explain the idea and the contribution of the France philosopher?
Answers
Answered by
1
The ideas of the French philosophes were a factor that contributed to the outbreak of the French Revolution but historians disagree on how big a role did they actually have in shaping public opinion.
On the one hand, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen[1] is a clear child of the Enlightenment, with Rousseau’s ‘social contract’ and Montesquieu’s ‘separation of powers’ figuring prominently.
On the surface this should settle the question in favour of a “maximalist” contribution and indeed both the historians of the 19th century who popularized the term “Enlightenment” and the opponents of the Revolution pointed their fingers towards the philosophes and their ideas[1].
But there’s also an argument to be made in favour of a “minimalist” contribution. Here are three points to consider:
The philosophers were not revolutionaries themselves, they were well to do and part of the middle- upper class. They advocated reform and were generally sympathetic to Enlightened absolutism.
Many of their works were banned or censored, making it hard for people to acquire them. There was an active smuggling and piracy industry in Switzerland that satisfied the French appetite for banned works and for a long time it was thought that this was the route by which people managed to read such books. However, recent research has shown that the lion’s share of the smuggled items were cheap soft-core pornographic books[2]. Which means that “The Hobbies of Marie Antoinette”, “The Little Suppers [orgies] at the Hotel de Bouillon” and “The Devil in the Baptismal Font”were more popular than the works of Rousseau (and more to the point his sentimental novel Julie was much more popular than The Social Contract
On the one hand, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen[1] is a clear child of the Enlightenment, with Rousseau’s ‘social contract’ and Montesquieu’s ‘separation of powers’ figuring prominently.
On the surface this should settle the question in favour of a “maximalist” contribution and indeed both the historians of the 19th century who popularized the term “Enlightenment” and the opponents of the Revolution pointed their fingers towards the philosophes and their ideas[1].
But there’s also an argument to be made in favour of a “minimalist” contribution. Here are three points to consider:
The philosophers were not revolutionaries themselves, they were well to do and part of the middle- upper class. They advocated reform and were generally sympathetic to Enlightened absolutism.
Many of their works were banned or censored, making it hard for people to acquire them. There was an active smuggling and piracy industry in Switzerland that satisfied the French appetite for banned works and for a long time it was thought that this was the route by which people managed to read such books. However, recent research has shown that the lion’s share of the smuggled items were cheap soft-core pornographic books[2]. Which means that “The Hobbies of Marie Antoinette”, “The Little Suppers [orgies] at the Hotel de Bouillon” and “The Devil in the Baptismal Font”were more popular than the works of Rousseau (and more to the point his sentimental novel Julie was much more popular than The Social Contract
Similar questions