarizes the results of the foregoing chapters and offers an analysis of Nietzsche's metaphor of “open seas” to illustrate the demanding nature of abandoning ...
More
This brief concluding chapter summarizes the results of the foregoing chapters and offers an analysis of Nietzsche's metaphor of “open seas” to illustrate the demanding nature of abandoning belief—especially belief in morality. It emphasizes the fundamentally descriptive nature of Nietzsche's philosophical project, urging a rejection of those interpretations on which he is said to have normative aims and theories to offer his readers.Less
This brief concluding chapter summarizes the results of the foregoing chapters and offers an analysis of Nietzsche's metaphor of “open seas” to illustrate the demanding nature of abandoning belief—especially belief in morality. It emphasizes the fundamentally descriptive nature of Nietzsche's philosophical project, urging a rejection of those interpretations on which he is said to have normative aims and theories to offer his readers.
Michael Ostling
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199587902
- eISBN:
- 9780191731228
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199587902.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History, Social History
Until very recently, the historiography of witchcraft in Poland treated the subject as an object lesson in the dangers of fanaticism, superstition, and feudal oppression; only in the last fifteen ...
More
Until very recently, the historiography of witchcraft in Poland treated the subject as an object lesson in the dangers of fanaticism, superstition, and feudal oppression; only in the last fifteen years have new studies challenged this view. It is difficult to estimate the number of trials of accused and of executed witches, due to the destruction of archives during World War II. Estimates from the mid-twentieth century are certainly far too high. Minimum figures of 558 executed, out of 1,316 accused in 867 trials, have been established by Małgorzata Pilaszek; a reasonable estimate of executions might be in the range of 2,000. Accused witches were overwhelmingly peasants or commoner townspeople, more than 90 percent were women; many were married and there is no clear pattern related to age.Less
Until very recently, the historiography of witchcraft in Poland treated the subject as an object lesson in the dangers of fanaticism, superstition, and feudal oppression; only in the last fifteen years have new studies challenged this view. It is difficult to estimate the number of trials of accused and of executed witches, due to the destruction of archives during World War II. Estimates from the mid-twentieth century are certainly far too high. Minimum figures of 558 executed, out of 1,316 accused in 867 trials, have been established by Małgorzata Pilaszek; a reasonable estimate of executions might be in the range of 2,000. Accused witches were overwhelmingly peasants or commoner townspeople, more than 90 percent were women; many were married and there is no clear pattern related to age.
Gretchen A. Adams
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226005416
- eISBN:
- 9780226005423
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226005423.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This book reveals the many ways that the Salem witch trials loomed over the American collective memory from the Revolution to the Civil War and beyond. Schoolbooks in the 1790s, for example, evoked ...
More
This book reveals the many ways that the Salem witch trials loomed over the American collective memory from the Revolution to the Civil War and beyond. Schoolbooks in the 1790s, for example, evoked the episode to demonstrate the new nation's progress from a disorderly and brutal past to a rational present, while critics of new religious movements in the 1830s cast them as a return to Salem-era fanaticism, and during the Civil War, southerners evoked witch burning to criticize Union tactics. Shedding light on the many, varied American invocations of Salem, the author ultimately illuminates the function of collective memories in the life of a nation.Less
This book reveals the many ways that the Salem witch trials loomed over the American collective memory from the Revolution to the Civil War and beyond. Schoolbooks in the 1790s, for example, evoked the episode to demonstrate the new nation's progress from a disorderly and brutal past to a rational present, while critics of new religious movements in the 1830s cast them as a return to Salem-era fanaticism, and during the Civil War, southerners evoked witch burning to criticize Union tactics. Shedding light on the many, varied American invocations of Salem, the author ultimately illuminates the function of collective memories in the life of a nation.
Ross Lerner
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- January 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780823283873
- eISBN:
- 9780823286331
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823283873.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature
We may think we know what defines religious fanaticism: violent action undertaken with dogmatic certainty. But the term “fanatic,” from the European Reformation to today, has never been a stable ...
