Re-interpretation of the Philosophical Thought of Benjamin Constant :: Philosophy Psychological Psychology Essays

Re-interpretation of the Philosophical Thought of Benjamin unvaryingABSTRACT The boastful French thinker Benjamin Constant develops a conception of human race personality which shows the triplicity of being human. Such triplicity manifests itself in the limiting connection between emotion, rationality, and animality. He also develops an idea of liberty which treats it further as a real, historically conditioned minimalization of external limitations. Liberty thusly understood enjoys metaphysical rootedness in human nature.1. Introductory remarksBenjamin Constant (1767-1830), the French aristocrat, politician, one of the fathers of the French liberalism and, at the same time, the then known man of letters is also the author of a voluminous and around unknown puddle just about morality. It appeared in the years 1824-1833 in capital of France in seven volumes, five of which are entitled De la religion consideree dans sa ascendent, ses formes et ses developpements, and two Du Polytheisme romain considere dans ses rapports avec la philosphie grecque et la religion chretienne. Constant wrote this work through with(predicate) all his life, changing the fundamental theses and supplementing them as his theoretical knowledge about religion increased and as a result of his personal experiences connected with religion. Although the huge volume of the work is rather perceived as unseductive today and most of the historical material is out of date, it contains interesting philosophical theses which are the crowning achievement of the whole intellectual life of the author. These theses brook us to understand and interpret better the philosophical foundations of Constants liberalism which are created, among others, by a genuine understanding of the human nature i.e. a certain philosophical anthropology, whereas the latter induces an understanding of liberty, peculiar for the Constantian liberalism.2. The human nature.Constantian theses contained in the work on religion and refering to the human nature flowerpot be hypothesise as follows 1. A man is not entirely the product of fiat in which he lives and its culture, but he is a being that can be defined by his stable and unchangeable nature. 2. What the human nature is like can be judged by examining the behaviours common to all slew and their creations, for example religion. 3. The human nature is unchangeable . However, the forms change, through which it manifests it self in various periods of the development of humanity. In peoples religious behaviour, for example, there is manifested something which is the permanent source of every religion and is inherent in human nature.