Traditionalism, in the context of 19th-century

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, refers to a theory which held that all

metaphysical Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...

, moral, and religious knowledge derives from God's

revelation In religion and theology, revelation is the revealing or disclosing of some form of truth or knowledge through communication with a deity or other supernatural entity or entities. Background Inspiration – such as that bestowed by God on the ...

to man and is handed down in an unbroken chain of

tradition A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...

. It denied that human

reason Reason is the capacity of consciously applying logic by drawing conclusions from new or existing information, with the aim of seeking the truth. It is closely associated with such characteristically human activities as philosophy, science, ...

by itself has the power to attain to any truths in these domains of knowledge. It arose, mainly in Belgium and France, as a reaction to 18th-century

rationalism In philosophy, rationalism is the epistemological view that "regards reason as the chief source and test of knowledge" or "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification".Lacey, A.R. (1996), ''A Dictionary of Philosophy' ...

and can be considered an extreme form of anti-rationalism. Its chief proponents were

Joseph de Maistre Joseph Marie, comte de Maistre (; 1 April 1753 – 26 February 1821) was a Savoyard philosopher, writer, lawyer, and diplomat who advocated social hierarchy and monarchy in the period immediately following the French Revolution. Despite his clos ...

Louis de Bonald Louis Gabriel Ambroise, Vicomte de Bonald (2 October 1754 – 23 November 1840) was a French counter-revolutionary philosopher and politician. He is mainly remembered for developing a theoretical framework from which French sociology would ...

, and

Hugues Felicité Robert de Lamennais Hugues may refer to People: * Hugues de Payens (c. 1070–1136), French soldier * Hugues I de Lusignan (1194/95 –1218), French-descended ruler a.k.a. Hugh I of Cyprus * Hugues IV de Berzé (1150s–1220), French soldier * Hugues II de Lusignan ...

. Their doctrines were advocated in a modified form by

Louis Eugène Marie Bautain Louis Eugène Marie Bautain (17 February 179615 October 1867), was a French philosopher and theologian. Life Bautain was born at Paris. At the ''École Normale'' he came under the influence of Victor Cousin. In 1816 he adopted the profession of ...

Augustin Bonnetty Augustin Bonnetty (born Entrevaux (dept. of Basses-Alpes), 9 May 1798, died at Paris, 26 March 1879) was a French thinker and writer who founded and edited the ''Annales de philosophie chrétienne'' from 1830 until his death. Career In 1815, Bonn ...

Casimir Ubaghs Gérard Casimir Ubaghs (a/k/a Gerhard Casimir Ubaghs) (November 26, 1800 – February 15, 1875) - Dutch Catholic philosopher and theologian. For about 30 years (1834–1864) he was the chief formulator and promoter of a type of philosophical theolo ...

, and the philosophers of the Louvain school. The fundamental distrust of human reason underlying traditionalism was eventually condemned in a number of papal decrees and finally ruled out by the dogmatic constitution ''

Dei Filius ''Dei Filius'' is the incipit of the dogmatic constitution of the First Vatican Council on the Catholic faith, which was adopted unanimously, and issued by Pope Pius IX on 24 April 1870. The constitution set forth the teaching of "the holy Catho ...

'' during the

First Vatican Council The First Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the First Vatican Council or Vatican I was convoked by Pope Pius IX on 29 June 1868, after a period of planning and preparation that began on 6 December 1864. This, the twentieth ecu ...

in 1870.

References

Bibliography

* * * {{refend Catholic theology and doctrine History of Catholicism in France Traditionalist Catholicism

See also

References

Bibliography