More
We may think we know what defines religious fanaticism: violent action undertaken with dogmatic certainty. But the term “fanatic,” from the European Reformation to today, has never been a stable term. Then and now it has been reductively defined to justify state violence and to delegitimize alternative sources of authority. Unknowing Fanaticism rejects the simplified binary of fanatical religion and rational politics and turns to Renaissance literature to demonstrate that fanaticism was integral to how both modern politics and poetics developed, from the German Peasant Revolts of the 1520s to the English Civil War in the mid-seventeenth century. This book traces two entangled approaches to fanaticism in the long Reformation: the targeting of it as a political threat and the engagement with it as an epistemological and poetic problem. In the first, thinkers of modernity from Martin Luther to Thomas Hobbes and John Locke positioned themselves against fanaticism to dismiss dissent and abet theological and political control. In the second, the poets of fanaticism investigated the link between fanatical self-annihilation—the process by which one could become a vessel for divine violence—and the practices of writing poetry. Edmund Spenser, John Donne, and John Milton recognized in the fanatic’s claim to be a passive instrument of God their own incapacity to know and depict the origins of fanaticism. This crisis led these writers to experiment with poetic techniques that would allow them to address fanaticism’s tendency to unsettle the boundaries between reason and revelation, human will and divine agency.Less
We may think we know what defines religious fanaticism: violent action undertaken with dogmatic certainty. But the term “fanatic,” from the European Reformation to today, has never been a stable term. Then and now it has been reductively defined to justify state violence and to delegitimize alternative sources of authority. Unknowing Fanaticism rejects the simplified binary of fanatical religion and rational politics and turns to Renaissance literature to demonstrate that fanaticism was integral to how both modern politics and poetics developed, from the German Peasant Revolts of the 1520s to the English Civil War in the mid-seventeenth century. This book traces two entangled approaches to fanaticism in the long Reformation: the targeting of it as a political threat and the engagement with it as an epistemological and poetic problem. In the first, thinkers of modernity from Martin Luther to Thomas Hobbes and John Locke positioned themselves against fanaticism to dismiss dissent and abet theological and political control. In the second, the poets of fanaticism investigated the link between fanatical self-annihilation—the process by which one could become a vessel for divine violence—and the practices of writing poetry. Edmund Spenser, John Donne, and John Milton recognized in the fanatic’s claim to be a passive instrument of God their own incapacity to know and depict the origins of fanaticism. This crisis led these writers to experiment with poetic techniques that would allow them to address fanaticism’s tendency to unsettle the boundaries between reason and revelation, human will and divine agency.
W. H. C. Frend
- Published in print:
- 1985
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198264088
- eISBN:
- 9780191682704
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198264088.003.0015
- Subject:
- Religion, Church History, History of Christianity
Two appointments in no way connected with each other opened the decisive period of strife between the Catholics and the Donatists. In 386, the Emperor Theodosius nominated Firmus' younger brother ...
More
Two appointments in no way connected with each other opened the decisive period of strife between the Catholics and the Donatists. In 386, the Emperor Theodosius nominated Firmus' younger brother Gild as Comes Africae, and two years later a priest named Optatus was elected Bishop of Thamugadi, the most important Donatist bishopric in southern Numidia. By A.D. 396 Gild and Optatus were allies in an attempt to impose the extreme doctrines of Numidian Donatism on all North Africa. In 398, they were joint leaders of a revolt against Honorius, which if successful might have led to the transfer of the allegiance of the African provinces from Ravenna to Constantinople. The new Bishop of Thamugadi did not take long to show his true colours. Optatus represented the arrogant fanaticism of Numidian Donatism, and was himself bent on accomplishing social as well as religious revolution by violent means.Less
Two appointments in no way connected with each other opened the decisive period of strife between the Catholics and the Donatists. In 386, the Emperor Theodosius nominated Firmus' younger brother Gild as Comes Africae, and two years later a priest named Optatus was elected Bishop of Thamugadi, the most important Donatist bishopric in southern Numidia. By A.D. 396 Gild and Optatus were allies in an attempt to impose the extreme doctrines of Numidian Donatism on all North Africa. In 398, they were joint leaders of a revolt against Honorius, which if successful might have led to the transfer of the allegiance of the African provinces from Ravenna to Constantinople. The new Bishop of Thamugadi did not take long to show his true colours. Optatus represented the arrogant fanaticism of Numidian Donatism, and was himself bent on accomplishing social as well as religious revolution by violent means.
W. H. C. Frend
- Published in print:
- 1985
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198264088
- eISBN:
- 9780191682704
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198264088.003.0019
- Subject:
- Religion, Church History, History of Christianity
In the 17 years that remained of Roman rule in Africa, the Catholics left nothing undone to make their success lasting. In contrast to the situation in previous periods of ‘Unity’, they had the full ...
