The Charm of Disenchantment: A Quest for the Intellectual Attraction of Secularization Theory |
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Authors: | Herbert De Vriese |
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Institution: | (1) Philosophy Department, University of Antwerp, Prinsstraat 13 S.D409, 2000 Antwerpen, Belgium |
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Abstract: | In the course of Western history, philosophy has proven to be an active participant in the process of secularization. This
article seeks to examine that philosophical role more closely. The central question is how the role of philosophy must be
rethought in light of the contemporary critique of classical secularization theory. The first part of the article sheds light
on the current crisis of secularization theory. Drawing on recent scholarship in the social sciences, it explains why the
classical tenets and assumptions of secularization theory are no longer being considered as plausible and empirically grounded
hypotheses. Against that background, the second part turns to philosophy. It examines the implications for a philosophical
tradition of religious criticism that has consciously operated within this once-undisputed model of secularization. The question
is how this critique of religion must be rethought, if its prominent role in the history of modern philosophy can no longer
be ascribed to a general secularization of the Western mind. The third and final part attempts to answer this question by
focusing on one of the most frequently overlooked, yet most significant and crucial elements in the history of philosophical
secularization: the intrinsic intellectual attraction of religious disenchantment. |
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