Michael Moriarty
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199589371
- eISBN:
- 9780191728808
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199589371.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 17th-century and Restoration Literature, European Literature
The notions of virtue and vice are essential components of the Western ethical tradition. But in early modern France they were called into question, as writers (most famously La ...
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The notions of virtue and vice are essential components of the Western ethical tradition. But in early modern France they were called into question, as writers (most famously La Rochefoucauld) argued that what appears as virtue is in fact disguised vice: people carry out praiseworthy deeds because they stand to gain in some way; they deserve no credit for their behaviour because they have no control over it; they are governed by feelings and motives of which they may not be aware. Disguised Vices analyses the underlying logic of these arguments, and investigates what is at stake in them. It traces the arguments back to their sources in earlier writers, showing how ancient philosophers (especially Aristotle and Seneca) formulated the distinction between behaviour that counts as virtuous and behaviour that only seems so. It explains how St Augustine reinterpreted the distinction in the light of the difference between pagans and Christians, and how medieval and early
modern theologians strove to reconcile Augustine’s position with that of Aristotle. It examines the restatement of Augustine’s position by his hard-line early modern followers (especially the Jansenists), and the controversy to which this gave rise. Finally, it examines La Rochefoucauld’s critique of virtue and assesses the extent of its links with the Augustinian current of thought.
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The notions of virtue and vice are essential components of the Western ethical tradition. But in early modern France they were called into question, as writers (most famously La Rochefoucauld) argued that what appears as virtue is in fact disguised vice: people carry out praiseworthy deeds because they stand to gain in some way; they deserve no credit for their behaviour because they have no control over it; they are governed by feelings and motives of which they may not be aware. Disguised Vices analyses the underlying logic of these arguments, and investigates what is at stake in them. It traces the arguments back to their sources in earlier writers, showing how ancient philosophers (especially Aristotle and Seneca) formulated the distinction between behaviour that counts as virtuous and behaviour that only seems so. It explains how St Augustine reinterpreted the distinction in the light of the difference between pagans and Christians, and how medieval and early
modern theologians strove to reconcile Augustine’s position with that of Aristotle. It examines the restatement of Augustine’s position by his hard-line early modern followers (especially the Jansenists), and the controversy to which this gave rise. Finally, it examines La Rochefoucauld’s critique of virtue and assesses the extent of its links with the Augustinian current of thought.
Hugh Gaston Hall
- Published in print:
- 1990
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198151579
- eISBN:
- 9780191672743
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198151579.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature, 17th-century and Restoration Literature
Jean Desmarets, later Sieur de Saint-Sorlin, was a late Renaissance ‘universal man’: first Chancellor and founder-member of the Académie Française, last jester of the French royal court ...
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Jean Desmarets, later Sieur de Saint-Sorlin, was a late Renaissance ‘universal man’: first Chancellor and founder-member of the Académie Française, last jester of the French royal court and star performer in ballets, novelist, playwright, poet, architect, inventor, and mystic. He was also the first man to publicise the notion of ‘a century of Louis XIV’. This book examines that notion by looking afresh at Desmarets's vigorous career and relating the ‘century of Louis XIV’ to its origins in the reign of Louis XIII. It questions historical misconceptions about Cardinal Richelieu's cultural policies and demonstrates the importance for the Court ballet of his patronage. Giovanni Bernini's illusionist sets and lighting effects for the Grand'Salle, which later became Molière's theatre and the Opéra, are discussed here. Desmarets's many high-level court offices, his family connections, and works — ballets, plays, poems, and religious and polemical pieces — reveal new and important links with contemporary institutions and preoccupations. In particular, the book considers the plays in the light of exemplary eloquence, and considers the intentions of the Académie Française, and the Quarrel of the Imaginaires, in relation to royal policy and the Cartesian revolution.
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Jean Desmarets, later Sieur de Saint-Sorlin, was a late Renaissance ‘universal man’: first Chancellor and founder-member of the Académie Française, last jester of the French royal court and star performer in ballets, novelist, playwright, poet, architect, inventor, and mystic. He was also the first man to publicise the notion of ‘a century of Louis XIV’. This book examines that notion by looking afresh at Desmarets's vigorous career and relating the ‘century of Louis XIV’ to its origins in the reign of Louis XIII. It questions historical misconceptions about Cardinal Richelieu's cultural policies and demonstrates the importance for the Court ballet of his patronage. Giovanni Bernini's illusionist sets and lighting effects for the Grand'Salle, which later became Molière's theatre and the Opéra, are discussed here. Desmarets's many high-level court offices, his family connections, and works — ballets, plays, poems, and religious and polemical pieces — reveal new and important links with contemporary institutions and preoccupations. In particular, the book considers the plays in the light of exemplary eloquence, and considers the intentions of the Académie Française, and the Quarrel of the Imaginaires, in relation to royal policy and the Cartesian revolution.