More
In the 17 years that remained of Roman rule in Africa, the Catholics left nothing undone to make their success lasting. In contrast to the situation in previous periods of ‘Unity’, they had the full support of the chief military and executive officials in Roman Africa. As a first step the results of the great Conference were given as much publicity as possible. The villages, however, where Donatism was strongest remained comparatively prosperous and unscathed. The Donatist leaders stood firm, and one learns that their conduct influenced the masses. In the countryside, archaeologists have yet to find clear evidence for the transformation of a Donatist church into a Catholic one. In these circumstances, to assume that Unity was enforced would probably be mistaken.Less
In the 17 years that remained of Roman rule in Africa, the Catholics left nothing undone to make their success lasting. In contrast to the situation in previous periods of ‘Unity’, they had the full support of the chief military and executive officials in Roman Africa. As a first step the results of the great Conference were given as much publicity as possible. The villages, however, where Donatism was strongest remained comparatively prosperous and unscathed. The Donatist leaders stood firm, and one learns that their conduct influenced the masses. In the countryside, archaeologists have yet to find clear evidence for the transformation of a Donatist church into a Catholic one. In these circumstances, to assume that Unity was enforced would probably be mistaken.
Sayyid NiʿMatuʾLlah al-JazaʾIri
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195137996
- eISBN:
- 9780199849055
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195137996.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This chapter presents a reprint of the a biographical narrative of Niʿmatuʼllah, taken from Qisasuʼl-Ulama, translated by orientalist E. G. Browne in his Literary History of the Persians. As Browne ...
More
This chapter presents a reprint of the a biographical narrative of Niʿmatuʼllah, taken from Qisasuʼl-Ulama, translated by orientalist E. G. Browne in his Literary History of the Persians. As Browne himself wrote, this is an “unusually vivid picture of the privations and hardships experienced by a poor student of Divinity.” Browne compares the life portrayed here with that of the medieval European student: a life of arduous work, extreme physical hardship, isolation from family, and submersion in “formalism and fanaticism.” Relief would come only to the few who had attracted the notice of a great divine.Less
This chapter presents a reprint of the a biographical narrative of Niʿmatuʼllah, taken from Qisasuʼl-Ulama, translated by orientalist E. G. Browne in his Literary History of the Persians. As Browne himself wrote, this is an “unusually vivid picture of the privations and hardships experienced by a poor student of Divinity.” Browne compares the life portrayed here with that of the medieval European student: a life of arduous work, extreme physical hardship, isolation from family, and submersion in “formalism and fanaticism.” Relief would come only to the few who had attracted the notice of a great divine.
W. H. C. Frend
- Published in print:
- 1985
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198264088
- eISBN:
- 9780191682704
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198264088.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Church History, History of Christianity
This chapter passes into the religious background of Donatism and examines the religious grounds for the fanaticism and even suicidal mania of some of its adherents. The temples of the pagan gods in ...
More
This chapter passes into the religious background of Donatism and examines the religious grounds for the fanaticism and even suicidal mania of some of its adherents. The temples of the pagan gods in North Africa shared the fate of the other public buildings in the decaying Roman cities. The third and fourth centuries saw equally the collapse of official paganism and the ruin of the urban middle classes. In the Mediterranean basin, however, it was Christianity that triumphed, and in Africa victory was won at the expense not only of official paganism but also of the great national cult of Saturn and Caelestis. In widely separated parts of the Empire the same period saw the downfall of hitherto all-powerful national cults before the same foe, an intense and fanatical form of the Christian religion.Less
This chapter passes into the religious background of Donatism and examines the religious grounds for the fanaticism and even suicidal mania of some of its adherents. The temples of the pagan gods in North Africa shared the fate of the other public buildings in the decaying Roman cities. The third and fourth centuries saw equally the collapse of official paganism and the ruin of the urban middle classes. In the Mediterranean basin, however, it was Christianity that triumphed, and in Africa victory was won at the expense not only of official paganism but also of the great national cult of Saturn and Caelestis. In widely separated parts of the Empire the same period saw the downfall of hitherto all-powerful national cults before the same foe, an intense and fanatical form of the Christian religion.
Arthur Versluis
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195306378
- eISBN:
- 9780199850914
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195306378.003.0014
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This chapter examines the thoughts of essayist Fyodor Dostoevsky and political philosopher Nicholas Berdyaev on the relation between communism and Roman Catholicism. In one of his major works, ...
