Joseph de Maistre

April 1^st, 1753 – February 26^th, 1821

Roman Catholic, philosopher, diplomat, and writer, Joseph de Maistre was born to one of the leading families in Chambéry, Savoy, during the times when it belonged to the Kingdom of Sardinia. The family played a role similar to civilians responsible for the management of the state’s laws for generations (Gale, 1998, 1). Despite his upbringing in a conservative environment, Maistre was well educated in modern ideology and grew up during the middle ages during the later Enlightenment, which he would later repudiate (Garrard, 1996, 433). Their power however, came to end following the invasion of Savoy by Napoleon’s troops, which resulted in Maistre and his family to take refuge in Switzerland and Italy in 1792, at the age of 39.

Maistre’s life before his exile from his homeland explains and gives much insight on his conservative philosophy, as a reactionary, believer in absolutism and ultramontanism, and right-winged influence that encouraged hierarchies and monarchy institutions (Worcester, 2012, 640). During his time away from Savoy in St. Petersburg, Russia, acting as a diplomat, whilst waiting for Napoleon’s defeat, Maistre contributed several well-known works that targeted and refuted the principles of the philosophical Enlightenment (Gale, 1998, 1). He particularly criticized the French Revolution as it was seen as the embodiment of Enlightenment philosophy and was the cause of the loss of his home (Gale, 1998, 1). Maistre directly witnessed the mayhem that was released upon his homeland in the name of a rising modern society modelled after the principles of the Enlightenment, in the form of the French Revolution, which would be the cause of his conservatism and contributions to the Counter-Enlightenment (Gale, 1998, 1).

In a specific essay targeting Enlightenment philosopher, Jean-Jacque Rousseau, who was considered the hero of the French Revolution, Maistre denies the proposal that humans have the ability to create societies and governments (Garrard, 1996, 434). In Maistre’s words “man gives himself nothing; he receives everything,” meaning it is not of human will that political societies are manifested but by divine will (Garrard, 1996, 434). As a Counter-Enlightenment and believer in conservatism, Maistre argues that “Sovereignty comes from God” and social contracts such as rights are false (Garrard, 1996, 434). Constitution do not have the ability to bestow rights upon its people, whether it is established in a written or social contract, it will either be disregarded or manipulated in a way that it becomes meaningless. Rights truly exist when it is a tradition or historical habit of that nation.

Maistre compares the Enlightenment philosophy of Hobbes and Locke, of a society of individuals motivated by self-interested desires, to a hive and a swarm of bees without a queen (Greifer, 1961, 594). In favour of Counter-Enlightenment, he believes no institution, of any sort, can survive without being founded on religion. The rejection of a monarchy or overthrowing of old values ultimately equivalates to a rebellion against God (Greifer, 1961, 596). Maistre did not believe that social order could be constructed based on scientific minds and rationality that demeans religious faith (Spektorowski, 2002, 285). Institutions survive because they’re created by God, religious, political, and sacred to its people (Greifer, 1961, 594). A society centered around the self-interested desires of its people are bond to fail. He regarded the French Revolution in 1789 and its bloodshed and chaos as the divine punishment caused from the rejection of Christianity and the embrace of rationalism. He argued that authority should derive from religion and absolutism rather than rationality (Armenteros, 2014, 1). An absolute monarchy follows the will of God and has religious historical meaning that is required to remain relevant.

As a follower of conservatism and reactionary, Maistre emphasizing on preserving the authority of the higher class and maintaining influence, traditional values, and ties between church and state (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 2017, 1). Maistre’s ideal model of governing system is that of an ultramontanism society, in which the state would under the absolute direct rule of the Pope. For such monarchy state to exist there must be a hierarchy order and supply of appropriate punishments, in other words an absolutism society. His work was not widely popular during his lifetime, in fact he was analysed and recognized mostly after his death in 1821. Maistre had a gruesome style of writing, where he would often depict horrific imagines of punishments on the sinners. This style of writing was Maistre forcing his argument or point (Murray, 1949, 65); his influences were more dominant during 1840 to 1880 (Murray, 1949, 64). Maistre’s work and philosophy, although molded by his life experience and events against his favour, proved to be of great influence in the 18^th and 19^th century and a significant component of the Counter-Enlightenment.

Kelvin Ma

Work Cited 

Garrard, Graeme. “Joseph De Maistre’s Civilization and Its Discontents.” Journal of the History of Ideas 57, no. 3 (1996): 429-46. doi:10.2307/3653948. (accessed November 9, 2017).

Abraham Anderson. “A Modern Maistre: The Social and Political Thought of Joseph de Maistre (review).” Journal of the History of Philosophy 38, no. 2 (2000): 287-288. https://muse.jhu.edu/ (accessed November 9, 2017).

Greifer, Elisha. “Joseph De Maistre and the Reaction Against the Eighteenth Century.” The American Political Science Review 55, no. 3 (1961): 591-98. doi:10.2307/1952687. (accessed November 9, 2017).

EWING, CORTEZ. “De Maistre and Marx in the Modern World.” The Southwestern Social Science Quarterly 29, no. 1 (1948): 1-14. http://www.jstor.org/stable/42865109. (accessed November 9, 2017).

Lebrun, Richard. “Joseph De Maistre, Cassandra of Science.” French Historical Studies 6, no. 2 (1969): 214-31. doi:10.2307/286166. (accessed November 9, 2017).

Reedy, W. Jay. The Journal of Modern History 62, no. 3 (1990): 614-16. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1881199. (accessed November 9, 2017).

Spektorowski, Alberto. “Maistre, Donoso Cortés, and the Legacy of Catholic Authoritarianism.” Journal of the History of Ideas 63, no. 2 (2002): 283-302. doi:10.2307/3654198. (accessed November 9, 2017).

Worcester, Thomas. “The French Idea of History: Joseph de Maistre and His Heirs.” Canadian Journal of History 47, no. 3 (2012): 640+. Academic OneFile (accessed November 9, 2017).

Gans, Eric. “Maistre and Chateaubriand: Counter-Revolution and Anthropology.” Studies in Romanticism 28, no. 4 (1989): 559-75. doi:10.2307/25600807. (accessed November 9, 2017).

“Maistre, Joseph de (1753-1821).” In Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Academic OneFile (accessed November 9, 2017).

Murray, John C. “The Political Thought of Joseph De Maistre.” The Review of Politics 11, no. 1 (1949): 63-86. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1404500. (accessed November 12, 2017).

Greifer, Elisha. “Joseph De Maistre and the Reaction Against the Eighteenth Century.” The American Political Science Review 55, no. 3 (1961): 591-98. doi:10.2307/1952687. (accessed November 12, 2017).

Spektorowski, Alberto. “Maistre, Donoso Cortés, and the Legacy of Catholic Authoritarianism.” Journal of the History of Ideas 63, no. 2 (2002): 283-302. doi:10.2307/3654198. (accessed November 12, 2017).

Armenteros, Carolina “Conservative, Reactionary or Moderate Revolutionist? Joseph de Maistre in the Light of History.” (2011): BASE, EBSCOhost (accessed November 12, 2017).

John C. Murray, author. “The Political Thought of Joseph De Maistre.” The Review Of Politics no. 1 (1949): 63. JSTOR Journals, EBSCOhost (accessed November 12, 2017).

“Conservatism.” Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6Th Edition (March 2017): 1. Complementary Index, EBSCOhost (accessed November 12, 2017).

 

Montesquieu

Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu was born on January 18^th, 1689. Montesquieu was a French political philosopher during the Age of Enlightenment. He was an aristocrat from the south of France, in the region of Bordeaux. While Montesquieu held a high position in the traditional French society, he is most known for criticizing the system of government through his famous works, “The Persian Letters” and “De L’Esprit de Lois (Spirit of the Laws).” Montesquieu is a historically significant figure as his ideas had direct influence upon later thought and the development of government institutions.

