[Séminaire Caen] From the Inner Citadel to the Outside World. Tilgher's Hypothesis and the Emergence of Modern Man.
Présentation de Gregory Ponthière, CREM, ENS Rennes
Lundi 16 mars, 14h15Passé
Conditions
Salle des Actes, MRSH 027, UFR SEGGAT
CREM
Abstract:
According to the Italian philosopher Tilgher (1922), the birth of the bourgeois society during the Pre-Industrial era involved the replacement of the Ancient Man by the Modern Man, and consisted of a reorientation of efforts, from spiritual exercises developing the inner self (what Marcus Aurelius called the ‘Inner Citadel’) to efforts reshaping the outside world. However, from a microeconomic perspective, a reallocation of time does not necessarily reveal the existence of a change in preferences. To study the conditions under which the Pre-Industrial rise in working time (Industrious Revolution) reveals a shift in life-goals (the emergence of Modern Man), this paper develops a unifi
ed growth model of time allocation, where individuals
first choose whether they pursue extra-world self-realization (Ancient Man) or intra-world self-realization (Modern Man), and, then, based on their preferences, allocate their time between spiritual development and the production of material goods. It is shown that, contrary to Tilgher’'s hypothesis, a rise in working time does not necessarily reveal a shift from extra-world to intra-world self-realization, but can occur while keeping life-goals unchanged. This framework is shown to inform debates about the decline of religious holidays in old-regime France (1640-1780).
recherche, économie, séminaire
