There are many aspects of the world we inhabit which affect us in different ways. Those which yield the most power, and thereby affect us the most, I will refer to as “spheres” or spheres of influence. They describe specific aspects of our world, the investigation of which may help us come to a better understanding of our contemporary situation. Many of the essays published on The Modern Frame will refer to these spheres of influence (e.g., “a growing sphere of economy”).
At the end of A Secular Age, Charles Taylor contrasts the project of his book with that of what he calls the Intellectual Deviation (ID) story. “I’m thinking of the scholarship which links the critique of mediaeval ‘realism’ (as with Aquinas), and the rise of nominalism, possibilism, and a more voluntarist theology in Scotus, Occam, and others with the thrust towards a secular world.”1 This (ID) is a story about the history of philosophical and theological thought, and how changes in philosophy and theology have over time led to the rise of the modern secular world. What Taylor means by calling this a story, is more or less what I mean by a “sphere” or sphere of influence. The first sphere I will consider is the Intellectual sphere, which refers to the realm of ideas and philosophy, especially those which are presupposed by other forms of activity. Some writers believe that this sphere is all we need to consider in order to explain changes in the world.2 But I don’t think so, and nor does Taylor. Still, there are some important differences between Taylor’s concept of the Intellectual Deviation story and what I’m calling the Intellectual sphere. His concept includes theology, for instance, while I would place theology within a different sphere altogether.
The next sphere I will introduce is the Economic sphere or sphere of economy. This refers to not only economic conditions, circumstances, activity, and changes, but also a certain “instrumental stance”3 adopted by men and women toward the world and each other which occurs in economic activity. This sphere includes what I will call the world of “total work”, which is the peculiar condition of the life of modern man to be permeated by the acquisition and management of money.4 That is, by “total work”.
The third and final sphere I will consider (at this time) is the Religious sphere. Obviously, this involves the influence of formal religion and theology, but I will also include in this sphere any transcendental or supernatural sentiment, as well as hostility or opposition to religion itself. Thus, I include the anti-religious, and/or atheist, in this sphere, alongside those which can formally be termed religious. The reason atheists are included here is that many atheist writers concern themselves with the subject of religion, thereby involving themselves in the religious sphere.
The notion of spheres can be intimidating. It can be nuanced, multifaceted, and layered in many ways. There are more than three, for instance, and there may be spheres of influence existing within the spheres mentioned. But the spheres do refer to real circumstances or aspects of our world,5 and they do provide insight into the modern predicament. Consider the interplay between these spheres if we apply them to a historical phenomenon, such as the rise of individualism.
What Taylor speaks about as the Intellectual Deviation story, I view as an overlap between the Intellectual and Religious spheres. Here we have at play various concepts within the subjects of philosophy and theology–realism, nominalism, voluntarism, et al., which are purported to have, among other things, played a role in the rise of individualism. These concepts concern changes in theoretical understandings, mainly among learned elites–especially the educated religious, such as Duns Scotus or later William of Ockham–but certainly not the common psyche of society at large. It would therefore be a kind of “trickle-down” influence if individualism were to result from of the spreading of these ideas–which seems more a part of the story, and not the whole of it. At nearly the same time, however, we have changes occurring in Italy with the Renaissance, involving not just unrelated aspects of the Intellectual sphere (beginning perhaps with Petrarch), but also cultural, social, political, and especially economic changes (thus involving the Economic sphere).6 Jacob Burckhardt has written about these conditions playing a key role in the development of the concept of the individual.7 Likewise in Germany, the invention of the printing press and the subsequent printing of the Bible in vernacular German had a tremendous affect, particularly in the role it played in the Protestant Reformation. Initially occupying the Religious sphere, the Reformation recast the relationship between the individual and God. But among its innumerable effects ushered in massive changes in the Economic sphere: playing a role in the growth of capital and the rise of industrialization.8 Both of which have led to a greater hegemony of the concept of the individual.
This is but one subject, very briefly considered. Yet we can begin to see how these spheres have played a role in the development of the modern world; sometimes developing independently and sometimes overlapping historically.
Notes:
1. See Charles Taylor, A Secular Age, p. 773-776.
2. At one time I held similar views, though I have since changed my mind. Ayn Rand is one such writer. For example, see her essay, “For the New Intellectual”.
3. I am indebted to Charles Taylor for this term. In addition to Taylor’s, A Secular Age, see also The Malaise of Modernity. Other writers who describe this phenomenon are Max Weber and Jacques Ellul. By “instrumental stance” I refer to the disposition of modern men and women to view things as instruments, or means, to some further end or goal. Another way to put this would be to say that use-value becomes dominant in decision making, or that things are evaluated on the basis of how useful they are deemed to be. The classical idea of good-in-itself is thus eclipsed by good-for-something-beyond-itself. Means becomes dominant. This stance is the essence of economic activity, but as we will see its tentacles have grown beyond the merely economic.
4. This was briefly discussed in, “Preliminary Thoughts on How We Adopt The Modern Frame“. I am indebited to Josef Pieper for the phrase “total work”, a discussion of which can be found in his books, Leisure The Basis of Culture, In Defence of Philosophy, and Only The Lover Sings: Art and Contemplation.
5. To take one example, to say there is a Religious sphere is to just say that there is such a thing as religion. The aggregate of religious belief, theology, and practice, for example, constitutes the Religious sphere. Within this, we find the major world religions and their respective beliefs, theologies, and practices–each describing a sphere within the Religious sphere. It should also be said that the spheres do not refer to monolithic structures that are built into the decsription of reality. Rather, they are fluid, bendable, and change as the human world changes. This idea is somewhat inchoate, and I would encourage anyone who can pose a challenge to it to do so.
6. See Kenneth Bartlett, The Civilization of the Italian Renaissance.
7. See Jacob Burckhardt, The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy.
8. An excellent summary of these changes can be found in Erich Fromm, Escape From Freedom. For analysis of the economic impact of the Reformation, see Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.