More
This chapter examines the thoughts of essayist Fyodor Dostoevsky and political philosopher Nicholas Berdyaev on the relation between communism and Roman Catholicism. In one of his major works, Dostoevsky have suggested that communism had its origin in some aspects of Roman Catholicism. Berdyaev acknowledged that Dostoevsky foresaw the demonic aspect of the Russian Revolution and the demonic metaphysics of revolution. However, Berdyaev believed that it is not so important whether communism has part of its origin in Catholicism and that what matters is the underlying dynamic of heretic-hunting itself. He asserted that the root of the Inquisition was fanaticism and suggested a parallelism with the emergence and growth of communism.Less
This chapter examines the thoughts of essayist Fyodor Dostoevsky and political philosopher Nicholas Berdyaev on the relation between communism and Roman Catholicism. In one of his major works, Dostoevsky have suggested that communism had its origin in some aspects of Roman Catholicism. Berdyaev acknowledged that Dostoevsky foresaw the demonic aspect of the Russian Revolution and the demonic metaphysics of revolution. However, Berdyaev believed that it is not so important whether communism has part of its origin in Catholicism and that what matters is the underlying dynamic of heretic-hunting itself. He asserted that the root of the Inquisition was fanaticism and suggested a parallelism with the emergence and growth of communism.
Sherine Hafez
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780814773031
- eISBN:
- 9780814790724
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9780814773031.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
As the world grapples with issues of religious fanaticism, extremist politics, and rampant violence that seek justification in either “religious” or “secular” discourses, women who claim Islam as a ...
More
As the world grapples with issues of religious fanaticism, extremist politics, and rampant violence that seek justification in either “religious” or “secular” discourses, women who claim Islam as a vehicle for individual and social change are often either regarded as pious subjects who subscribe to an ideology that denies them many modern freedoms, or as feminist subjects who seek empowerment only through rejecting religion and adopting secularist discourses. Such assumptions emerge from a common trend in the literature to categorize the “secular” and the “religious” as polarizing categories, which in turn mitigates the identities, experiences and actions of women in Islamic societies. Yet in actuality Muslim women whose activism is grounded in Islam draw equally on principles associated with secularism. This book focuses on women's Islamic activism in Egypt to challenge these binary representations of religious versus secular subjectivities. Drawing on six non-consecutive years of ethnographic fieldwork within a women's Islamic movement in Cairo, the book analyzes the ways in which women who participate in Islamic activism narrate their selfhood, articulate their desires, and embody discourses in which the boundaries are blurred between the religious and the secular.Less
As the world grapples with issues of religious fanaticism, extremist politics, and rampant violence that seek justification in either “religious” or “secular” discourses, women who claim Islam as a vehicle for individual and social change are often either regarded as pious subjects who subscribe to an ideology that denies them many modern freedoms, or as feminist subjects who seek empowerment only through rejecting religion and adopting secularist discourses. Such assumptions emerge from a common trend in the literature to categorize the “secular” and the “religious” as polarizing categories, which in turn mitigates the identities, experiences and actions of women in Islamic societies. Yet in actuality Muslim women whose activism is grounded in Islam draw equally on principles associated with secularism. This book focuses on women's Islamic activism in Egypt to challenge these binary representations of religious versus secular subjectivities. Drawing on six non-consecutive years of ethnographic fieldwork within a women's Islamic movement in Cairo, the book analyzes the ways in which women who participate in Islamic activism narrate their selfhood, articulate their desires, and embody discourses in which the boundaries are blurred between the religious and the secular.
Aurelian Craiutu
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691146768
- eISBN:
- 9781400842421
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691146768.003.0002
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
This chapter examines different visions of moderation in the history of French political thought. It first considers the reluctance to theorize about moderation, in part because moderation has often ...
