Sparks of reason
Subtitle: vernacular rationalism in the Low Countries 1550-1670
By: Ruben Buys
Series: Bibliotheca dissidentium Neerlandicorum
Publisher: Verloren
Published: 2015
Place of publication: Hilversum
Language: eng
Number of pages: 304
ISBN-13: 9789087045159
Subjects: Rationalism; History; Philosophy; Intellectual life
Description: Throughout the late Middle Ages and the early modern period, the Low Countries were home to a vibrant tradition of lay philosophy in Dutch. During this turbulent century, several authors, such as Dirck Volkertsz Coornhert (1522-1590) and Hendrik Laurensz Spiegel (1549-1612), developed an ethics which was founded on rationality and self-motivation. This 'vernacular rationalism' was a dynamic melting pot of classical philosophy, vernacular humanism, intellectual spiritualism and popular piety. Vernacular rationalism was rooted in an age-old Netherlandish tradition and was to become one of the breeding grounds for the early Enlightenment in the seventeenth-century Dutch Republic. Its point of departure was the inherent goodness of humankind and the possibility of moral growth through rational knowledge. Its goal was perfect happiness.
Notes: Revised thesis (doctoral)--Erasmus Universiteit, Rotterdam, 2009.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 273-293) and index.