[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
Lunedì 16 marzo, 14:15Passato
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 e séminaire
