Spiritual Exercices

In 1870, Wilhelm Richard Wagner (1813-1883) wrote an essay to celebrate the centennial of Beethoven's birth. In this essay Wagner made the case that music is, unlike any other object we create or are attentive to in experience , in an immediate analogical relationship with the activity of the Schopenhauerian "will" and is always enlivened. By drawing on this idea, we can not only conceive of music as in an immediate analogical relationship with our personal experience, but as perhaps the only object of cognition that is in a constant state of personal vitality. It is by that very continuous vitality that it can return us to our own personhood with deeper insight and perspective. The essay concludes by exploring how attending to the musical object as a spiritual (existen-tial) exercise might reconnect us to our roots in sensus communis, educate us on our common personhood, and play an ethical role in our lives.

Este artículo ofrece una interpretación actualizada de la teoría del discernimiento espiritual descrita por Ignacio de Loyola en las reglas de discernimiento de los Ejercicios Espirituales (párrafos 313-336).

This article offers a renovated interpretation of the theory of spiritual discernment described by Ignatius of Loyola in the Rules of Discernmente of the Spiritual Exercises (paragraphs 313-336).

O objetivo deste artigo é demonstrar como a ética proferida por Epicteto se relaciona com uma postura filosófica, mais precisamente com uma atitude filosófica. Essa atitude não é especificamente uma exigência prévia para pensar a ética filosoficamente, pois não se trata de tê-la para então começar a filosofar, mas trata-se da manifestação de autenticidade daquele que se diz filósofo, porque evidencia a real assimilação das opiniões e teorias que defende. Para Epicteto, o progresso do filósofo necessariamente está unido ao progresso no campo ético, sendo impossível desvinculá-los. Por entender a filosofia como um modo de vida, ele adverte para que a teoria seja sempre colocada em prática, estabelecendo assim o conhecido caráter ascético de seus ensinamentos.

The objective of this article is to demonstrate how the ethics pronounced by Epictetus relates to a philosophical stance, more precisely with a philosophical attitude. This attitude is not a prior requirement to think about ethics philosophically, since it is not a mandatory requirement to begin philosophizing, but it is the manifestation of authenticity of the one who calls himself a philosopher, because it shows the real assimilation of opinions and theories he advocates. For Epictetus, the progress of the philosopher is necessarily bound up with his progress in the field of ethics, and it is impossible to untie them. By understanding philosophy as a way of life, he warns so that the theory is always put into practice, thus establishing the well-known ascetic character of his teachings.

This article looks at the encounters between the hesychast and Ignatian traditions. What elements of agreement are there and how can two apparently quite distinct traditions be placed side by side? The article starts with a brief introduction to the two traditions and suggests that spiritual traditions offer the chance for experience to meet experience.  It then look in more detail at some features of the hesychast and Ignatian traditions: their Christocentric emphasis, their relationship to the Scriptures, their views on discipleship, on the church and on the world. The article concludes by asking what it means to speak about either tradition or innovation in terms of spirituality and whether spirituality can serve as a test case for the discussion around the nature of tradition and innovation.

Dans ce texte, Maël Goarzin évoque rapidement la permanence du stoïcisme de la fin de l’Antiquité à l’époque moderne, avant de s’intéresser plus précisément au stoïcisme contemporain et à l’actualité du stoïcisme conçu comme manière de vivre. En effet, l’insistance des stoïciens sur l’insuffisance de la théorie et l’importance du passage à la pratique lui permettent de rappeler à nouveau la nécessité de l’exercice et l’impact de sa mise en oeuvre dans la perspective d’un choix de vie philosophique.

This is an unformatted, pre-publication.  All citations from this paper should be made from its published version.

In contributing to the debate on changes of the Christian world in late antiquity, some scholars have claimed that the boundaries between religious groups were blurred with shifting, in that, for instance, the identity of Christians in the society was not characterised by clear indications of religious belief, observance, and practice. After a significant contribution to the discussion of the Christian identity, more recent and detailed surveys have shown that the difference between Christians and pagans can be seen as part of a discursive binary. While the North African evidence allows us to consider the question of what it means to be a Christian, it is interesting to note that there is a comprehensive framework for the understanding of human behaviour and thought: the spiritual training in the Greco-Roman tradition. What did Augustine think of this training? This question has received frequent attention in Augustinian scholarship, particularly in Pierre Hadot’s work, where he illustrates a complex set of modes of the ‘spiritual exercises’ and defines it as a ‘metamorphosis of our personality’. It has been regarded by some scholars as the purely intellectual training of the intelligence or mind. Primary attention should be given to it. All the same, the simplistic approach merits careful deliberation. Hadot emphasises the need to investigate the wider diversity of exercises and the purgation of the soul within the very context of involving all facets of human thought and behaviour. Although the training in question varied according to the circumstances of Greco-Roman thought, a modification appeared in late antiquity, more specifically, from the mid-fourth century in more detail than before. A crucial stage of the development seems to be prepared by Augustine. It seems to be legitimate to revisit the subject in his works. The intention of this paper is, therefore, to focus on the evidence for the multiplicity of Christian and/or pagan identities in Augustine’s Sermones ad populum, thereby coming to some understanding of the horizons on which he made use of the aspect and goal in speaking about spiritual training. I shall first examine how he explained his idea of the Christian code of behaviour to his congregation; then I shall ask what Augustine understood by the spiritual training. Finally, I shall consider the principal feature of spiritual training from the viewpoint of its significance and limit for the constructive guidance necessary to form the Christian identity that Augustine hoped for.

La Sainte Écriture, lue dans la Tradition de l’Église, est le fondement de la vie spirituelle chrétienne catholique. C’est dans les Écritures, dans l’Ancien Testament et le Nouveau Testament, que nous rencontrons la Parole de Dieu destinée à prendre chair en nous et nous rendre ainsi participant du plan bienveillant de Dieu pour l’humanité. Dans cette brève étude, nous allons considérer les approches qui relèvent de notre responsabilité et, dans la dernière partie, l’œuvre de l’Esprit Saint en nous, dans notre homme intérieur et dans notre corps, pour la réalisation de cette œuvre de synergie avec le Dieu Trinité.

This is the first book fully dedicated to Indian philosophical doxography. It examines the function such dialectical texts were intended to serve in the intellectual and religious life of their public. It looks at Indian doxography both as a witness of inter- and intra-sectarian dialogues and as a religious phenomenon. It argues that doxographies represent dialectical exercises, indicative of a peculiar religious attitude to plurality, and locate these ‘exercises’ within a known form of ‘yoga’ dedicated to the cultivation of ‘knowledge’ or ‘gnosis’ (jñāna).

Concretely, the book presents a critical examination of three Sanskrit doxographies: the Madhyamakahṛdayakārikā of the Buddhist Bhāviveka, the Ṣaḍdarśanasamuccaya of the Jain Haribhadra, and the Sarvasiddhāntasaṅgraha attributed to the Advaitin Śaṅkara, focusing on each of their respective presentation of the Mīmāṃsā view. 　

It is the first time that the genre of doxography is considered beyond its literary format to ponder its performative dimension, as a spiritual exercise. Theoretically broad, the book reaches out to academics in religious studies, Indian philosophy, Indology, and classical studies.

https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9780429275982

Within current scholarship, the general consensus seems to be that Bonaventure did not, according to Paul Sabatier, “[understand] him whose disciple he wanted and believed himself to be.” Ewert W. Cousins takes up this line of thinking in his analysis of Bonaventure’s theology contrasting Bonaventure’s presupposition of the “speculative tradition” with the “simpleness and directness” of Francis of Assisi. This contrast contains the implication that Bonaventure’s work cannot be considered to be truly Franciscan, given the differing expression of his ideas from those in the orders foundational texts; however, I hypothesize that Bonaventure’s operates in, what Bernard Lonergan calls, the realm of interiority. I will argue that as a result of this Bonaventure is able to transpose his understanding of Franciscan spirituality from the realm of theory, as is seen in the Itinerarium mentis in Deum, to the realm of common sense, as is seen in the Legenda Maior.

Conférence donnée le samedi 26 janvier 2019, à la médiathèque de La Riche (37).

Les films ont un pouvoir d’éducation morale qui mérite d’être pris au sérieux. C’est du moins ce que l’intervention voudrait montrer en prônant la lecture éthique d’œuvres cinématographiques, un exercice dont on peut penser qu’il permet de s’améliorer soi-même, ce qui semble un préalable nécessaire à toute volonté d’améliorer le monde.

