The Emergence of Subjectivity in the Ancient and Medieval World
An Interpretation of Western Civilization
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23792020 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jon Stewart (0000-0001-9166-5558, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Publication date | 2020-03-24 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | BOOK |
| Venue | Emergence of Subjectivity in the Ancient and Medieval World (SOURCE_BOOK) |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/oso/9780198854357.001.0001 |
| OpenAlex | W3007319955 |
| ISBN | 9780198854357 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
This work represents a combination of different genres: cultural history, philosophical anthropology, and textbook. It follows a handful of different but interrelated themes through more than a dozen texts that were written over a period of several millennia. By means of an analysis of these texts, this work presents a theory about the development of Western Civilization from antiquity to the Middle Ages. The main line of argument traces the various self-conceptions of the different cultures as they developed historically. These self-conceptions reflect different views of what it is to be human. The thesis is that in these we can discern the gradual emergence of what we today call inwardness, subjectivity and individual freedom. As human civilization took its first tenuous steps, it had a very limited conception of the individual. Instead, the dominant principle was that of the wider group: the family, clan or people. Only in the course of history did the idea of what we know as individuality begin to emerge. It took millennia for this idea to be fully recognized and developed. The conception of human beings as having a sphere of inwardness and subjectivity subsequently had a sweeping impact on all aspects of culture, such as philosophy, religion, law, and art. Indeed, this conception largely constitutes what is today referred to as modernity. It is easy to lose sight of the fact that this modern conception of human subjectivity was not simply something given but rather the result of a long process of historical and cultural development.
Ancient history · Archaeology · Civilization · Epistemology · Interpretation (philosophy) · Linguistics · Subjectivity · Byzantine Studies and History · History · Philosophy
| Citations per year | 0.5 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2022 - 2024 (3) |
| Highly cited | No |