A Biographical Dictionary of Modern Rationalists - Couverture rigide

McCabe, Joseph

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 1855065975 ISBN 13 : 9781855065970

Editeur : Thoemmes Continuum, 1998

Synopsis

The term "rationalism", dating from around the middle of the 17th century, is usually understood as the philosophical outlook which stresses the power of reason over faith, emotion or instinct. This text collects together those figures who have championed the cause of rationalism over three centuries, including theists, pantheists, atheists, materialists, agnostics, secularists, monists, and positivists. It contains not only philosophers but teachers of science, political theorists, historians, and artists. Each entry in the book lists the subject's birth and death dates, details of their education and occupation, and evidence of their rationalist views. European, American and minor figures are included. McCabe (1867-1955) was one of the foremost atheists. He produced nearly 250 books and pamphlets and was a founding member of Britain's Rationalist Press Association. Leaving the priesthood to devote his life to furthering the cause of rationalism and free thought, he had no doubt that when human knowledge was complete materialism would prove to be the correct theory of reality. Included are entries on: Sir Leslie Stephen; Robert Owen; Francois Quesnay; Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley; Bernard Bosanquet; and Jean Bodin.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

Rationalist first appears in English letters about the middle of the seventeenth century (C larendon, State Papers, II, A pp. XL). It denotes a sect who follow what their reason dictates to them in Church or State. Bacon had a little earlier (A pophthegms, II, 21) applied the term Eationals to the philosophers who sought to attain truth by deductions from the first principles which reason was supposed to perceive rather than by induction from the observed facts of nature. In neither sense did the term pass into general currency at the time; but in the course of the nineteenth century it has been adopted as the most fitting name for those who uphold what is vaguely called the supremacy of reason in the discovery and establishment of truth. The technical use of the term in philosophy is not regarded in the compilation of this DICTIONAKY. It still denotes, in the Baconian sense, those who advocate deductive and transcendental rather than inductive or empirical systems of thought. But, since induction is no less a process of reason than deduction, the distinction is not happily framed, and it does little more than designate the tendency to attach value to metaphysical speculation as distinct from the empirical or scientific study of nature. The modern Rationalist may choose either method or, in separate fields of investigation, both. His characteristic is that in the ascertainment of fact he affirms the predominance and validity of reason over revelation, authority, faith, emotion, or instinct; and general usage has now confined the term to those who urge this predominance of reason in regard to the Christian religion. In matters of State the rights of reason are theoretically admitted. Rationalism is therefore primarily a mental attitude, not a creed or a definite body of negative conclusions. No uniformity of opinions must be sought in the thousands of men and
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)

Présentation de l'éditeur

This book was originally published prior to 1923, and represents a reproduction of an important historical work, maintaining the same format as the original work. While some publishers have opted to apply OCR (optical character recognition) technology to the process, we believe this leads to sub-optimal results (frequent typographical errors, strange characters and confusing formatting) and does not adequately preserve the historical character of the original artifact. We believe this work is culturally important in its original archival form. While we strive to adequately clean and digitally enhance the original work, there are occasionally instances where imperfections such as blurred or missing pages, poor pictures or errant marks may have been introduced due to either the quality of the original work or the scanning process itself. Despite these occasional imperfections, we have brought it back into print as part of our ongoing global book preservation commitment, providing customers with access to the best possible historical reprints. We appreciate your understanding of these occasional imperfections, and sincerely hope you enjoy seeing the book in a format as close as possible to that intended by the original publisher.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Thoemmes Continuum
• Date d'édition: 1998
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1855065975
• ISBN 13: 9781855065970
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 500
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: WordUnited GmbH; distribution@wordunited.com; ; Theodorstrasse 105; DUSSELDORF; 40472; Allemagne