The Voice of Conscience: A Political Genealogy of Western Ethical Experience

Description

In Western thought, it has been persistently assumed that in moral and political matters, people should rely on the inner voice of conscience rather than on external authorities, laws, and regulations. This volume investigates this concept, examining the development of the Western politics of conscience, from Socrates to the present, and the formation of the Western ethico-political subject. The work opens with a discussion of the ambiguous role of conscience in politics, contesting the claim that it is the best defense against totalitarianism. It then look back at canonical authors, from the Church Fathers and Luther to Rousseau and Derrida, to show how the experience of conscience constitutes the foundation of Western ethics and politics. This unique work not only synthesizes philosophical and political insights, but also pays attention to political theology to provide a compelling and innovative argument that the experience of conscience has always been at the core of the political Western tradition. An engaging and accessible text, it will appeal to political theorists and philosophers as well as theologians and those interested in the critique of the Western civilization. FC Half title About the Series Title Copyright Quote Contents Acknowledgements 1 Introduction 2 National Socialism and the Inner Truth The call of Heidegger’s conscience Hannah Arendt and the nihilism of judgement 3 Conscience in Moral and Political Theology Church fathers between the law and the spirit Synderesis and conscientia: Scholasticism Divine instinct The spark of the soul: Eckhart and Tauler A voluntarist bias of William of Ockham? The Lutheran revocation The return of the repressed: Spiritualists and pietists Calvin’s compromise The Puritan God within On the modern protestant conscience 4 Conscience in Early Modern Moral and Political Philosophy The witness of natural law from Suárez to Pufendorf The candle of the Lord: Cambridge platonists A crisis of conscience: Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke 5 The Conscience of the Enlightenment The moral sense from Shaftesbury to Smith The judgement of intuitive reason The French experience: From Bayle to Rousseau The German model: Wolff versus Crusius Immanuel Kant and the infinite guilt German idealism: Conscience as conviction 6 From Political Theology to Theologized Politics 7 Remarks on Late Modern Conscience Internalized coercion: Nietzsche and Freud The voice of the other: Levinas and Derrida Ethics of the real: Lacan 8 The Western Politics of Conscience On the Socratic origins of the politics of conscience Conclusion Bibliography Index