Lo studio nasce da due constatazioni tra loro contrastanti: la prima è che Hobbes e Locke sono considerati tra i maggiori teorici della società e dello stato laici; la seconda è che nei loro scritti è presente una decisa riserva sull’affidabilità sociale dell’ateo. Solo nel caso in cui la prima constatazione potesse essere incrinata, le posizioni di Hobbes e di Locke in tema di affidabilità sociale degli atei, ovviamente, sarebbero inscrivibili all’interno della loro filosofia politica. Ma dato che la prima (...) constatazione sembra irresistibile, la ricerca della sua compatibilità con la seconda va condotta in un livello di discorso diverso da quello della filosofia politica. Attraverso un’analisi dei testi dei due filosofi e una discussione della letteratura critica al riguardo, si è cercato dunque di individuare l’ambito nel quale rintracciare le premesse in grado di dare ragione delle opinioni di Hobbes e di Locke in materia di ateo. (shrink)

Scholarship on Xenophanes’s F1 has had two foci, one on the rules of the symposium and the other on the religious program posed at its close. Thus far, the two areas of focus have been treated as either separate issues or as the religious program proposed in the service of the sympotic objectives. Instead, I will argue that the sympotic norms Xenophanes espouses are in the service of the broader program of rational theology.

This chapter contains sections titled: Dualism in the Western Tradition Anti‐dualism in Peirce and James Anti‐dualism in Dewey: Early Criticisms Dewey's Anti‐dualistic Naturalism: Experience and Nature.

Religion has surprised the secular elites of North American and European societies. Not only has religion survived the treacherous passage from village to metropolis, from medieval superstition to modern science, and from state support (and coercion) to voluntary membership. Apparently, it has thrived and gained new sources of strength amidst these transformations. Far from being relegated to the proverbial ash‐heap of history, modern religions and the activist movements they generate find themselves positioned at the centre of modern debates – and (...) modern wars – over territory, political sovereignty, human rights, global and local economy, scientific research and popular culture. Among these activist movements, the most virulent and sustained are ‘fundamentalisms’ – increasingly sophisticated reactions against secular modernity that seek to fight back against the enemies of traditional religion by constructing religiously inspired and quintessentially modern alternatives to ‘godless’, idolatrous governments, institutions and political and cultural elites. (shrink)