With the radical ideas, such as liberalism and nationalism, unleashed by the French Revolution I came to realization that I must destroy the main concepts of the Enlightenment philosophy. I see that the Revolution and Terror has been greatly influenced much through the ideas of the Enlightenment. To destroy their tenets, I have begun writing books that attacked cosmopolitanism, science, universalism, reason and progress. In order to show how misguided and naïve the enlightened philosophes are I begun to use their own ideas against them. Their ideas on a progressive society can only be justified through metaphysical speculation, logic, and geometry. The Baconian inductive method “does not lead us to the conclusion that man is a neutral medium to be shaped this way or that.” Through simple observations our society in some ways are like that of the animal world. I see that life is an ongoing battle for survival of the fit in which man places " his destructive hand [and] spares nothing ... [man is a] proud and terrible king, he wants everything and nothing can resist him." As a result I begin to see man as a wicked, senseless, hubris creature. The belief that the flaws of human nature can be solved is upmost ridiculous as our own pride will get in the way. I say that "all greatness, all power, all social order depends upon the executioner; he is the terror of human society and the tie that holds it together; Take away this incomprehensible force from the world, and at that very moment order is superseded by chaos, thrones fall, society disappears.” This is the true nature of man…
Mr. de Maistre,
ReplyDeleteSurely you cannot believe that radial ideas that came from the Revolution can be stopped. I severely doubt that your writings alone can stop those new ideas. I also question some of these ideas, but you cannot prevent them from spreading. In fact, are you not spreading them yourself? For you are writing so vehemently against these idea, which might interest people into reading them. This is a new generation and you cannot hope to prevent the young people from creating new ideas. The world is constantly changing and as they say, "Out with the old, in with the new."
Auguste Comte