Gastvortrag "From Pascal's Theology to Bourdieu's Sociology, or Just How Pascalian are the Meditations pascaliennes?" (15.04.2016)

Public Evening Lecture

"From Pascals Theology to Bourdieu's Sociology, or Just How Pascalian
are the Meditations pascaliennes?"

Philip Gorski (Yale University)

Friday, 15. April 2016, 18:00 (c.t.), Lichtenberg Kolleg (Old Observatory)

Why did Bourdieu ally himself with Pascal? What does Bourdieus
sociology have to do with Pascals theology? In this talk, Prof. Gorski
highlights similarities in Bourdieu and Pascals biographical
trajectories and intellectual positioning as well as in their ethics and
politics. He argues that Bourdieusian theory has much in common with
the hyper-Augustinianism of Pascalian theology, namely, a deep pessimism
about human nature, human freedom and the social and political order. He
concludes that a critical sociology like Bourdieus must be supplemented
with a positive sociology, and he identifies one potential source: the
Aristotelian tradition, which provides a more optimistic vision of human
development and political freedom.

Philip Gorski is Professor of Sociology and Religious Studies at Yale
University. His latest book, /A Republic of Prophets: Civil Religion and
Culture Wars from John Winthrop to Donald Trump/ is forthcoming from
Princeton University Press.