Dissident Renaissance: Rewriting the History of Early Modern Philosophy as Political Practice - (Brill's Philosophical Historiographies) (Hardcover)

About the Book

The essays collected in this volume demonstrate that philosophical historiography is not mere erudition but a device of intellectual dissidence. The book studies philosophical genealogies of the European Renaissance from the seventeenth to the twentieth century.

Book Synopsis

The Renaissance has a peculiar status in philosophical historiography: it tends to disappear from the dominant narrative--as Charles Schmitt famously noticed--but it also resurfaces unexpectedly in marginal reception histories. This book casts light on intellectual constellations or geographical areas, which have traditionally been considered peripheral to the emergence of the Renaissance. The case studies presented in the book explore philosophical historiography as a political practice, showing how, in times of cultural crisis or change, the scholarly rediscovery of the Renaissance often served to develop or legitimise an ideal of social, religious or moral reform. Driven by personal concerns and political choices, historiography is revealed as an act of dissent against mainstream reconstructions.