Diderot and the ideal of paternalistic monarchy. An enlightenment struggle against moral decay and for political harmony
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11348407 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Damien Tricoire (0009-0008-3650-1495, Universität Trier, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 50 |
| Issue | 6 |
| Pages | 971-993 |
| Publication date | 2024-08-17 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | History of European Ideas (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0191-6599 • E-ISSN: 1873-541X |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/01916599.2024.2319387 |
| PMID | 39439596 |
| OpenAlex | W4391956335 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 13 |
Since the 1990s, there has been a growing tendency to interpret Diderot as a radical who first put into question absolutism in the Encyclopédie and then became a fierce opponent of any kind of 'despotism', even the 'enlightened' one, and a fervent partisan of democratic revolutions in the 1770s. It is argued here that the narrative that cuts Diderot's life into different phases obscures continuities in his political thought, and misrepresents partly the political vision he had in the 1770s. Diderot's political thought may have been more coherent than usually acknowledged, and this coherence is to be found in his ideal of a paternalistic monarchy taking advice from its subjects and respecting their rights, that is the constitution of the realm. This idea is not to be mixed up with a democratic programme of government by the people, nor with the endorsement of political change via a revolution. Rather, when towards the end of his life Diderot lost hope that the constitutional order of the French monarchy would be respected, he both feared civil war and hoped that these tumults might bring about the regeneration of the French monarchy. This vision derived from a classical cyclic view of history
Absolute monarchy · Art · Enlightenment · Epistemology · Harmony (color · Ideal (ethics · Monarchy · Paternalism · Political science · Politics · French Literature and Criticism · Historical and Literary Studies · Law · Philosophy · Rousseau and Enlightenment Thought
Le Sang des princes
Diderot et la lutte parlementaire au temps de l’Encyclopédie
Diderot
Le stoïcisme révolutionnaire de Diderot dans l’Essai sur Sénèque par rapport à la Contribution à l’Histoire des deux Indes
Raynal’s and Diderot’s Patriotic History of the Two Indies, or The Problem of Anti-Colonialism in the Eighteenth Century
De l'Encyclopédie à l'éloquence républicaine
La cité de Dieu des patriotes
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |