Professor Peter Harrison lectures on the reduction in the symbolic religious significance of nature in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and the consequences of this disenchantment for religious and philosophical practices Lecture abstract In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the contemplative approach to nature, along with the emphasis on religious and intellectual formation, was replaced by a more utilitarian project, and nature itself was stripped of much of its symbolic religious significance. This process of disenchantment was partly driven by religious factors. At the same time, related developments saw the transformation of both philosophy and religion. The former became less concerned with the pursuit of the philosophical life, while a new conception of religion emphasised explicit belief and observable religious practice, and distinguished various ‘religions’ according to these criteria. Lecture video HTML This article was published on 2024-08-28
