"In the twelfth century, reason began to lose the ontologically privileged position it had been accorded by an aristocratic society. Its propositions were open, at least in principle, to equal scrutiny, grounded in a shared faith. (Did not St Bernard complain that under Abelard’s influence matters of the faith were being discussed at the crossroads?) The role of reason was being democratized. Reason ceased to be something that used people, and became something people used."
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18. The Democratizing of Reason (p. 243)
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Larry Siedentop
Sir Larry Alan Siedentop CBE (24 May 1936 – 13 June 2024) was an American-born British political philosopher with a special interest in 19th-century French liberalism. He was the author of Democracy in Europe (2000) and Inventing the Individual (2014) and an occasional contributor to several major British daily newspapers, including the Financial Times and The Times.
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