Human Nature and the French Revolution

From the Enlightenment to the Napoleonic Code
1. Auflage 2003
ISBN: 978-1-57181-415-9
Verlag: Berghahn Books

Buch, Englisch, Band 3, 304 Seiten, Format (B × H): 140 mm x 216 mm, Gewicht: 385 g

Reihe: Polygons: Cultural Diversities and Intersections

What view of man did the French Revolutionaries hold? Anyone who purports to be interested in the "Rights of Man" could be expected to see this question as crucial and yet, surprisingly, it is rarely raised. Through his work as a legal historian, Xavier Martin came to realize that there is no unified view of man and that, alongside the "official" revolutionary discourse, very divergent views can be traced in a variety of sources from the Enlightenment to the Napoleonic Code. Michelet's phrases, "Know men in order to act upon them" sums up the problem that Martin's study constantly seeks to elucidate and illustrate: it reveals the prevailing tendency to see men as passive, giving legislators and medical people alike free rein to manipulate them at will. His analysis impels the reader to revaluate the Enlightenment concept of humanism. By drawing on a variety of sources, the author shows how the anthropology of Enlightenment and revolutionary France often conflicts with concurrent discourses.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Martin, Xavier

Fachgebiete

• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften Interdisziplinär Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Europäische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Weltgeschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Foreword

Notes on Translation

Abbreviations

Chapter 1. Human Nature

Chapter 2. Helvèticus and d'Holbach

Chapter 3. Voltaire

Chapter 4. Rousseau

Chapter 5. Pedagogy and Politics

Chapter 6. Mirabeau, Sieyès

Chapter 7. The Audacity of the Philanthropists

Chapter 8. Robespierre

Chapter 9. Making an Impression

Chapter 10. Cabanis and Destutt de Tracy

Chapter 11. La Rèvellière-Lèpeaux and Leclerc

Chapter 12. Supervised Sovereignty

Chapter 13. Mme de Staël and Constant

Chapter 14. Bonaparte Ideologue?

Chapter 15. The Napoleonic Code

Conclusion

Bibliography

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Martin, Xavier
Xavier Martin is a Historian of Law and Professor at the Faculty of Law, Economics and Social Sciences at Angers University. He has published extensively on the ideology of the French Revolution and on the Code Civil of 1804.