Philosopher
Angélique de Saint-Jean Arnauld d'Andilly
1624–1684
Also known as Mère Angélique de Saint-Jean, Angélique Arnauld d'Andilly
Abbess of Port-Royal and leader of the uncompromising wing of Jansenism, who set out an ethics of resistance by which a persecuted minority can refuse coercion.
Angélique Arnauld d’Andilly was born in 1624 into a family of the legal nobility. As Mère Angélique de Saint-Jean she became abbess of Port-Royal and led the intransigent party in the Jansenist controversy, turning her opposition to civil and church authorities into a militant neo-Augustinian philosophy.
A prolific and strongly polemical writer, she often cited Augustine himself. She died in 1684.
Key ideas
- Two dualisms
- Her neo-Augustinian metaphysics opposes the mind’s reason to the bodily senses, and supernatural faith to a reason ravaged by desire.
- Pagan virtues are vices
- What pagan antiquity called natural virtues are vices in disguise; real virtue comes only from the theological virtues, given by God’s grace.
- A code of resistance
- Invitations to doubt often serve power rather than truth, pressing a minority to give up its convictions. Against such pressure she set out a code of non-compliance, silence and spiritual solitude.
- Tradition
- Western
- Region
- Port-Royal, France
- Period
- Early modern
- Themes
- How to govern
Influences
Where these links come from
- Angélique de Saint-Jean Arnauld d'Andilly drew on Augustine. Source: John J. Conley, Angélique de Saint-Jean Arnauld d'Andilly, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Sources
- John J. Conley, Angélique de Saint-Jean Arnauld d'Andilly, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy