Politics, Violence and Revolutionary Virtue

Reflections On Locke and Sorel

Bibliographic Data

ID4482114
AuthorsElizabeth Frazer (0000-0002-8001-3244, New College, Oxford, University of Oxford, corresponding author), Kimberly Hutchings (0000-0003-3027-7337, LSE,, corresponding author)
Year2009
Volume97
Issue1
Pages46-63
Publication date2009-05-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThesis Eleven (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0725-5136 • E-ISSN: 1461-7455
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0725513608101908
OpenAlexW2007107540
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited19

John Locke (1632-1704) and Georges Sorel (1859-1922) are commonly understood as representing opposed positions vis-a-vis revolution - with Locke representing the liberal distinction between violence and politics versus Sorel's rejection of politics in its pacified liberal sense. This interpretation is shown by a close reading of their works to be misleading. Both draw a necessary link between revolution and violence, and both mediate this link through the concept of `war'. They both depoliticize revolution, as for both of them `war' is understood as extra-political. The revolutions of 1989 emphasize what actually is true of previous revolutions: they cannot coherently be thought of as extra-political

Epistemology · Linguistics · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Virtue · European Political History Analysis · Law · Philosophy · Political Theory and Influence · Seventeenth-Century Political and Philosophical Thought

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