Secularism as a Shadow of Capital: A Historical Materialist View
The lesson of historical materialism is that, to meet changing human needs, there must be a social provisioning process. “Secular society” does not describe a provisioning process. “Capitalist society” names a coherent, self-maintaining and self-reproducing provisioning process. Secular society is d...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2018
|
| In: |
Journal of religion & society. Supplement
Year: 2018, Volume: 17, Pages: 105-122 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | The lesson of historical materialism is that, to meet changing human needs, there must be a social provisioning process. “Secular society” does not describe a provisioning process. “Capitalist society” names a coherent, self-maintaining and self-reproducing provisioning process. Secular society is dependent upon a set of social principles and purposes that can organize a self-sustaining society; it is a shadow of capital. Secularism traces certain features of a capitalist society even if it leaves others in the dark, so there is reason to call a capitalist society a secular society. Historical materialism widens Charles Taylor’s focus in A Secular Age on “the conditions of belief” to the social form and purpose of the material conditions of belief and unbelief. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1941-8450 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of religion & society. Supplement
|