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Papers by Mathieu van Kooten

This thesis addresses the impact of the force of modernisation on man’s ability to conceive of th... more This thesis addresses the impact of the force of modernisation on man’s ability to conceive of the world as a meaningful whole. Even though modernisation is a tremendously energising and progressive force that transformed European society throughout the modern era, many thinkers have also addressed the ‘dark side’ of modernisation that can be found in its disenchanting, disruptive, and disembedding character. This thesis, therefore, explores how the challenge of a meaningful order can still be met by modern man in light of this uprooting character. As developed in this thesis, the quest for meaning starts with the realisation that despite the disenchantment of the world, moderns still find themselves in a condition of disenchanted enchantment, where meaning and significance can be found in existence through attunement and ontological involvement. This can only be achieved through the insight that man is fallible and finite, and therefore in dire need of an embedding horizon, found i...

Political philosopher John Locke stood at the beginning of the classical liberal tradition that h... more Political philosopher John Locke stood at the beginning of the classical liberal tradition that has shaped Western discourse throughout modernity, emphasising an unprecedented primacy of the freedom and equality of the autonomous individual, leading to the development of notions such as tolerance, secularism, and human rights. The question central to this paper is to what extent Locke’s political philosophy is predicated on Christian theological commitments, and if a bracketing of this religious background could still result in a purely secular but recognisably Lockean political philosophy. Through a close analysis of several parts of Locke’s bibliography, this paper argues that Locke’s theological commitments are foundational for his political philosophy and that the bracketing of such commitments inevitably leads to unintelligibility of this philosophy. Subsequently, Locke’s thought is placed wider historical context, to see how modern notions such as human rights, equality of humans, and secularism are often deeply rooted in Christian thought.

This paper discusses Charles Taylor’s perspective on modern disenchantment, and the ‘buffered’ co... more This paper discusses Charles Taylor’s perspective on modern disenchantment, and the ‘buffered’ conception of the self it developed. The existential predicament that follows from the ‘epistemological picture’ that underlies this modern self is what Taylor attempts to address with a phenomenological approach. By bringing Taylor and Merleau-Ponty in conversation with each other, a deeper understanding may be gained of the existential predicament that Taylor tries to address. Especially Merleau-Ponty’s later concept of the ‘flesh’ can put this predicament in a new perspective by revealing the conditions for ‘deeper engagement’ already present in the modern individual from which the most primordial and unavoidable significances of things originate.

Even though good thought experiments (TEs) are generally considered to be powerful tools of phil... more Even though good thought experiments (TEs) are generally considered to be powerful tools of philosophical reasoning in the hands of those who know how to use them, their legitimacy and value may sometimes seem to be undermined by the scepticism resulting from deeply and genuinely conflicting intuitions and subsequent conclusions they can yield from time to time. In this paper an attempt will be made to save thought experiments from full-fledged scepticism by exploring the possibility of constructing them as being a reliable, informative, and hence a valuable tool in philosophical reasoning.

According to the enlightenment fundamentalism of the New Atheists, belief is inherently irrationa... more According to the enlightenment fundamentalism of the New Atheists, belief is inherently irrational. Subsequently, progress can only be achieved through a thorough secularization and disenchantment of the world, turning all humans into fully rational agents, capable of constructing an objective and coherent worldview from disengaged investigation under the scrutiny of pure reason and the scientific method. However, as will be argued in this paper, the unconditional confidence in ‘reason alone’ that underlies this discourse – reason without reliance on passions, emotions, cultural biases, tradition, or revelation – seems to be based on erroneous premises. Individuals, rather than being rule-following, purely rational, robot-like creatures, seem to be self-interpreting animals, reliant on meanings and significances that they derive from engagement with their social, cultural, and religious embeddedness. Subsequently, all reasoning is conducted within the ambit of some sort of faith, attraction, inclination, orientation, predisposition, or prior commitment.

The intellectual climate in which Immanuel Kant developed his philosophical views was deeply shap... more The intellectual climate in which Immanuel Kant developed his philosophical views was deeply shaped by two vital yet ostensibly incongruent currents of thought: the prevalent rationalist philosophy of Leibniz and Wolff and the religious movement within Protestantism, known as Pietism. This paper will evaluate the impact of both these influences on Kant, especially in his youth and early life, to see how their interaction affected the development of his mature philosophical thought. The main question that guides this inquiry therefore is formulated as follows: ‘to what extent did Kant's later philosophy of religion draw upon themes from the Pietism of his youth?'.

This paper will provide a critical reflection on the conclusions that the late Foucault draws fro... more This paper will provide a critical reflection on the conclusions that the late Foucault draws from his genealogy of the techniques of the self, by comparing Foucault’s writings to other perspectives on Christianity and the subjectivity that it instigates. The goal of this paper is to contribute to his conception of the transformation of the Graeco-Roman self into the Christian subject by analysing certain aspects of Christian subjectivity that Foucault may have overlooked. In particular, the incongruity that Foucault observes between the aesthetic-oriented culture of the care of the sovereign self on one hand, and the culture of Christianity that is based on the conception of man as fallen on the other hand, may be based on presumptions that cannot straightforwardly be derived from the fundamentals of Christianity.

In ‘Reinventing Liberalism: Towards a Paradigm Beyond the Homo Economicus’, Mathieu van Kooten de... more In ‘Reinventing Liberalism: Towards a Paradigm Beyond the Homo Economicus’, Mathieu van Kooten describes how neoliberal hegemony is a deeply disseminated governing rationality that puts the economy at the
centre of society, its institutions, and human understanding and action.
Van Kooten argues that if neoliberal rationality and the homo economicus remain at the centre of human understanding and action, the erosion of the institutions, values, and morality organised by non-market rationalities will persevere. Van Kooten approaches this problem by exploring the essentially Christian roots through which the modern Western individual was invented. The acknowledgement and understanding of these religious and moral roots can open up a new perspective of reinventing liberalism and formulating a comprehensive morality for the future.
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In ‘Invariance: An Argument for Historical Specificity’, Anne Albert
van der Galiën engages with the problem of historical specificity. This problem refers to the idea that different socioeconomic systems may require different theories, each tailored to a particular socioeconomic system or systems. Van der Galiën argues that historical specificity should be incorporated by economic theories, something that at the time of writing is certainly not the case. He does so by appealing to the notion of invariance, a notion developed by Woodward (2005) as part of his theory of causation. Adopting the notion of invariance as a requirement for causal generalizations implies that any causal generalization is historically sensitive, which in turn implies that economic theories should be historically sensitive.

In this article I describe how neoliberal hegemony is a deeply disseminated governing rationality... more In this article I describe how neoliberal hegemony is a deeply disseminated governing rationality that puts the economy at the
centre of society, its institutions, and human understanding and action.
I argue that if neoliberal rationality and the homo economicus remain at the centre of human understanding and action, the erosion of the institutions, values, and morality organised by non-market rationalities will persevere. I approach this problem by exploring the essentially Christian roots through which the modern Western individual was invented. The acknowledgement and understanding of these religious and moral roots can open up a new perspective of reinventing liberalism and formulating a comprehensive morality for the future.