Lecture 6 - Counter-Enlightenment

Question 1

What was Joseph de Maistre’s view on humans?

Answer 1

He saw them as violent and irrational creatures, who are in need of authority

Question 2

What was De Maistre’s view as to the ultimate cause of the French Revolution?

Answer 2

He saw the Revolution as a punishment by God, because the Kings and aristocracy had grown too weak -> allowed the pilosophes to take over the public domain

Question 3

What was De Maistre’s view on the Edict of Nantes?

Answer 3

He feels that it was too lenient -> protestants should not have been kicked out, they should have been exterminates

Question 4

To which ‘modern’ movement can De Maistre’s view be likened to?

Answer 4

Facism

Question 5

Which of De Maistre’s views correspond with facism? (3)

Answer 5

1. Belief in the violent nature of reality
2. His view that man was merely nature’s most succesful warrior
3. His authoritarianism

Question 6

What makes Napoleon’s rise to power paradoxical?

Answer 6

The revolutionary Napoleon abolishes the Republic and restores absolutism by crowning himself Emperor

Question 7

What, according to De Maistre, was the crucial misunderstanding underlying the movement of Enlightenment, and what did he think this would ultimately lead to?

Answer 7

The belief that man is a harmonious part of nature

This belief would ultimately end in chaos, because man is by its nature irrational and violent

Question 8

Which kind of autority did De Maistre see as essential for society to succeed?

Which influential Enlightenment author shares this view?

Answer 8

Religious authority

Rousseau also believed civil religion was necessary for a functioning society

Question 9

Why did De Maistre have a particular dislike of protestants?

Answer 9

1. Many revolts started in protestant countries, before spreading to Catholic France
2. The Reformation had ushered in an age in which people were encouraged to think for themselves

Question 10

What differentiates Burke’s writings on the Revolution from De Maistre’s?

Answer 10

Burke had already written his work on the Revolution while it was still taking place, and before it had become bloody

De Maistre was merely reflective

Question 11

What is paradoxical about the fact that Burke is still seen as a champion of conservatism?

Answer 11

He had supported various progressive causes

Question 12

At which point did Burke start to worry about the developments of the French Revolution

Answer 12

When he saw it compared to the Glorious Revolution, to which he objected

Question 13

What were Burke’s objections to likening the French Revolution to the Glorious Revolution?

Answer 13

1. The Glorious Revolution had taken place without bloodshed
2. The philosophical background of the Glorious Revolution differed from the French Revolution

Question 14

In which way did Burke see a differende between the philosophical background of the Glorious Revolution and the French Revolution?

Answer 14

Burke saw the Glorious Revolution as a conservative revolution, bent on restoring ancient rights of the people

The French Revolution did not aim to restore ancient rights, but to overthrow the ancient organization of France

Question 15

Why did Burke see the Glorious Revolution as one that restored ancient rights?

Answer 15

The English saw themselves as egalitarian, due to their German ancestry: by their nature, the Brits were an egalitarian and freedom-loving people

Question 16

Which thought is articulated in Burke’s belief that the English were, by their nature, freedom-loving and egalitarian, and the French weren’t?

Answer 16

The belief that every nation and culture have their own nature, culture and traditions, which have organically grown

Question 17

Why does Burke consider it of importance that nations have organically grown cultures and traditions?

Answer 17

These customs help keep society together; as these customs have been organically grown, change must be introduced through organic evolution, not revolution

Question 18

Why did Burke regard monarchy as something natural?

Answer 18

Just as every family has a pater familias, it is only natural that the State would also have a father figure in the form of a King

Question 19

Why were ‘human rights’ and ‘freedom’ especially bad grounds to change the natural organization of the state?

Answer 19

He saw these as abstract, human-invented principles, made up for political purposes

Question 20

What was Burke’s view on rights in general and on human rights in particular?

Answer 20

Burke sees rights merely as ‘wishes’ -> the ‘right to be fed’ is merely derived from our wish for everyone to be fed

Burke was especially critical on the rights of man: ‘What is man?’ -> if we cannot even identify man, then the rights we bestow them are also a product of our imagination

Question 21

What, according to Burke, was the most important purpose of the state?

Answer 21

To deliver stability

Question 22

Which institutions did Burke see as essential for providing stability to the state?

Answer 22

Monarchy, aristocracy and the Church

Question 23

Burke had already assessed that the French Revolution would end in tyranny. He did so on the basis of two observations. Which are they?

Answer 23

1. The observation that French nobility was no longer willing to stand up for their King and Queen
2. He thought that democracy on a large scale would lead to tyranny of the majority over the minority

Question 24

Who agreed with Burke on the idea that democracy on a large scale would lead to tyranny of the majority over the minority? (2)

Answer 24

Aristotle, Rousseau

Question 25

The French Revolution ended the classical notion of republicanism. What is this notion, and what is it grounded in?

Answer 25

Classical republicanism had a different notion of freedom than post-Revolutionary republicanism: citizens realize freedom by contributing to the res publica

Question 26

What does freedom in the classical notion of republicanism require of its citizens?

Answer 26

Development of specific virtues, allowing you to rule yourself and your neighbours

Question 27

How can Rousseau’s resistance to the idea of representation be explained by the classical notion of republicanism?

Answer 27

He feels that the ultimate freedom is being part of the res publica, which is not possible in a system of representation

Question 28

What is the notion of freedom propagated by post-Revolutionary republicanism?

Answer 28

Freedom is absence of state interference

Question 29

Which current political movement is inspired by the post-Revolutionary republican notion of freedom?

Answer 29

Liberalism

Question 30

How does today’s notion of freedom allow for representation, while Rousseau’s didnt?

Answer 30

Today’s notion no longer requires citizens to partake in the res publica, whereas Rousseau does require this

Question 31

Why can the replacement of republicanism by liberalism be explained as conservative?

Answer 31

Absence of government interference allowed for conservation of the status quo for the rich and powerful