In Persian letters, Montesquieu constructs a story that criticizes the church and state, using satire to remark the lack of liberty and religious tolerance in the characters. Arguably, his most famous and effective work was the Spirt of the Laws where he classifies the different systems of government: monarchism, republicanism, and despotism. It is through this work that Montesquieu composes new ideas on the systematic relations of government. His work supported the idea that different governments were able to thrive in different environments and outlined the importance of the separation of powers within government. His ideas on the separation of powers would form the three branches of government: executive, legislative, and judicial. This work was inspired by the corruptness of the aristocracy which Montesquieu believed was because of Louis XIV’s absolute government. Spirit of the Laws is viewed as a significant document of political science in the Age of Enlightenment.  While Montesquieu preceded the generation of intellectuals who were intrigued by man’s natural place in the universe, he himself accepted the idea that man is both intelligent and a creation of God. He reflected the philosophes who were defined by discovery and curiosity of the laws that God set in motion. It is these beliefs that enabled Montesquieu to divulge and immerse himself in the discovery of the laws by which man were to govern themselves.

Montesquieu lived during the revolutionary time marked by a series of processes that Europe underwent in the global transition to modernity. Intellectuals of this time, namely philosophes, were acquiring different information and developing new ideas that would transform society; for example, individualism, toleration, progress, and natural rights. This time is referred to as the Enlightenment. Montesquieu was an Enlightenment figure and represented many of its newly presented ideals through his works. This being the belief and understanding of natural laws, rather than supernatural, in terms of governing the universe. Montesquieu had travelled to places across the world in his research of government and politics, including England. Much of his works were inspired by the thoughts of intellectuals like Thomas Hobbes and John Locke. Specifically, John Locke, who stressed the notion that it was the government jobs to protect the divine rights of the people, and firmly believed in “life, liberty, and property”. These ideas are apparent within Montesquieu’s Spirit of Laws, where the principles of all different governments were set into place.

Montesquieu’s critiques against the system of government was influenced by the time, where he along many other philosophes questioned what was considered ‘accepted belief’. Montesquieu outlined three different forms of government: monarchism, republicanism, and despotism in terms of the new Enlightenment idea of the social contract. He strongly believed that government should not be based upon the divine right of rule, but through the social contract. It is in the social contract that an implicit agreement is made between the government and the people, where the people give up some of their freedoms to receive a life of protection under the government. He used his work to explain how governments might be protected from corruption. He saw governments ruled by despotism dangerous for any government that ruled otherwise, and argued it was important to take preventative measures by a system in which different bodies exercised legislative, executive, and judicial power, and in which all were bound by the rule of law.

Montesquieu died on February 10^th, 1755 but his political ideas remain relevant to this day. His theory of the separation of powers has had an impact on theories in liberal politics, and on the founders of the constitution of the United States. In terms of drafting the constitution, the founders of the document itself were influenced by Montesquieu and his connection to the separation of powers. One of the American founders named James Madison, drew inspiration from Montesquieu’s idea that to secure the liberty and freedom of the people, and to prevent corruption within the government, there must be a divide amongst the powers of government. Montesquieu stated in the Spirit of Laws: “were the executive power not to have a right of restraining the encroachments of the legislative body, the latter would become despotic; as it might arrogate to itself what authority it pleased, it would soon destroy all the other powers.” With this influential knowledge, the Founding Fathers established the three branches of government within the federal constitution: executive (the President), legislative (the Congress), and the judiciary (the Supreme Court).

Chantelle Boyles

Key Terms:

Absolutism- the political doctrine and practice of unlimited, centralized authority, and absolute sovereignty, as vested in a monarch or dictator. The essence of an absolute system is that the ruling power is not subject to regularized challenge or check by any other power.

Despotism- the exercise of absolute power, in a cruel or oppressive way.

Individualism- a concept that places the focus on the individual (as opposed to the community) and the removal of barriers to achieve the highest amount of freedom for everyone.

Natural Rights- an innate set of rights and freedoms given by God that cannot be taken away or restricted by government.

Philosophe- a term for intellectuals in all fields of inquiry during the Enlighenment.

Works Cited

England and the French Enlightenment. Accessed November 12, 2017. http://www3.gettysburg.edu/~tshannon/hist106web/site6/england_and_the_french_enlighten.htm

Enlightenment Ideals. Accessed November 12, 2017. http://www.pelister.org/MAJ302/AmericanEnlightenment/EnlightenmentIdeals.html.

“BARON DE MONTESQUIEU.” Baron de Montesquieu: A Short Biography. Accessed November 12, 2017. http://www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/montesquieu/montesquieu-bio.html.

Bok, Hilary. “Baron de Montesquieu, Charles-Louis de Secondat.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. July 18, 2003. Accessed November 12, 2017. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/montesquieu/.

“Charles Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu.” Montesquieu, Separation of Powers, the Constitution, and the Founding Fathers. Accessed November 12, 2017. http://www.americassurvivalguide.com/montesquieu.php.

“Charles-Louis de Secondat.” Biography.com. December 08, 2016. Accessed November 12, 2017. https://www.biography.com/people/charles-louis-de-secondat-21292453.

“Online Library of Liberty.” Montesquieu and the Separation of Powers – Online Library of Liberty. Accessed November 12, 2017. http://oll.libertyfund.org/pages/montesquieu-and-the-separation-of-powers.

Further Reading:

 

“SPIRIT.” Montesquieu: The Spirit of Laws. Accessed November 12, 2017. http://www.constitution.org/cm/sol.htm.

Despotism

Despotism is a state of government where a ruler has absolute power. In modern usage despot and despotism is almost always pejorative. The word comes, originally, from the Greek despotes literally meaning ‘master of the house’ and usually translated as ‘lord’ or ‘owner’ (Douglas n.d.). In the Byzantine Empire Despot was an official court title bestowed on the heir apparent. Several other minor kingdoms throughout the middle ages imitated the Byzantines by having despots of their own (Billarsky 2011, 277)

When despot entered the Enlightened European’s vernacular during the 18^th century, it did so as a more general term for a king, monarch, emperor or other dictator, with no pre-existing ideological baggage (Bonney 2003).

In the mid 18^th century, ‘despotism’, as derived from the older ‘despot’ came in to use for the first time as a term to describe ideologies where the ruler of a nation should possess unlimited and unchecked power. Many enlightenment Philosophes discussed despotism. Voltaire believed that a single well-educated ruler, unburdened by debate or scrutiny, was the ideal form of government, and praised Catherine the Great as an example of this ‘Enlightened despotism’ (Mishra 2017, 98. Lentin 1971). Voltaire believed that democracy did not offer protection against the idiocy of the masses, and that an absolute sovereign who acted in the best interests of his subjects was the most effective way to govern (Shank 2015). Joseph De Maistre also believed that a single enlightened despot was the most effective kind of leadership, although he disagreed with Voltaire on almost everything else (Mishra 2017). Others such as Montesquieu (Bok 2014) and Rousseau were much more critical of despotism and despots, just as most modern thought is (Burney 1993).

During it’s Enlightenment heyday, despotism was a mostly neutral term, as wider democratic attitudes spread across the world, despot increasingly became a negative descriptor. This was especially true of the fiercely democratic United States. North American newspapers used the term as a clear pejorative as early as the 1850s (n.a. 1856).

Statistically, the use of the word despotism peaked around the end of the 18^th century, in line with the French revolution, and the broader political climate it inspired. In the wake of the incredible violence of the French Revolution, the great political thinkers of the day often had to align themselves against either the tyranny of the few that had led to the revolution, or the tyranny of the masses that had led from it. Today the western world has made its choice and despot has become a charge to level at some distant autocrat, but that was not always the case.

Grace Michael

 

Further Reading:

• Bonney, Richard. 2003. “Reconsidering Absolutism in Early Modern Europe: The development of an Idea” Ajia-Taiheiyou Ronso 13, 91-135. Historical Abstracts.

• Burney, John. 1993 “History, Despotism, Public Opinion and the Continuity of the Radical Attack on Monarchy in The French Revolution, 1782-1789” History of European Ideas 17:2/3 245-263

• Dominguez, Juan Pablo. 2017. “A State Within the State: The Inquisition in Enlightenment Thought” History of European Ideas 43:4 376-288  http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01916599.2016.120360

• Lentin, A. E. 1971 “Catherine the Great and Enlightened Despotism” History Today 170-1771 Historical Abstracts

Additional Works Cited:

• Billarsky, Ivan. 2011. Word and Power in Mediaeval Bulgaria. Leiden, The Netherlands: Koninkijke Brill NV.
• Bok, Hilary. 2014 “Baron de Montesquieu, Charles-Louis de Secondat” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2014 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2014/entries/montesquieu/
• Google Books. 2013. Google Ngram Viewer: “despotism, despot” Last Modified 2017. https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=despotism%2C+despot&case_insensitive=on&year_start=1700&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t4%3B%2Cdespotism%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bdespotism%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BDespotism%3B%2Cc0%3B.t4%3B%2Cdespot%3B%2Cc0%3B%2Cs0%3B%3Bdespot%3B%2Cc0%3B%3BDespot%3B%2Cc0

• Harper, Douglas. n.d. “Despot” Online Etymology Dictionary http://www.etymonline.com/word/despot

• Mishra, Pankaj. 2017 Age of Anger. New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux.

• Shank, J.B. 2015 “Voltaire”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2015 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2015/entries/voltaire/

• n.a. 1856 “Another Great Republican Meeting in the Tabernacle.: FREEDOM AND FREMONT. How the Despotism of the Day has Grown. Speeches of Senator Wilson, Lieut, Gov. Raymond. and Hon. B. G. Noble.” New York Daily Times, Sept. 18^th, 1856.

Extremism

Extremism is the “advocacy of extreme measures or views.” It is seen all throughout history and exists today in the modern world. An example of extremism in history is Adolf Hitler and his actions to wipe out an entire race of people through extreme measures such as burning mass crowds alive or gunning down thousands. This is such a key example because it shows the extreme measures that Hitler put in place to enforce his view, that Jew’s were nothing but vermin. Having a certain view point and acting on it is one thing but when you implement extreme measures to convey your point and force your views on others through violence then you cross into the realm of extremism. Another example of extremism from history is the Tiananmen Massacre which consisted of peaceful Chinese protestors being gun downed in the streets because the Chinese government did not agree with their protests and believed their views were more important than the peoples. Instead of letting the protestors protest, the Chinese government used extreme measures to make sure that their view point was not corrupted. Both of these examples from history show that if someone has a strong enough view and the power to control, they will stop at nothing to make sure that everyone falls in line, even if it resorts to extreme measures. A more recent example of extremism in today’s society was the 9/11 terrorist attack which consisted of 2 commercial air planes being hijacked and crashed into the twin towers. This event was set in motion by a man named Osama bin Laden and the group he was a part of called Al-Qaeda. They had certain views that America was evil and they would stop at nothing to see them burn, so they resorted to extreme measures killing thousands just to make sure that they clearly convey their views. Extremism is taking your view point and forcing it on other people through violence and extreme acts of terror and stopping at nothing until your view point is seen throughout the world.

Matthew Holk

 

Bibliography:

Kazin, Michael. “A Kind Word for Ted Cruz: America Was Built on Extremism.” New Republic, 29 Oct. 2013, newrepublic.com/article/115399/history-american-extremism-how-unpopular-opinions-became-mainstrea.