Most of the assumptions regarding the subject of enlightenment as such and supposed enlightened persons are just misconceptions based on beliefs and which therefore turn out to be completely erroneous. The purpose of this paper is to show why this is so.

Nietzsche's 'View from Above'

Contemporary scholarship has begun to explore the way Nietzsche took up the classical and Hellenistic notion that ‘ethics’ should be based on ‘physics’. At the same time recent scholarship also shows that in the late 1870s and early 1880s Nietzsche drew on contemporary naturalism, especially various strands of evolutionary biology, to formulate his moral and political project. In this chapter I claim that Nietzsche did not simply draw on and apply contemporary naturalistic theories. Rather I argue that he attempted to refract the ancient model of philosophy and its ‘spiritual exercises’ through the new evolutionary paradigm. In particular, this chapter argues that in the middle period Nietzsche tried to hinge one particular ancient spiritual exercise - the ‘view from above’ - to the new naturalistic perspective. In broad terms, it suggests that Nietzsche’s repudiation of ordinary emotions of pity, fear, and grief is symptomatic of his recycling of classical and Hellenistic philosophy’s ambition of rising above mortal, affective life. This chapter suggests that Nietzsche reprises two variations of classical philosophy’s spiritual exercises: the Olympian and Stoic views from above.

Anthropology Today, August 2017, Volume 33, Issue 4, pp. 13-17

Foucault’s conception of ethics as the self’s relation to itself and as the practices by which the individual attempts to constitute itself as a particular kind of ethical subject is briefly sketched, along with three corollaries that follow from this. It is then suggested that ethics so conceived provides a useful framework within which to describe the activities at a yoga school in southern India.

Please visit the journal website to read:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1467-8322

Cuprins: Războiul nevăzut din societatea spectacolului | Câteva provocări ale societăţii de consum | Inteligenţele multiple și inteligenţa spirituală - câteva indicii despre complexitatea și adâncimile fiinţei umane | Inteligenţa spirituală - câteva menţiuni pentru o evaluare teologică | Viaţa interioară - câteva indicii neurale și fiziologice | Neuroștiinţele dovedesc valoarea iubirii materne | Sugarii au capacităţi uimitoare de a distinge binele de rău | Atașamentul părinţilor și dezvoltarea copilului | Legătura dintre sănătate și spiritualitate, evidenţiată de știinţă | Suferinţele umanităţii însingurate | De la competiţie la comuniune | Compasiunea - virtutea care ne face din nou oameni | Pătimirile lui Hristos și compasiunea interumană | Câteva practici mintale și efectele lor | Tehnici mintale cu rol terapeutic | Practici mintale cu rol terapeutic și viaţa spirituală creștin-ortodoxă. Două consideraţii critice | Vagabondajul minţii. Un posibil loc de întâlnire pentru cercetările neuroștiinţelor și observaţiile practice ale spiritualităţii | Schimbarea minţii pentru o schimbare autentică a vieţii. Perspective filocalice | Meditaţie budistă și meditaţie creștină: câteva deosebiri esenţiale | Practici spirituale non-creștine: schiţă pentru o receptare apologetică | De la cultivarea virtuţilor la jertfa supremă. Câteva observaţii despre o distincţie esenţială a spiritualităţii creștin-ortodoxe | Bunăstarea materială pe cântarul spiritului | Drumul întristării fericite către bucuria adevărată | Viaţa interioară sub asediul cuvintelor | Fericire deplină fără înviere? | Cum poate omul să se nască din nou, bătrân fiind? | Bătrâneţile întineresc zilnic | Cuantificare a eului sau viaţă lăuntrică? | Libertate şi condiţionare genetică în persoana umană | Plasticitatea fiinţei | Explorarea spaţiului lăuntric - o situaţie știinţifică precară | Viaţa lăuntrică în era informaţiei | Nașterea omului prin cuvânt | Instrumentele sufletului omenesc | De la cunoaștere la viaţa deplină

