Mythe de l'égalité et rayonnement des lumières
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Book Reviews IO.5 Mythe de Pegalit et rayonnement des km&es, Corrado Rosso (Pise: Editrice Libreria Goliardica, 1980), 309 pp. In the preface to his book, Professor Rosso rightly describes his work as ‘une sorre de mosaique dont le dessein (mgme s’il n’est parfois qu’d peine ~bauch~~ appara~t avec evidence, sinon toujours avec coh&rence’. The design as a whole represents an intellectual landscape irradiated by one of the major concepts of the Enlightenment - equality. The pieces that form the design reveal the astounding variety of thoughts, interpretations and intellectual cross-currents that contributed to the emergence of the concept of equality as one of the most potent ideological forces in modern history. Since the book consists of a collection of essays, shorter articles and book reviews the scope and orientation of the individual pieces varies according to the angle from which the author approaches his subject. But whatever the approach, each individual piece of the mosaic highlights, some forgotten, unsuspected or hitherto neglected aspect of the history of ideas. There are, for example, interesting studies on how Bossuet used the metaphor of water to illustrate his ideas on equality, how Madame Lambert interpreted the meaning of meritocracy and how the idea of the ‘moi in&gal developed throughout the centuries. Other pieces examine the similarities and dissimilarities between Pascal’s and Kant’s ideas on equality, Rousseau’s influence on Gide and the way theoreticians of Italian Fascism adapted and assimilated P&guy’s critique of equality. Rosso’s previous works include a variety of studies on eighteenth-century French moralists and the evolution of the concepts of happiness, pleasure and pain. Thus, his analyses of the position taken by various thinkers and writers towards the complex problems of 6galitC; and bonheur, and of the interpretation of symbols they used to bolster their arguments, reflect meticulous scholarship and imaginative insight into the intellectual processes of the philosuphes and their successors. Moreover, in addition to exploring the thoughts on equality and happiness of such eminent thinkers and writers as Pascal, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Rousseau or Kant, Rosso draws attention to a variety of lesser known, or forgotten, philosophers and political theoreticians who contributed to enlivening the protracted, and still ongoing, debate on those thorny subjects. Among those emerging from oblivion are Pierre Hyacinthe Azais, author of Compensations darts les destinkes humaines, a ‘best-seller philosophique’ greatly admired by Madame de Stael; Antoine de la Salle, adventurer and traveller whose book La Balance naturelle inspired Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, author of Paul et Virginie; Jean Baptiste Rene Robinet, Breton philosopher, whose work De la Nature, preaching immobilism, was, curiously enough, praised by Hegel as containing the grain of dialectical thought; Sylvain Marechal, fierce equalitarian who also wrote a book calling for a law prohibiting women to learn to read (Projet d’une loi portant defense d’apprendre d lire aux femmes); the Jesuit Jean Chappe d’Autoroche, went to Siberia, denouncing the inequities of the Tzarist regime; Frederic-Henri Strube de Piermont, born in the state of IIanover, writing in French, becoming in Saint Petersburg councillor of state and member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, author of Lettres r~~sje~~es in which he attempted to refute Montesquieu’s ideas on reason and equality; Dalmazzo Francesco Vasco, a Piedmontese gentleman who wrote in prison a long polemical work Note alio Spirit0 delle leggi di Mo~tesq~~eu, The copious footnotes, conveniently arranged at the bottom of the pages, offer a wealth of information to specialists as well as to the general reader interested in the history of ideas. University of Maryland Ann Demaitre
Transcript of Mythe de l'égalité et rayonnement des lumières
Book Reviews IO.5
Mythe de Pegalit et rayonnement des km&es, Corrado Rosso (Pise: Editrice Libreria Goliardica, 1980), 309 pp.
In the preface to his book, Professor Rosso rightly describes his work as ‘une sorre de mosaique dont le dessein (mgme s’il n’est parfois qu’d peine ~bauch~~ appara~t avec evidence, sinon toujours avec coh&rence’. The design as a whole represents an intellectual landscape irradiated by one of the major concepts of the Enlightenment - equality. The pieces that form the design reveal the astounding variety of thoughts, interpretations and intellectual cross-currents that contributed to the emergence of the concept of equality as one of the most potent ideological forces in modern history.
Since the book consists of a collection of essays, shorter articles and book reviews the scope and orientation of the individual pieces varies according to the angle from which the author approaches his subject. But whatever the approach, each individual piece of the mosaic highlights, some forgotten, unsuspected or hitherto neglected aspect of the history of ideas. There are, for example, interesting studies on how Bossuet used the metaphor of water to illustrate his ideas on equality, how Madame Lambert interpreted the meaning of meritocracy and how the idea of the ‘moi in&gal developed throughout the centuries. Other pieces examine the similarities and dissimilarities between Pascal’s and Kant’s ideas on equality, Rousseau’s influence on Gide and the way theoreticians of Italian Fascism adapted and assimilated P&guy’s critique of equality.
Rosso’s previous works include a variety of studies on eighteenth-century French moralists and the evolution of the concepts of happiness, pleasure and pain. Thus, his analyses of the position taken by various thinkers and writers towards the complex problems of 6galitC; and bonheur, and of the interpretation of symbols they used to bolster their arguments, reflect meticulous scholarship and imaginative insight into the intellectual processes of the philosuphes and their successors.
Moreover, in addition to exploring the thoughts on equality and happiness of such eminent thinkers and writers as Pascal, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Rousseau or Kant, Rosso draws attention to a variety of lesser known, or forgotten, philosophers and political theoreticians who contributed to enlivening the protracted, and still ongoing, debate on those thorny subjects. Among those emerging from oblivion are Pierre Hyacinthe Azais, author of Compensations darts les destinkes humaines, a ‘best-seller philosophique’ greatly admired by Madame de Stael; Antoine de la Salle, adventurer and traveller whose book La Balance naturelle inspired Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, author of Paul et Virginie; Jean Baptiste Rene Robinet, Breton philosopher, whose work De la Nature, preaching immobilism, was, curiously enough, praised by Hegel as containing the grain of dialectical thought; Sylvain Marechal, fierce equalitarian who also wrote a book calling for a law prohibiting women to learn to read (Projet d’une loi portant defense d’apprendre d lire aux femmes); the Jesuit Jean Chappe d’Autoroche, went to Siberia, denouncing the inequities of the Tzarist regime; Frederic-Henri Strube de Piermont, born in the state of IIanover, writing in French, becoming in Saint Petersburg councillor of state and member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, author of Lettres r~~sje~~es in which he attempted to refute Montesquieu’s ideas on reason and equality; Dalmazzo Francesco Vasco, a Piedmontese gentleman who wrote in prison a long polemical work Note alio Spirit0 delle leggi di Mo~tesq~~eu,
The copious footnotes, conveniently arranged at the bottom of the pages, offer a wealth of information to specialists as well as to the general reader interested in the history of ideas.
University of Maryland Ann Demaitre