More
This chapter examines different visions of moderation in the history of French political thought. It first considers the reluctance to theorize about moderation, in part because moderation has often been understood as a vague virtue. It then discusses moderation in the classical and Christian traditions, focusing on the works of Plato, Aristotle, and Cicero, followed by an analysis of the writings of sixteenth-century political thinkers such as Niccolò Machiavelli, Claude de Seyssel, Louis Le Roy, Étienne Pasquier, Michel de Montaigne, Blaise Pascal, and French moralists such as La Bruyère and François de La Rochefoucauld. It also describes the transformation of moderation from a predominantly ethical concept into a prominent political virtue. Finally, it explores the views of authors such as David Hume and Jean-Jacques Rousseau on fanaticism in relation to moderation.Less
This chapter examines different visions of moderation in the history of French political thought. It first considers the reluctance to theorize about moderation, in part because moderation has often been understood as a vague virtue. It then discusses moderation in the classical and Christian traditions, focusing on the works of Plato, Aristotle, and Cicero, followed by an analysis of the writings of sixteenth-century political thinkers such as Niccolò Machiavelli, Claude de Seyssel, Louis Le Roy, Étienne Pasquier, Michel de Montaigne, Blaise Pascal, and French moralists such as La Bruyère and François de La Rochefoucauld. It also describes the transformation of moderation from a predominantly ethical concept into a prominent political virtue. Finally, it explores the views of authors such as David Hume and Jean-Jacques Rousseau on fanaticism in relation to moderation.
Aurelian Craiutu
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691146768
- eISBN:
- 9781400842421
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691146768.003.0006
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
This chapter examines political moderation in the writings of Germaine de Staël, with a particular focus on her attempt to create a center in the aftermath of the French Revolution. Madame de Staël's ...
More
This chapter examines political moderation in the writings of Germaine de Staël, with a particular focus on her attempt to create a center in the aftermath of the French Revolution. Madame de Staël's has established a reputation for her strong and sustained commitment to political moderation. It first considers Madame de Staël's contribution to the debates on the origins, nature, and legacy of the French Revolution before discussing the Constituent Assembly and the French constitution of 1791. It then explores Madame de Staël's views on political fanaticism and representative government, along with her proposed political center that could accommodate moderates from all camps. It also analyzes the defeat of the moderates and the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte and concludes with an assessment of the French Charter of 1814 in comparison to the English constitution.Less
This chapter examines political moderation in the writings of Germaine de Staël, with a particular focus on her attempt to create a center in the aftermath of the French Revolution. Madame de Staël's has established a reputation for her strong and sustained commitment to political moderation. It first considers Madame de Staël's contribution to the debates on the origins, nature, and legacy of the French Revolution before discussing the Constituent Assembly and the French constitution of 1791. It then explores Madame de Staël's views on political fanaticism and representative government, along with her proposed political center that could accommodate moderates from all camps. It also analyzes the defeat of the moderates and the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte and concludes with an assessment of the French Charter of 1814 in comparison to the English constitution.
Aurelian Craiutu
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691146768
- eISBN:
- 9781400842421
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691146768.003.0008
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
This epilogue argues that the authors studied in this book demonstrate that political moderation is neither a lukewarm middle between extremes, nor a synonym for indecisiveness or lukewarmness, but ...
More
This epilogue argues that the authors studied in this book demonstrate that political moderation is neither a lukewarm middle between extremes, nor a synonym for indecisiveness or lukewarmness, but rather a bold virtue for courageous minds. With the exception of Montesquieu, these writers were caught in the orbit of the French Revolution. They acknowledged the complex nature of politics and the fragility of political liberty and the social order, and attempted “to disintoxicate minds and calm fanaticism.” This epilogue also uses the “animated moderation”—defined as that virtue which allows us to see things in the right proportions and makes us willing to refrain from using hyperbole and violence—to describe the ideas of these moderates. It concludes with a discussion of ten conclusions in the form of a “Decalogue” sui generis about the nature of political moderation.Less
This epilogue argues that the authors studied in this book demonstrate that political moderation is neither a lukewarm middle between extremes, nor a synonym for indecisiveness or lukewarmness, but rather a bold virtue for courageous minds. With the exception of Montesquieu, these writers were caught in the orbit of the French Revolution. They acknowledged the complex nature of politics and the fragility of political liberty and the social order, and attempted “to disintoxicate minds and calm fanaticism.” This epilogue also uses the “animated moderation”—defined as that virtue which allows us to see things in the right proportions and makes us willing to refrain from using hyperbole and violence—to describe the ideas of these moderates. It concludes with a discussion of ten conclusions in the form of a “Decalogue” sui generis about the nature of political moderation.
Syrine Hout
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780748643424
- eISBN:
- 9780748676569
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748643424.003.0006
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Middle Eastern Studies
This chapter discusses Rawi Hage's De Niro's Game (2006) as a confessional first-person narrative, similar in this respect to Hanania's Unreal City, Alameddine's I, the Divine, and Ward's The Bullet ...
More
This chapter discusses Rawi Hage's De Niro's Game (2006) as a confessional first-person narrative, similar in this respect to Hanania's Unreal City, Alameddine's I, the Divine, and Ward's The Bullet Collection, and which shares a depiction of militarisation and political fanaticism with Unreal City, Abi-Ezzi's A Girl Made of Dust, and Alameddine' The Hakawati. The loss of innocence here is correlated with the loss of life for one combatant and the feeling of homelessness or internal exile for another, whether during battles in Beirut or in Paris to start a new life. Home is only portable in the sense of one's remaining haunted by traumatising experiences, and the promissory elsewhere as a new utopian home, metaphorised by the city of Rome, remains out of reach.Less
This chapter discusses Rawi Hage's De Niro's Game (2006) as a confessional first-person narrative, similar in this respect to Hanania's Unreal City, Alameddine's I, the Divine, and Ward's The Bullet Collection, and which shares a depiction of militarisation and political fanaticism with Unreal City, Abi-Ezzi's A Girl Made of Dust, and Alameddine' The Hakawati. The loss of innocence here is correlated with the loss of life for one combatant and the feeling of homelessness or internal exile for another, whether during battles in Beirut or in Paris to start a new life. Home is only portable in the sense of one's remaining haunted by traumatising experiences, and the promissory elsewhere as a new utopian home, metaphorised by the city of Rome, remains out of reach.
R. M. Hare
- Published in print:
- 1965
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198810926
- eISBN:
- 9780191597589
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019881092X.003.0009
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
In the broader sense, morality includes the pursuit of ideals as well as the reconciliation of interests. This chapter examines the arguments needed to be brought against people who, in pursuit of ...
More
In the broader sense, morality includes the pursuit of ideals as well as the reconciliation of interests. This chapter examines the arguments needed to be brought against people who, in pursuit of their ideals, trample on other people's interests. The differences between ideals and interests are set out, and the relations between the two investigated. The discussion presents the case against a paramount example of untrammelled idealism—fanatic fascism—as argued by a liberal, and in doing so shows the scope and limits of moral reasoning.Less
In the broader sense, morality includes the pursuit of ideals as well as the reconciliation of interests. This chapter examines the arguments needed to be brought against people who, in pursuit of their ideals, trample on other people's interests. The differences between ideals and interests are set out, and the relations between the two investigated. The discussion presents the case against a paramount example of untrammelled idealism—fanatic fascism—as argued by a liberal, and in doing so shows the scope and limits of moral reasoning.
R. M. Hare
- Published in print:
- 1981
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198246602
- eISBN:
- 9780191597596
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198246609.003.0010
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
There are fanatics and amoralists whose inability or refusal to face facts, or think clearly, or for other reasons present a problem for moral theory. The amoralist refrains from making moral ...
More
There are fanatics and amoralists whose inability or refusal to face facts, or think clearly, or for other reasons present a problem for moral theory. The amoralist refrains from making moral judgements at all or makes only judgements of moral indifference. The fanatic makes moral judgements, but clings to them in a peculiarly obdurate way, which resists critical thinking. Hare goes on to formulate the amoralist position and shows why only one version of the position is tenable. Amoralism is an option left open by our system of moral reasoning. All that can be done to prevent agents from choosing to be amoralists is to provide reasons of a non‐moral sort.Less
There are fanatics and amoralists whose inability or refusal to face facts, or think clearly, or for other reasons present a problem for moral theory. The amoralist refrains from making moral judgements at all or makes only judgements of moral indifference. The fanatic makes moral judgements, but clings to them in a peculiarly obdurate way, which resists critical thinking. Hare goes on to formulate the amoralist position and shows why only one version of the position is tenable. Amoralism is an option left open by our system of moral reasoning. All that can be done to prevent agents from choosing to be amoralists is to provide reasons of a non‐moral sort.
JON MEE
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199284788
- eISBN:
- 9780191718953
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199284788.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism
The chapter looks at the importance of the idea of ‘enthusiasm’ to Coleridge's poetics. It examines the early radical and religious poetry and its millenarian aspirations, but suggests that even ...
More
The chapter looks at the importance of the idea of ‘enthusiasm’ to Coleridge's poetics. It examines the early radical and religious poetry and its millenarian aspirations, but suggests that even here, close reading reveals attempts to bridle what might be construed as enthusiasm, often through tropes of retirement and distance from the crowd. These tensions are also explored via Coleridge's relations with Rational Dissent, and figures like Godwin and Thelwall. Coleridge's interest in ‘the pathology of the benevolent passions’ holds out for poets a role as healers of diseased enthusiasm, but there is a continual fear that proximity may only bring infection. Coleridge tries to cure the problem through desynonymization, distinguishing ‘enthusiasm’ from ‘fanaticism’, but struggles to keep his own distinctions in place.Less
The chapter looks at the importance of the idea of ‘enthusiasm’ to Coleridge's poetics. It examines the early radical and religious poetry and its millenarian aspirations, but suggests that even here, close reading reveals attempts to bridle what might be construed as enthusiasm, often through tropes of retirement and distance from the crowd. These tensions are also explored via Coleridge's relations with Rational Dissent, and figures like Godwin and Thelwall. Coleridge's interest in ‘the pathology of the benevolent passions’ holds out for poets a role as healers of diseased enthusiasm, but there is a continual fear that proximity may only bring infection. Coleridge tries to cure the problem through desynonymization, distinguishing ‘enthusiasm’ from ‘fanaticism’, but struggles to keep his own distinctions in place.
Angela Pulley Hudson
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781469624433
- eISBN:
- 9781469624457
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469624433.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Indian History
This chapter discusses Warner McCary and Lucy Stanton's establishment of their own prophetic movement in Cincinnati in 1846. Their movement was modeled after Mormon practices. It also incorporated ...
More
This chapter discusses Warner McCary and Lucy Stanton's establishment of their own prophetic movement in Cincinnati in 1846. Their movement was modeled after Mormon practices. It also incorporated distinct ideas about American Indians. Detractors, however, began to put a strain on their “new fanaticism,” and a year after they established their movement, they were part of the main body of Mormons who were settled uneasily among Native peoples at Winter Quarters in present-day Nebraska preparing for the journey further west. While McCary's identity as an Indian was unevenly received, charges of spiritual and sexual indecency imbricated with racial concerns led to his ouster from the Mormon community. Although the Winter Quarters episode may have had lasting significance for policies of racial exclusion within the Mormon Church, it also had a transformative impact on the pair's later enactments of Indianness.Less
This chapter discusses Warner McCary and Lucy Stanton's establishment of their own prophetic movement in Cincinnati in 1846. Their movement was modeled after Mormon practices. It also incorporated distinct ideas about American Indians. Detractors, however, began to put a strain on their “new fanaticism,” and a year after they established their movement, they were part of the main body of Mormons who were settled uneasily among Native peoples at Winter Quarters in present-day Nebraska preparing for the journey further west. While McCary's identity as an Indian was unevenly received, charges of spiritual and sexual indecency imbricated with racial concerns led to his ouster from the Mormon community. Although the Winter Quarters episode may have had lasting significance for policies of racial exclusion within the Mormon Church, it also had a transformative impact on the pair's later enactments of Indianness.
Heather J. Sharkey
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199755042
- eISBN:
- 9780199950508
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199755042.003.0013
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter grapples with several difficult questions that arise from the history of conquest, revolution, and colonial rule in Sudan. To what extent was the Mahdist jihad anti-Christian at its ...
More
This chapter grapples with several difficult questions that arise from the history of conquest, revolution, and colonial rule in Sudan. To what extent was the Mahdist jihad anti-Christian at its inception; to what extent did the jihad reflect, instead, a battle among Muslims over the nature of Islamic government and society? How did Muslim religious sensibilities influence popular responses to British colonialism after 1898? To what extent did jihadist discourses persist among Sudanese Muslims, both in the Anglo-Egyptian period and in the decades following decolonization? Reciprocally, to what extent were British policies anti-Muslim? How did British fears of Muslim “fanaticism” influence colonial policies on education, administration, and public health, and did these policies amount to a series of “colonial crusades”?Less
This chapter grapples with several difficult questions that arise from the history of conquest, revolution, and colonial rule in Sudan. To what extent was the Mahdist jihad anti-Christian at its inception; to what extent did the jihad reflect, instead, a battle among Muslims over the nature of Islamic government and society? How did Muslim religious sensibilities influence popular responses to British colonialism after 1898? To what extent did jihadist discourses persist among Sudanese Muslims, both in the Anglo-Egyptian period and in the decades following decolonization? Reciprocally, to what extent were British policies anti-Muslim? How did British fears of Muslim “fanaticism” influence colonial policies on education, administration, and public health, and did these policies amount to a series of “colonial crusades”?