Le champ de la poésie française, des années 1960 à nos jours, se caractérise par une « querelle du sujet » subreptice, parallèle à celle, plus visible et spectaculaire, qui a eu lieu en philosophie. Les lignes de partage qui structurent ce champ, les polémiques qui l’animent ont le plus souvent comme arrière-plan, de manière plus ou moins explicite, un concept de sujet. Mais les arguments qui s’opposent sont généralement embrouillés, voire doxiques : ce livre s’applique d’abord à éclaircir les termes de la querelle. On y envisage ensuite la poésie sous l’aspect d’un rapport pratique à soi : ce sont les usages possibles de la poésie dans nos vies qui sont examinés, ce qui peut en faire une forme spécifique d’exercice spirituel. La perspective d’ensemble est anthropologique : si véritablement nous voulons envisager la pratique poétique comme une « forme de vie », alors nous ne pouvons pas exclure la tradition lyrique du champ de nos investigation

« Le philosophe n’apprend pas aux hommes un métier particulier, […] mais il cherche à transformer leur sensibilité, leur caractère, leur manière de voir le monde ou d’être en rapport avec les autres hommes. On pourrait dire qu’il leur apprend le métier d’homme. »
Si la tâche de la philosophie est de former plutôt que d’informer, la philosophie est précisément l’éducation des adultes. C’est en ces termes que Pierre Hadot évoque une conception de la philosophie comme manière de vivre que toute son œuvre aura brillamment contribué à réactiver. Grand lecteur des philosophes antiques, de Socrate et Platon à Épictète, Marc Aurèle et Plotin, mais aussi des philosophes modernes ou contemporains, de Montaigne et Descartes à Nietzsche et Merleau-Ponty, dans ce recueil de textes – introuvables ou inédits – Pierre Hadot relit l’histoire de la pensée afin de nous aider à réorienter notre vie et à réapprendre à voir le monde. Ces textes témoignent de sa capacité de parler à la fois au public universitaire et aux non spécialistes passionnés de philosophie. On y reconnaît toujours la clarté et la puissance de sa pensée. Sommes-nous prêts à être (trans)formés par la philosophie?

In a recent work entitled 'You must change your life", Peter Sloterdijk explores the practising nature of philosophy and predicts the return of the “immunological”. There is currently a growing demand for anthropotechnics able to strengthen our immune-symbolic system (i.e. mental and physical methods that protect us against uncertainty,
anguish, and death). The anthropotechnics that are being practiced worldwide, such as Yoga or Mindfulness, come originally from Indian philosophies and not from ancient Greek or Roman philosophy. Despite the work of historians of philosophy such as Pierre Hadot, the spiritual exercises of ancient Greco-Roman philosophy continue to be studied as fossilized specimens inside university classrooms. This could be due to the pact of indifference, the tacit agreement that lies behind the functioning of contemporary Institutional Philosophy. Thanks to this pact there is no longer any possible contradiction between life and work, because there is, to begin with, no vital commitment to the genuine exercise of philosophy. We assume that philosophy is an exclusively rhetorical exercise and that the task of the professional philosopher is to
publish as many papers as possible in prestigious journals that tend to privatize knowledge. Following a different daimon, this essay was conceived as an exercise in thinking outside the academic standards of professional philosophy. The resulting literary experiment has been intentionally kept as natural as possible, without disguising the crossroads of ideas, thinkers, doubts and new problems that arose spontaneously during the exercise.

Doxographical writings appeared early on in the Graeco-Roman world. The genre of doxography never disappeared ever since. It can be found in Islamic and Christian literature, and even, in some ways, in some modern writings on the history of philosophy. My doctoral dissertation explored the genre in the Asian context, through three early Indian models. In Asia, doxographies are found pretty much anywhere philosophy developed, in Tibet and China in particular. Despite the widespread use of doxographical formats of writing in various cultures, modern philosophers tend to look down on the genre, which they perceive as an unreflective and by times even misleading presentation of philosophical ideas. Recent research in classical doxography, however, has shown that there is more to be found under their covers than a mere listing of opinions. My own contribution to the discussion shows that early Indian models can even be seen as 'spiritual exercises' in their own rights. This paper challenges the pejorative connotations some may entertain towards doxography and calls for a renewed appreciation of the genre.

Le moine japonais Dōgen Kigen (1200-1253) voit dans la méditation assise (zazen) l’essence de ce que le sanscrit appelle dhyāna et le japonais zen. La pratique de cette méditation repose sur des règles commandant précisément la manière de s’assoir en vue de « penser au sans penser ». On y a souvent vu un amoralisme, un anti-intellectualisme ou un quiétisme. Mais la consigne de ne penser ni au bien ni au mal n’est pas un amoralisme. Penser au sans penser n’est pas un anti-intellectualisme. Il s’agit de surmonter au sein de la pratique toute attitude dualiste à l’égard de soi et du monde, par un véritable exercice spirituel qui implique tout autant le corps que l’esprit.


