Passage to Modernity
An Essay on the Hermeneutics of Nature and Culture
Published on 30. August 1995
Book
Paperback/Softback
312 pages
978-0-300-06501-5 (ISBN)
Description
An exploration of the origin and impact of modernity, and of its sustained influence on contemporary culture
Did modernity begin with the Renaissance and end with post-modernity? In this book a distinguished scholar challenges both these assumptions. Louis Dupre discusses the roots, development, and impact of modern thought, tracing the fundamental principles of modernity to the late fourteenth century and affirming that modernity is still an influential force in contemporary culture.
The combination of late medieval theology and early Italian humanism shattered the traditional synthesis that had united cosmic, human, and transcendent components in a comprehensive idea of nature. Early Italian humanism transformed the traditional worldview by its unprecedented emphasis on human creativity. The person emerged as the sole source of meaning while nature was reduced to an object and transcendence withdrew into a "supernatural" realm. Dupre analyzes this fragmentation as well as the writings of those who reacted against it-philosophers like Cusanus and Bruno, humanists like Ficino and Erasmus, theologians like Baius and Jansenius, mystics like Ignatius Loyola and Francis de Sales, and theosophists like Weigel and Boehme.
Baroque culture briefly reunited the human, cosmic, and transcendent components, but since that time the disintegrating forces have increased in strength. Despite post-modern criticism, the principles of early modernity continue to dominate the climate of our time. Passage to Modernity is not so much a critique as a search for the philosophical meaning of the epochal change achieved by those principles.
Did modernity begin with the Renaissance and end with post-modernity? In this book a distinguished scholar challenges both these assumptions. Louis Dupre discusses the roots, development, and impact of modern thought, tracing the fundamental principles of modernity to the late fourteenth century and affirming that modernity is still an influential force in contemporary culture.
The combination of late medieval theology and early Italian humanism shattered the traditional synthesis that had united cosmic, human, and transcendent components in a comprehensive idea of nature. Early Italian humanism transformed the traditional worldview by its unprecedented emphasis on human creativity. The person emerged as the sole source of meaning while nature was reduced to an object and transcendence withdrew into a "supernatural" realm. Dupre analyzes this fragmentation as well as the writings of those who reacted against it-philosophers like Cusanus and Bruno, humanists like Ficino and Erasmus, theologians like Baius and Jansenius, mystics like Ignatius Loyola and Francis de Sales, and theosophists like Weigel and Boehme.
Baroque culture briefly reunited the human, cosmic, and transcendent components, but since that time the disintegrating forces have increased in strength. Despite post-modern criticism, the principles of early modernity continue to dominate the climate of our time. Passage to Modernity is not so much a critique as a search for the philosophical meaning of the epochal change achieved by those principles.
Reviews / Votes
"Passage to Modernity . . . offers vast erudition and genuine philosophical wisdom that is increasingly rare in contemporary debates about modern culture. . . . Dupre's book nurtures the hope that Christian faith in a secular age may still be renewed by a prophetic humanism that has not yet been discovered by the modern world."-Peter Casarella, Communio: International Catholic Review"Dupre has written a brilliant, unsettling, and provocative essay about the genesis of modernity. He identifies not one, but two distinct moments at which Western thinkers severed important links with their premodern past, challenging theses advanced by Heidegger and Blumenberg among others. Whether it turns out to be true or false, his thesis has to be taken very seriously."-Alasdair MacIntyre
"A truly great contribution to the problem of the origins and nature of modernity, written beautifully with clarity and economy of expression."-Thomas P. McTighe, Georgetown University
"Dupre's Passage to Modernity assays the disintegration of a unified vision of God, man, and cosmos in the transition from the medieval to the modern world. It is a potent assertion of the importance of this history in refocusing our contemporary blurred and fragmented consciousness and restoring a sense of connectedness not only to our most recent past but to the entire sweep of human existence in time, cosmos and destiny."-Charles Trinkaus, University of Michigan
"This brilliant work challenges all the more familiar portraits of modernity. No philosopher or theologian can afford to ignore this extraordinary study of our common heritage. It is one of those rare works that change one's vision of our central questions."-David Tracy, University of Chicago
"Dupre has written a magisterial study of the project and revolution that was modernity. Tracing through the histories of philosophy and theology the movement towards an anthropomorphic center of culture, this capacious work will be found intriguing and provocative in its reading of this history and indispensable for future inquiries into modernity. I recommend it highly."-Michael J. Buckley, S.J., Boston College
More details
Edition
Revised edition
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 232 mm
Width: 155 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
449 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-300-06501-5 (9780300065015)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Louis Dupre (1925-2022) was T. L. Riggs Professor Emeritus of Philosophy of Religion at Yale University and the author several books on modern thought, including Marx's Social Critique of Culture.