My study, intended as a comparative conceptual commentary, contrasts the visions of Charles Taylor and Carl Schmitt regarding the 18th-century, especially moral, revolution. I thus situate John Wesley's preaching and the beginning of the Methodist movement within that very social and cultural climate, albeit interpreted and experienced differently: thanks to the comparison between the two authors, I show how the Methodist movement of the eighteenth century does not represent only a sort of counterpoint to the Enlightenment, but rather is complementary to it. In short, Methodism contributes to defining the idea of progress as conceived in that century, while in the following ones the notion of technological-scientific and economic progress will tend to prevail. Furthermore, I focus on what Taylor, in his jargon, calls "common life" (commitment to work and family), initially valued, in particular, by the Protestant Reformation. I then observe, thanks also to two classic works on Methodism, that the very events arising from the Reformation, along with others, ultimately conferred renewed value on citizens' active political engagement, understood as constitutive of existence, not as something extraordinary or exceptional. The Methodist movement, in fact, already in the 18th and 19th centuries, was very attentive to issues of social justice and the living conditions of the last and the penultimate.
| Published in | International Journal of Philosophy (Volume 13, Issue 4) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.ijp.20251304.12 |
| Page(s) | 161-163 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Enlightenment, Methodism, Moral Revolution, Philosophy of History, Common Life, Public Theology
| [1] | Charles Taylor, Sources of the Self. The making of the Modern Identity, Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA 1989; Italian translation Radici dell’io. La costruzione dell’identità moderna, Feltrinelli, Milano 1993. |
| [2] | Carl Schmitt, Le categorie del ‘politico’, il Mulino, Bologna 2023. This volume collects several essays. The one reproduced here is "The Concept of the 'Political'" (Begriff des Politischen), third edition, 1932 (München-Leipzig, Duncker & Humblot), as it appears in the unchanged reprint by the same publisher in 1963. |
| [3] | Sergio Carile, Il metodismo. Sommario storico, Claudiana, Torino 1984, my italics. |
| [4] | Sergio Carile, I metodisti nell’Inghilterra della Rivoluzione industriale, Claudiana, Torino 1989, my italics. |
APA Style
Matteo, D. D. (2025). Moral Progress and Methodism, Taylor and Schmitt. International Journal of Philosophy, 13(4), 161-163. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20251304.12
ACS Style
Matteo, D. D. Moral Progress and Methodism, Taylor and Schmitt. Int. J. Philos. 2025, 13(4), 161-163. doi: 10.11648/j.ijp.20251304.12
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Download@article{10.11648/j.ijp.20251304.12,
author = {Danilo Di Matteo},
title = {Moral Progress and Methodism, Taylor and Schmitt
},
journal = {International Journal of Philosophy},
volume = {13},
number = {4},
pages = {161-163},
doi = {10.11648/j.ijp.20251304.12},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20251304.12},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijp.20251304.12},
abstract = {My study, intended as a comparative conceptual commentary, contrasts the visions of Charles Taylor and Carl Schmitt regarding the 18th-century, especially moral, revolution. I thus situate John Wesley's preaching and the beginning of the Methodist movement within that very social and cultural climate, albeit interpreted and experienced differently: thanks to the comparison between the two authors, I show how the Methodist movement of the eighteenth century does not represent only a sort of counterpoint to the Enlightenment, but rather is complementary to it. In short, Methodism contributes to defining the idea of progress as conceived in that century, while in the following ones the notion of technological-scientific and economic progress will tend to prevail. Furthermore, I focus on what Taylor, in his jargon, calls "common life" (commitment to work and family), initially valued, in particular, by the Protestant Reformation. I then observe, thanks also to two classic works on Methodism, that the very events arising from the Reformation, along with others, ultimately conferred renewed value on citizens' active political engagement, understood as constitutive of existence, not as something extraordinary or exceptional. The Methodist movement, in fact, already in the 18th and 19th centuries, was very attentive to issues of social justice and the living conditions of the last and the penultimate.
},
year = {2025}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - Moral Progress and Methodism, Taylor and Schmitt AU - Danilo Di Matteo Y1 - 2025/10/30 PY - 2025 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20251304.12 DO - 10.11648/j.ijp.20251304.12 T2 - International Journal of Philosophy JF - International Journal of Philosophy JO - International Journal of Philosophy SP - 161 EP - 163 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2330-7455 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijp.20251304.12 AB - My study, intended as a comparative conceptual commentary, contrasts the visions of Charles Taylor and Carl Schmitt regarding the 18th-century, especially moral, revolution. I thus situate John Wesley's preaching and the beginning of the Methodist movement within that very social and cultural climate, albeit interpreted and experienced differently: thanks to the comparison between the two authors, I show how the Methodist movement of the eighteenth century does not represent only a sort of counterpoint to the Enlightenment, but rather is complementary to it. In short, Methodism contributes to defining the idea of progress as conceived in that century, while in the following ones the notion of technological-scientific and economic progress will tend to prevail. Furthermore, I focus on what Taylor, in his jargon, calls "common life" (commitment to work and family), initially valued, in particular, by the Protestant Reformation. I then observe, thanks also to two classic works on Methodism, that the very events arising from the Reformation, along with others, ultimately conferred renewed value on citizens' active political engagement, understood as constitutive of existence, not as something extraordinary or exceptional. The Methodist movement, in fact, already in the 18th and 19th centuries, was very attentive to issues of social justice and the living conditions of the last and the penultimate. VL - 13 IS - 4 ER -
Department of Philosophical, Pedagogical and Social Sciences, University "Gabriele d'Annunzio", Chieti-Pescara, Italy
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