
Secular Powers
Humility in Modern Political Thought
Julie E. Cooper(Author)
University of Chicago Press
Published on 28. October 2013
Book
Hardback
256 pages
978-0-226-08129-8 (ISBN)
Description
Secularism is usually thought to contain the project of self-deification, in which humans attack God's authority in order to take his place. Julie E. Cooper overturns this conception through an incisive analysis of the early modern justifications for secular politics. While she agrees that secularism is a means of empowerment, she argues that we have misunderstood the sources of secular empowerment and the kinds of strength to which it aspires. Contemporary understandings of secularism, Cooper contends, have been shaped by a limited understanding of it as a shift from vulnerability to power. But the works of the foundational thinkers of secularism tell a different story. Analyzing the writings of Hobbes, Spinoza, and Rousseau at the moment of secularity's inception, she shows that all three understood that acknowledging one's limitations was a condition of successful self-rule. And while all three invited humans to collectively build and sustain a political world, their invitations did not amount to self-deification. Cooper establishes that secular politics as originally conceived does not require a choice between power and vulnerability.
Rather, it challenges us - today as then - to reconcile them both as essential components of our humanity.
Rather, it challenges us - today as then - to reconcile them both as essential components of our humanity.
Reviews / Votes
"Julie E. Cooper has undertaken an impressive survey of the historical and contemporary literatures to elucidate and explain the limitations posed by the mistaken presumption that self-aggrandizement is a corollary of secularization. An erudite and truly excellent study, Secular Powers is positioned to make an extremely important contribution to contemporary arguments about the fortunes and possibly the future of secularism in political life." (Samantha L. Frost, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)"More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Chicago
United States
Publishing group
The University of Chicago Press
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 23 mm
Width: 17 mm
Thickness: 2 mm
Weight
510 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-226-08129-8 (9780226081298)
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E-Book
05/2024
1st Edition
University of Chicago Press
from
€51.89
Available for download
Person
Julie E. Cooper is assistant professor of political science at the University of Chicago.