A Classical Republican in Eighteenth-Century France

The Political Thought of Mably

Nonfiction, History, France
Cover of the book A Classical Republican in Eighteenth-Century France by Johnson Kent Wright, Stanford University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Johnson Kent Wright ISBN: 9780804764971
Publisher: Stanford University Press Publication: June 1, 1997
Imprint: Stanford University Press Language: English
Author: Johnson Kent Wright
ISBN: 9780804764971
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Publication: June 1, 1997
Imprint: Stanford University Press
Language: English

This is an intellectual biography of Gabriel Bonnot de Mably (1709-85), who emerges as a central figure in the history of republican thought in the era of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution.

This book has two related aims. The first is to fill an important gap in historical scholarship. Although Mably, whose career as a historian and political theorist stretched from 1740 to the eve of the French Revolution, clearly played a major role in the intellectual history of his era, there has been no study of his life and thought in English for nearly seventy years. At the same time, the book seeks to advance a novel interpretation of Mably's thought. He has most often been portrayed in two sharply contrasted ways, either as one of a handful of utopian communists and a precursor of nineteenth-century socialism, or as a deeply conservative enemy of the Enlightenment. This study sets forth a different reading of Mably's thought, one that shows him to be a classical republican, in the sense this term has acquired in recent years for students of early modern political thought.

Mably was the author of the most comprehensive and influential body of republican thought produced in eighteenth-century France—a claim with implications that go beyond the merely biographical. These are explored in a final chapter, which draws some conclusions about the character of classical republicanism in France and about the French contribution to the republican tradition in Europe.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

This is an intellectual biography of Gabriel Bonnot de Mably (1709-85), who emerges as a central figure in the history of republican thought in the era of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution.

This book has two related aims. The first is to fill an important gap in historical scholarship. Although Mably, whose career as a historian and political theorist stretched from 1740 to the eve of the French Revolution, clearly played a major role in the intellectual history of his era, there has been no study of his life and thought in English for nearly seventy years. At the same time, the book seeks to advance a novel interpretation of Mably's thought. He has most often been portrayed in two sharply contrasted ways, either as one of a handful of utopian communists and a precursor of nineteenth-century socialism, or as a deeply conservative enemy of the Enlightenment. This study sets forth a different reading of Mably's thought, one that shows him to be a classical republican, in the sense this term has acquired in recent years for students of early modern political thought.

Mably was the author of the most comprehensive and influential body of republican thought produced in eighteenth-century France—a claim with implications that go beyond the merely biographical. These are explored in a final chapter, which draws some conclusions about the character of classical republicanism in France and about the French contribution to the republican tradition in Europe.

More books from Stanford University Press

Cover of the book The Dragon in the Room by Johnson Kent Wright
Cover of the book Insufficient Funds by Johnson Kent Wright
Cover of the book Secret History, Second Edition by Johnson Kent Wright
Cover of the book Foucault and the Politics of Rights by Johnson Kent Wright
Cover of the book Image and Presence by Johnson Kent Wright
Cover of the book Heidegger Among the Sculptors by Johnson Kent Wright
Cover of the book Collective Action and Exchange by Johnson Kent Wright
Cover of the book Mark Twain in China by Johnson Kent Wright
Cover of the book Stasis by Johnson Kent Wright
Cover of the book Arresting Cinema by Johnson Kent Wright
Cover of the book Bootstrapping Democracy by Johnson Kent Wright
Cover of the book The Not-So-Special Interests by Johnson Kent Wright
Cover of the book Actions and Objects from Hobbes to Richardson by Johnson Kent Wright
Cover of the book Costly Democracy by Johnson Kent Wright
Cover of the book The Failed Promise of Originalism by Johnson Kent Wright
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy