From the Inner Citadel to the Outside World: Tilgher's Hypothesis and the Emergence of Modern Man

Gregory Ponthiere

No 1726, GLO Discussion Paper Series from Global Labor Organization (GLO)

Abstract: According to the Italian philosopher Tilgher (1922), the birth of the bourgeois society during the Pre-Industrial era involved the replacement of the Ancient Man by the Modern Man, and consisted of a reorienta- tion of efforts from spiritual exercises developing the inner self (what Marcus Aurelius called the 'Inner Citadel') to efforts reshaping the out- side world. However, from a microeconomic perspective, a reallocation of efforts/time does not necessarily reveal a change of preferences. To study the conditions under which the Pre-Industrial rise in working time reveals a shift in life-goals (the emergence of Modern Man), this paper develops a uni…ed growth model with endogenous preferences and time allocation choices, where individuals …rst choose whether they pursue extra-world self-realization (Ancient Man) or intra-world self-realization (Modern Man), and, then, based on their preferences, allocate their time between spiritual labor and material labor. It is shown that, contrary to Tilgher's hypothesis, a rise in working time does not necessarily re- veal a shift from extra-world to intra-world self-realization, but can occur while keeping life-goals unchanged. Our model contributes also to inform debates about the decline of religious holidays in France (1640-1780).

Keywords: unified growth theory; endogenous preferences; time allocation; Industrious Revolution; secularization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E24 N33 Z12 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:glodps:1726

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