Claude Buffier

Claude Buffier: Common Sense, Metaphysics, and Sociability

ventures into the largely unexplored territory of his philosophical contributions to early modern thought, unlocking the complexity of his ideas while situating him within the broader context of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century philosophy. Instead of arguing that the foundation of all knowledge is grounded in either rational speculation or empirical observation, Buffier proposes a third way: his appeal to common sense seeks to show that, when we have exhausted all the justifications for our claims to knowledge, the bedrock where our spades are turned is the irreducible social and emotional dimension of our epistemic practices.

This collection of essays explores the central tenets of Buffier's philosophy of common sense, reflects on his metaphysics of the self, identity, and duration, and examines Buffier's thought on social life, with chapters on his conceptions of freedom, social order, and the equality of the sexes. While focusing on arguments and claims central to Buffier's thought, all chapters seek to place him in his intellectual context by tracing the positions which he responded to and those he built on. Studying Buffier's philosophy contributes to widening our understanding of the main philosophical issues at stake in the early modern period. More specifically, it shows how some understudied philosophers played a crucial role in developing alternatives to Cartesianism and Locke's philosophy. It also shows how Jesuit philosophers adapted and responded to the challenges that the new philosophy posed to the scholasticism that had dominated Jesuit philosophy until the mid-seventeenth century.

This volume seeks to re-admit Buffier into the intellectual debate, of which he was once a natural and crucial part. It clarifies what exactly was perceived as a challenge and which implicit arguments figured in the background of well-known debates.