Brueckner, Jan K, and Amihai Glazer. “Urban Extremism.” Jstor, Jstor, Oct. 2008, www.jstor.org.libaccess.lib.mcmaster.ca/stable/pdf/40058168.pdf?refreqid=excelsior:a1d7ef2e46c792b73d2cc54426c29acd.

 

Fascism

Identification:

Fascism is a form of political behaviour marked by obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation or victimhood and by compensatory cults of unity, energy and purity, in which a mass-based party of committed nationalist militants, working in uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites, abandons democratic liberties and pursues with redemptive violence and without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing and external expansion. The 20th century totalitarian sense probably came directly from this but was influenced by the historical Roman fasces, which became the party symbol. A popular example of a Fascist leader would be Benito Mussolini. A more recent fascist leader would be Adolf Hitler.

 

Historical Significance:

Fascism is historically significant, because it was the political party responsible for the

holocaust. Adolf Hitler gained power over Germany, and turned it into a fascist state. By taking these powers, Hitler’s government was able to control factors such as inflation and unemployment that had caused considerable distress in previous years. Fascism is like no other political belief, as it includes next to no freedoms. Individuals had no freedom to protest in Hitler’s Germany. All political organizations were either banned or under the control of the Nazis. Many people think of Adolf Hitler when thinking of the term fascism, because of the horrible results of his leadership. It is estimated that over six million Jews were murdered during World War Two as a result of Hitler gaining power over Germany. Because of the horrible genocide during the second world war, it is hopeful that future leaders learn from these mistakes and do not make them again. The Holocaust set an example for just the type of leader that should not be in power. This is the reason fascist leaders are not common in the twenty first century.

 

Key Historical Proponents:

As stated before, two of the most popular political actors associated with the term fascism are Benito Mussolini, who in 1919, founded the Fasci di Combattimento–the original Fascist movement, and Adolf Hitler, a man who gained power over Germany and used that power to commit a mass genocide during the second world war. A very well known example of a fascist state, Nazi Germany, occurred during the second world war in the years 1933-1945. This all came to an end when Adolf Hitler committed suicide, and the remaining Jewish slaves were rescued from concentration camps. Adolf Hitler was not the only fascist dictator with power during World War Two. Benito Mussolini was an Italian dictator, who aspired to dominate the Mediterranean area. He was in power when Italy’s Fascist War took place. This war is generally not as well know as the holocaust, because it was overlooked. This is because postwar recollections and historical writing have tended to concentrate on the events of 1943 to 1945, rather than on the preceding period.

Jaime Byers

 

Bibliography

Bryant, Mark. “Drafting Il Duce: Mark Bryant profiles the brilliant wartime cartoonist who chronicled the actions of Italy’s Fascist leader.” History Today, vol. 59, no. 10, 2009, p. 52+. Academic OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.dop=AONE&sw=w&u=ocul_mcmaster&v=2.1&id=GALE %7CA209900329&it=r&asid=672742602cb46127d6a50de03995041f. Accessed 16 Oct.

2017.

Harper, Douglas. “Fascism (n.).” Index, 2017, http://www.etymonline.com/word/fascism. Accessed 15 Oct. 2017.

John Simkin. “German Fascism.” Spartacus Educational, Spartacus Educational, 2016,

spartacus-educational.com/GERfascist.htm. Accessed 16 Oct. 2017.

Magilow, Daniel H. “Counting to six million: collecting projects and Holocaust memorialization.” Jewish Social Studies, vol. 14, no. 1, 2007, p. 23+. Academic OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&u=ocul_mcmaster&v=2.1&id=GALE %7CA179570815&it=r&asid=5277b09a7267908f9e3a16799fe8f740. Accessed 16 Oct.

2017.

Morgan, Philip. “Italy’s Fascist war: Philip Morgan explains why Italians have tended to gloss over the period 1940-43, when Mussolini fought against the Allies, preferring to remember the years of German occupation 1943-45.” History Today, vol. 57, no. 3, 2007, p. 40+. Academic OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.dop=AONE&sw=w&u=ocul_mcmaster&v=2.1&id=GALE %7CA171657322&it=r&asid=a2907e300271fbf3f5f4261c03783908. Accessed 16 Oct.

