New French Thought: Political Philosophy

Published by Princeton University Press 1994

New French Thought

Political Philosophy

Edited by: Mark Lilla

In the series Princeton Legacy Library

Volume 281 in the series New French Thought Series

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400863853

Overview
Contents

About this book

The past fifteen years in France have seen a remarkable flourishing of new work in political philosophy. This anthology brings into English for the first time essays by some of the best young French political thinkers writing today, including Marcel Gauchet, Pierre Manent, Luc Ferry, and Alain Renaut. The central theme of these essays is liberal democracy: its nature, its development, its problems, its fundamental legitimacy. Although these themes are familiar to American and British readers, the French approach to them--which is profoundly historical and rooted in the tradition of continental philosophy--is quite different from our customary one.

Included in this collection is a series of reconsiderations of French critics of liberal society (Lévi-Strauss, Foucault, Bourdieu) and of classical European liberals (Kant, Constant, Tocqueville). The continuing controversies over the nature of the modern era and the place of religion within it play a central role throughout the collection. The book includes a debate on the foundations of human rights and on the nature of a liberal political order. The concluding section presents some of the new sociological writing on modern individualism, its pleasures and its discontents. An introduction by Mark Lilla provides the historical background to the revival of French political thought about liberalism, and offers an analysis of what American and English readers might learn from it.

Originally published in 1994.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Reviews

As Lilla suggests in a fine introduction, French thinkers are now considering issues they have neglected for years: human rights, modern individualism, the nature of liberalism--subjects which have obsessed their British and American counterparts for years. This volume may be just the thing to start an entente cordiale between Anglophone and Continental philosophers.

This excellent volume brings together the writings of the younger generation of French writers and intellectuals . . . who for virtually the first time have accepted the legitimacy of liberal democracy as a political order.

In this volume, Luc Ferry, Alain Renaut, Blandine Kriegel and Stephane Rials defend human rights against the charge that "rights" are merely assertions of will or political power. . . . Another welcome feature of French liberalism today is its willingness to reflect on the actual workings of a liberal society. Here Gilles Lipovetsky, Anne Godignon, Jean-Louis Thiriet and Pierre Manent offer especially compelling insights. . . . New French Thought makes clear how much the intellectual climate in Paris has changed for the better.---Harvey Mansfield, Wall Street Journal

"There is no better guide to the recent and dramatic changes in French philosophy. This outstanding volume is certain to correct the visual image of what is vital in French thought today, and is itself bound to make an important contribution to our own debates in political theory."—Charles Larmore, Columbia University

After World War II, most French intellectuals dismissed liberalism and pluralism. . . . Since around 1980, however, several younger philosophers have thought liberalism worthy of renewed attention, and Lilla's anthology ably presents a selection of their views. . . . a useful anthology.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xi
INTRODUCTION. The Legitimacy of the Liberal Age Mark Lilla Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
PART ONE. Les Adieux
CHAPTER 1. Levi -Strauss Tzvetan Todorov Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	37
CHAPTER 2. Foucault Luc Ferry and Alain Renaut Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	54
CHAPTER 3. Bourdieu Philippe Raynaud Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	63
PART TWO. Reconsiderations
CHAPTER 4. Kant and Fichte Luc Ferry and Alain Renaut Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	73
CHAPTER 5. Constant Philippe Raynaud Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	82
CHAPTER 6. Tocqueville Marcel Gauchet Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	91
PART THREE. What Is Modernity?
CHAPTER 7. Primitive Religion and the Origins of the State Niarcel Gauchet Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	115
CHAPTER 8. The Modern State Pierre Manent Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	123
CHAPTER 9. Ancient, Modern, and Contemporary Jean-Marc Ferry Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	134
PART FOUR. What Are Human Rights?
CHAPTER 10. How to Think about Rights Luc Ferry and Alain Renaut Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	147
CHAPTER 11. Rights and Natural Law Blandine Kriegel Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	155
CHAPTER 12. Rights and Modern Law Stéphane Rials Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	164
PART FIVE. The Liberal Political Order
CHAPTER 13. The Contest for Command Pierre Manent Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	177
CHAPTER 14. On Legitimacy and Political Deliberation Bernard Manin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	186
CHAPTER 15. Modernization and Consensus Jean-Marc Ferry Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	201
PART SIX. The New Individualism
CHAPTER 16. May ’68, or the Rise of Transpolitical Individualism Gilles Lipovetsky Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	211
CHAPTER 17. The End of Alienation? Anne Godignon and Jean-Louis Thiriet Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	220
CHAPTER 18. The Rebirth of Voluntary Servitude Anne Godignon and Jean-Louis Thiriet Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	226
Notes on the Authors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	233
Selected Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	235

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