Discuss the diffrent societies during french revolution
Answers
This is not a history of the French Revolution in terms of social and political philosophy, nor a history of social and political philosophy in the Revolution, rather it is a philosophical discourse drawing on books, speeches, legislation, and manuscripts from the Revolution 1789-94. Its aim is, '.... to rejoin a reflection in which the revolutionaries were, in their own manner, already engaged on what was one of the first and most comprehensive attempts at a global and conscious change of society.'
The treatment of Sieyes' 'Qu'est-ce que le Tiers Etat7' is informative and useful, and Singer goes on to develop the difference between Sieyes' political philosophy and that of the Jacobins. The book traces a number of themes through from the ancien regime to St-Just and the Terror. It shows, for example, how the ancien regime's 'transcendental' monarchy where the king personified a regime comprehensible to itself only in religious terms – was replaced by the equally transcendental concept of the nation state imbued with a 'general will'. Other topics covered include: the relationship between state and society, the secularising role of the Enlightenment, the implications of the growth of governmental machinery, differing interpretations and critiques of the social contract, the location and perception of power in society, and the changing role of the members of the National Assembly from representatives of the nation to mandatees of the general will.
Someone not familiar with the language and methodology of philosophy may find it difficult to separate reactions to this book from reactions to the discipline as a whole. Singer seeks to pre-empt this by starting with a stricture to historians that they would be wrong to be irritated by the way he will treat the subjects in the title. Readers coming to this book from different specialisms may, nonetheless, be somewhat disconcerted by the author's desire to engage them in dialogue, some of the approaches to topics may seem obscure, lengthy, and hedged about with jargon, and inevitably, perhaps, the book seems strongest where it is at its most concise and most specific – as in the topics mentioned above.
It has also has to be judged against its own central theme, which is to show how the Revolution enabled people to analyse and then restructure in a secular way their own society from its most basic tenets (the relationship between individuals) up to the highest political level (the nature and desirability of democracy). The argument as presented is full and convincing but conducted on intellectual ground of the author's own choosing; there is no pretense at an overall setting of the material used into its historical context. This begs the question of whether the material itself was always the result of deep and well-considered abstract thought, or whether – in the case of the Loi Chapelier forbidding strikes for example – some other account (e.g. political expedience) might be equally valid.
This study brings the benefit of the particular perspective of philosophical inquiry to our understanding of the Revolution, it would not, though, in return give the philosopher an appreciation of the events themselves nor a sense of people creating and having to live within a major political and social upheaval.
Peter Burley is a freelance writer and researcher on historical topics.
During the French revolution the society was divided into 3 groups :--
1--CLERGY :-- This group is most prosperous and rich group among all three..This group is consists of many high official , big officers and the statused person..
They are few in number but they hold a huge land mass. They are not responsible for paying any types of taxes..
2-- NOBILITY :- They are lower in status than clergy .. They are just like middle class of today.. They are mainly consists of teachers , doctors, scientists , lawyers ,etc . They also consist of land Lords. . They own very big mass of land after clergy.
They are also not responsible for paying any sort of taxes.
3-- THIRD ESTATE :-- This is last group which was divided in grenade society.This is mainly composed of artisans , shoemakers , shopkeepers ,peasants etc. They are huge in population but they don't have huge landmass. Their condition was quite miserable .They don't have any position in society. They have to work for 15 hours but their wages are too low to run their life in a proper way. They have pay all sorts of taxes which was executed by the monarch of France .They also paid Taille and Teithe.