Seated Meditation: Thinking about the Non-Thinking. A Spiritual Exercise in Dōgen’s Zen
The Japanese monk Dōgen Kigen (1200-1253) views seated meditation (zazen) as the essence of what is called dhyāna in Sanskrit and zen in Japanese. The practice of such a kind of meditation draws on rules governing precisely one’s manner of seating so as to be able to “think about the non-thinking”. It has often been considered an amoral, anti-intellectual or quietist perspective. But the instruction to think neither about good nor evil is neither amoral nor anti-intellectual. It is intended as a means of overcoming, within practice itself, any dualistic attitude regarding self and world, by way of a genuine spiritual exercise that equally involves body and mind.

Plan de l'article

Une technique du corps et de l’esprit
Sans penser au bien ou au mal ; penser au sans penser
S’asseoir sans visée

Gagliardi (1537/8-1607), jesuita italiano, ejerció un influjo hasta ahora poco conocido en la espiritualidad de los siglos XVII y XVIII. con la presente edición de este Comentario, traducido por Ramón Gómez y editado por José Antonio García, contribuye a la continuidad del carisma ignaciano y al rico patrimonio que generaciones anteriores han legado al ministerio de dar los Ejercicios Espirituales y a la elaboración teológica y espiritual subyacente de los mismos.

Documento preparado para la Secuencia Didáctica de la Clase de Biblia de la Estrategia de Intervención Pedagógica Remota (IPR). La IPR ha sido la estrategia preparada por el Sistema Educativo Adventista de la Unión Mexicana del Norte para atender a los estudiantes durante la pandemia por SAR-COV-2.

I sacerdoti allievi del Convitto ecclesiastico di Torino, tra le altre cose, studiavano
sacra eloquenza ed erano invitati a comporre un corso completo di meditazioni da
usare nelle “missioni” o negli esercizi spirituali al popolo. L’Archivio Centrale Salesiano
conserva una parte di queste prove del giovane don Bosco, ognuna con la data di
composizione. La predica sulla Misericordia è datata 20 luglio 1842. Don Bosco svolge le sue riflessioni a partire dal racconto della parabola del figlio prodigo e della pecorella smarrita, per mostrare la tenerezza di Dio ed esortare gli ascoltatori a non differire ulteriormente la conversione.

The priest students of the "Convitto ecclesiastico" (ecclesiastical boarding) in Turin, among other things, studied sacred eloquence and were invited to compose a full course of meditations for use in "missions" or spiritual exercices to the people. The Salesian Central Archives preserves a part of the texts of young Don Bosco, each with the date of composition. The sermon on "Mercy" is dated 20 July 1842. Don Bosco starts his reflections with the narration of the parable of the prodigal son and that of the lost sheep, in order to show the tenderness of God and to exhort his listeners not to delay further the conversion.

In modern times scant attention has been given to the spiritual music of the 16th and 17th centuries, in spite of the fact that so much music was composed by some of the greatest figures of the period (they range from Palestrina to Marenzio, de Monte, Lassus and Monteverdi). Indeed until very recently it was very difficult to get ones bearings in a poetic-musical repertoire that is not only large, but also interwoven in many different ways with the cultural and spiritual life of a period that was “intensely consoled and lacerated by the religious idea” (G. Pozzi). Although the last few years have witnessed the publication of more and more ‘close-up’ historical-analytical studies (at times of very high definition), we are now conscious of the need for a new overall picture that can make sense of the fragmentation, outline fresh lines of interpretation and restore fluidity to the processes. It was reflections of this kind that generated the ‘centripetal’ itinerary proposed in this book, which moves inwards from a geographical and cultural location (Rome) first to consider one of the most influential and original spiritual and artistic environments in the post-Tridentine Catholic world (the Oratorio of St Filippo Neri), then to examine a specific poetic-musical collection: the Selva armonica (1617) of Giovanni Francesco Anerio. Taking its cue from certain general features of the cultural history and from a strong focus on the theatre of events, this work first examines the theoretical background to the relationship between music and spirituality (from Augustine to the ‘musical’ mystics of the Middle Ages), then verifies its resonance in the post-Tridentine era – a period that distinguished itself for the ways in which it united singing with catechesis, art with prayer, and literature with mysticism. The attention then gradually concentrates on the exemplary histories of the composer, the poet and the collection (G.F. Anerio, Agostino Manni and the Selva armonica) that form the main, though not exclusive, object of close analysis. The Selva is in fact an excellent point of observation, for it is where many of the trends of turn-of-the-century Roman musical culture intersect. Blended together, thanks also to the possibilities opened up by monodic-concertato writing, are the rhythmic and colouristic dynamism of the minor genres (the canzonetta, and naturally also the lauda), the harmonic maturity and linear elegance of the Roman late madrigal and the natural contrapuntal mastery of the post-Palestrinian maestri di cappella. At the same time this variegated forest (‘selva’) is also founded on a perfect balance between the needs of docere, movere and delectare, while the expressive experimentation gladly allows itself to be ruled by rhetorica divina.

