Berkeley’s Christian Enlightenment
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12775/RF.2018.040Keywords
Enlightenment, Platonism, reason vs. religion, free-thinking, apologeticsAbstract
Berkeley’s thought has often been considered not related to, or even directly opposite to the general atmosphere of the Enlightenment, though it pervaded Berkeley’s times and his literary and philosophical circle. In particular, Berkeley’s so-called “second” philosophy expressed in De motu, Alciphron, Theory of Vision Vindicated and, above all, in Siris – neoplatonic from its very title - has often been judged post-immaterialist and definitely not “enlightened”. I will show that:
a) the concept of “Christian Enlightenment” is historically legitimate and theoretically useful: it may cast some light on Berkeley’s figure and on the development of his philosophy, giving it unity and coherence;
b) the concept of “Christian Enlightenment” may be defined in comparison with the general aspects of French Enlightenment; apologetics, rooted in seventeenth century as well as in ancient philosophy, is its main content.
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