2017.

Despotism

Identification

Despotism is defined as the exercise of absolute power, especially in a cruel or oppressive fashion. It can mean tyranny, or a dictatorship, frequently in cases of despotism the despot is an autocrat, an individual ruling with absolute power. Despotism has occurred across the world throughout history. Traditional monarchies and religious powers are examples of despotism, with a king, Pope or Patriarch ruling with absolute power. Today despotism exists in countries in the Middle East, Africa and the developing world. Notable examples of despotic and autocratic states include North Korea, Syria and Saudi Arabia. Despots and the concept of despotism have existed throughout time in some way or another, from that tribal leaders and warrior champions to child kings and vicious modern dictators. “It can be said that fear of violence, and awe at the power and presumed honour and virtue of despots are the cornerstone of the republic and monarchy” (Imbruglia, 493).

Historical Significance

Despotism has played a huge role in human history and continues to do so today. Ancient societies were often despotic, with a single King or monarch ruling absolutely. It is important because it was the relied upon form of government and power in much of the world for much of our recorded history. To this day despotic societies and states exist, with dictators and monarchs who wield absolute power, often to the chagrin of their subjects. The contemporary moment has been irrevocably altered due to the existence of despots and despotic regimes. Despotism was all that the world knew for many years, with kings, popes and other absolute rulers sitting in a place of unquestioned superiority. It was during the French Revolution, and the Enlightenment period where the validity of despotism and its place in mans natural world was first questioned (Richter, 9). Despotism was the primary model of rule in much of the world for much of history; it can show us why so many world powers and ancient civilisations were ruled absolutely and why despotic rule exists in some states today. By understanding despotism and its associated power we can better understand contemporary dictators and at what points in societal history and development despotism thrives in. We can look back and understand the position that power and despotism played in the development of our history, see why it flourished and why it has slowly died out.

Key Historical Proponents

The idea of despotism and the concept itself was a much discussed topic during the Enlightenment and after the French Revolution. Many philosophical thinkers had theories and ideas on despotisms role in societal development and on our species as a whole. Many famous enlightenment era thinkers had specific views on despotism and its place in contemporary culture. Diderot, Rousseau, Voltaire and Montesquieu all had opinions on despotisms place in our society. Voltaire and Rousseau had opposing views on the matter of course, Voltaire believing in enlightened despotism, or the right of a single leader, group or class to rule absolutely with its subjects best interests in mind. Rousseau believed in the inalienable right of the individual to rule him, and those despotic forces whether good or bad in their exercise of power should be avoided. Rousseau’s strong emphasis on nationalism and the individual member of society is at logger heads with despotism, as it does not allow for one single, all powerful entity. The traditional monarchies of European superpowers, such as the British Royal family, the Tsars of Russia and the French monarchy were all despotic, and either changed their role in their state or was snuffed out by the new emerging educated middle class. Overall Despotism was a hotly contested and used word during the Enlightenment era and the French Revolution, living on today through a small handful of dictators and proponents of absolute rule.

Eric Goessele

 

 

Bibliography

Imbruglia, Giorlamo. “Two Principles of Despotism: Diderot between Machiavelli and de la Boëtie.” History of European Ideas Vol. 34, Issue 4 (2008): 490-499.

Richter, Melvin. “The Concept of Despotism and L’abus de Mots.” Contributions to the History of Concepts Vol. 3, No. 1 (2007): 5-22.

Boesche, Roger. “Fearing Monarchs and Merchants: Montesquieu’s Two Theories of Despotism.” The Western Political Quarterly Vol. 43, No. 4 (1990): 741-761.

McAdam, James I. “Rousseau and the Friends of Despotism.” The University of Chicago Press Vol. 74, No. 1 (1963): 34-43.