This article seeks to highlight the practical nature of the work of Jeremy Taylor, developing his understanding of the place of theoretical knowledge in its relation to moral living. I argue that Tay-lor is devoted to the realization of the theoretical in everyday life, and does not overemphasize the moral to the detriment of the theological. In exploring this argument, I analyze his description of the practice of the presence of God and the contemplation of the eternal, two examples from his work of the integration of the theoretical with the practical for the sake of moral improvement.

In a world where too many people continue to be tortured without recourse to legal protections, nonlegislative resources for preserving human dignity amid dehumanizing terror are much needed. This article analyzes the hermeneutical exercises constructed by the influential third century Christian intellectual, Origen of Alexandria, to prepare himself and others for torture and martyrdom. These exercises were designed to be a counter-asceticism that would strike at the root of violence both in the self and in society and enable his contemporary Christians to suffer at the hands of the Romans without losing sight either of their own humanity or that of their tormentors. Christians following Origen’s practice were trained to resist not only the Roman Empire’s violent disciplining of bodies, but the whole interpretation of the world that justified it as they embodied a nonviolent alternative to it. In this way, Origen provides resources for a particularly religious mode of resistance to torture that usefully supplements the contemporary human rights campaign and holds promise for overcoming some of its limitations.

Viviamo una situazione inedita: nel brevissimo spazio di pochi mesi sono crollate tante apparenti sicurezze di cui è emersa la loro ultima inconsistenza. Quante persone si sono scoperte fragili, impaurite, prive di speranza. Nel loro cuore si è aperta una crepa, un varco, una più o meno consapevole attesa.

How does Philo of Alexandria depict the formation of a wise person? This article pays attention to the centrality of spiritual training in Graeco-Roman philosophy, and argues that Philo likewise regards the process of seeking wisdom as entailing mental practice. The analysis focuses on two passages of Quis rerum divinarum heres sit and Legum allegoriarum where Philo attributes lists of spiritual exercises to the figure of Jacob. As such, these accounts illustrate how Philo makes use of scriptural interpretation as he imagines the execution of a life dedicated to wisdom. The listed exercises are largely familiar from Graeco-Roman philosophical traditions, yet they coexist with and contribute to the performance of Philo’s ancestral tradition. This mélange of cultural elements suggests that Philo discusses Jacob’s inner cultivation in order to enable his audience to grasp (one prospect of) how to lead a Jewish philosophical life in the Roman Alexandria.

Este artículo describe el proceso antropológico-espiritual de Ignacio de Loyola hacia la desposesión de sí o la abnegación.
This article describes the anthropological and spiritual process of Ignatius of Loyola towards self-emptying or abnegation.

Dans cet article nous essayons de présenter quelques éléments de ce que l'on pourrait définir comme l'askesis de Leon Battista Alberti, en rattachant la pensée de l'humaniste florentin à la tradition des "exercices spirituels". Nous nous concentrons d'abord sur le "De familia" pour proposer une classification des exercices en trois catégories (exercices du corps, exercices de l'esprit, exercices relatifs à l'usage du temps). Ensuite, nous ébauchons un parcours qui va du "De familia" au "De iciarchia", en passant par le "Theogenius" et les "Profugiorum ab aerumna libri", dans le but de montrer les étapes fondamentales de sa réflexion éthico-politique, qui articule de manière inextricable le problème du gouvernement de soi et celui du gouvernement des autres.