Between Logos and Eros: New Orleans' Confrontation with Modernity Page: 72
This thesis is part of the collection entitled: UNT Theses and Dissertations and was provided to UNT Digital Library by the UNT Libraries.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
animal rationale; he asserts that "All men by nature desire to know" (Metaphysics). But
while the ancient understanding of logos is as a reflection of (or connection to) the
natural order in the universe, the modern era conceives of the human rational faculty as
the means by which man imposes his will over a purposeless world. A crucial result of
this reorientation of rationality is the dissociation of man from nature. Francis Bacon (d.
1626) writes in The New Atlantis of a utopia dedicated to "the knowledge of Causes, and
secret motions of things; and the enlarging of the bounds of human Empire, to the
effecting of all things possible" (Bacon 1989, 71). Here man asserts his will over nature
by learning her laws, and thus how to manipulate those laws to his own ends.
Further distancing man's reason from nature, Descartes' (d. 1650) cogito ergo
sum radically dichotomizes the cognitive faculties by which man attains knowledge, i.e.,
certitude, from material diversity and bodily experience. In his system of methodological
skepticism, only scientific rationality reveals the real nature of things. Descartes also
brings about a revolution of man's place in the universe: rather than humans participating
in a universal good, he sets man apart as the subjectum - the center and measure of all
things. Two centuries later, Auguste Comte's (d. 1857) positivist sociology declares the
scientific, or positive, stage as the final stage of human progress whereby man at last
achieves a universe that is absolutely knowable thorough the accumulation of observable
facts. Comte outlines a positive "social physics" by which man, too, can be known, his
behaviors rendered predictable, quantifiable, and thereby manageable.
Modern society is engaged now more than ever in an attempt to collect natural
and social data in order to determine human actions. For example, Comte's "social72
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This thesis can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Thesis.
Moore, Erin Christine. Between Logos and Eros: New Orleans' Confrontation with Modernity, thesis, May 2008; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc6073/m1/77/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .