The Failure of Modernism:

The Cartesian Legacy and Contemporary Pluralism

Edited by Brendan Sweetman

Book Overview

This book brings together a distinguished group of philosophers and theologians to critique several aspects of modernism. Modernism in philosophy is characterized by skepticism and anti-realism in epistemology, and by relativism in ethics and politics. The contributors are influenced by the philosophical tradition inspired by, but not exclusively based upon, the thought of Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas, and carried on by such contemporary thinkers as Jacques Maritain, Étienne Gilson, and Yves Simon. This tradition supports the views that realism is true; that knowledge (including scientific knowledge) is objective; that there are ethical absolute which can be known; that moral character matters; and that the traditional view of the relationship between the individual and the community—human beings are social by nature and not just by choice—is essentially correct.

From this background, the contributors address a wide range of issues in the contemporary discussion, such as: the foundation and assumptions of Cartesianism; the defense of realism; the American political tradition, including key themes of individual rights versus the common good; pluralism, liberalism, and secularism; the problem of skepticism; and social construct theory.

This text is no longer in publication. Therefore, we are making its contents available online.

Contents

  1. Peter A. Redpath,“Why Descartes was not a Philosopher”

  2. Robert Geis,“Descartes's Res: An lnteractionist Difficulty”

  3. Donald DeMarco, “Descartes, Mathematics and Music”

  4. William J. Fossati, “Maximum Influence from Minimum Abilities: La Mettrie and Radical Materialism”

  5. Joseph Koterski, S.J., “On the Aristotelian Heritage of John of Damascus”

  6. Christopher M. Cullen, S.J., “Transcendental Thomism: Realism Rejected”

  7. James V. Schall, S.J., “Was Maritain a Crypto-Machiavellian?”

  8. Edward Furton, “Richard Hooker as Source of the Founding Principles of American Natural Law”

  9. Terry Hall, “Neutral Frameworks, the Rule of Law and the Common Good”

  10. Deborah Wallace, “Jacques Maritain and Alasdair Macintyre: The Person, the Common Good and Human Rights”

  11. Michael Moreland, “Jacques Maritain, Thomism and the Liberal-Communitarian Debate”

  12. Henk E. S. Woldring, “On the Purpose ofthe State: Continuity and Change in Political Theories”

  13. James G. Hanink, “Transcending Right and Left: A Question of Virtue”

  14. John X. Evans, “Jacques Maritain, Heroic Humanism and the Gospel”

  15. Matthew Pugh, “Deconstruction, Onto-Theology and Thomas's Via Negativa”

  16. John F. X. Knasas, “The Postmodern Notion of Freedom and Aquinas's Ratio Entis”

  17. Brendan Sweetman, “The Pseudo-Problem of Skepticism”

  18. Curtis L. Hancock, “A Critique of Social Construct Theory”