Pierre Leroux
Pierre Leroux | |
|---|---|
 Leroux, 1865 | |
| Born | Pierre Henri Leroux 7 April 1797 Paris,France |
| Died | 12 April 1871(aged 74) Paris,France |
| Occupation | Philosopher, economist |
Pierre Henri Leroux(7 April 1797 – 12 April 1871) was a Frenchphilosopherandpolitical economist.He was born atBercy,now a part ofParis,the son of anartisan.
Life
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His education was interrupted by the death of his father, which compelled him to support his mother and family. Having worked first as a mason and then as acompositor,he joined P. Dubois in the foundation ofLe Globewhich became in 1831 the official organ of theSaint-Simoniancommunity, of which he became a prominent member. In November of the same year, whenProsper Enfantinbecame leader of the Saint-Simonians and preached the enfranchisement of women and the functions of thecouple-prêtre,Leroux separated himself from the sect.[1]In 1834, he published an essay entitled "Individualism and Socialism" which, despite its message of scepticism towards both tendencies, introduced the termsocialismin French political discourse.[2]: 105 In 1838, withJean Reynaud,who had seceded with him, he founded theEncyclopédie nouvelle(eds. 1838–1841). Amongst the articles which he inserted in it wereDe l'égalitéandRefutation de l'éclectisme,which afterwards appeared as separate works.[1]
In 1840, he published his treatiseDe l'humanité(2nd ed. 1845), which contains the fullest exposition of his system, and was regarded as the philosophical manifesto of theHumanitarians.In 1841 he established theRevue indépendante,with the aid ofGeorge Sand,over whom he had great influence. HerSpiridion,which was dedicated to him,Sept cordes de la lyre,Consuelo,andLa Comtesse de Rudolstadt,were written under the Humanitarian inspiration.[1]Leroux also became embroiled in the philosophical controversy betweenF.W.J. Schellingand theYoung Hegeliansin the early 1840s. A favourable comment about Schelling prompted a public reply from Hegel's discipleKarl Rosenkranz.[3]
In 1843, he established at Boussac (Creuse) a printing association organized according to his systematic ideas, and founded theRevue sociale.[1]At the outbreak of theRevolution of 1848Leroux proclaimed the republic in the town of Boussac, becoming its mayor on February 25.[citation needed]Subsequently, he was elected to theConstituent Assembly,and in 1849 to theLegislative Assembly,[1]where he sat with the radical socialist deputies and often spoke, though his speeches were criticised as abstract and mystical. Within the Assembly, Leroux represented theSeine Department.[4]
An opponent ofLouis Bonaparte,Leroux went into exile after thecoup d'étatof 1851, settling with his family inJersey,where he pursued agricultural experiments and wrote hissocialistpoemLa Grève de Samarez.[2]: 106 Karl Marxnominated Leroux for the Central Committee of theInternational Workingmen's Association.[5]On the definitiveamnestyof 1869 he returned to Paris.[1]
Views
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Leroux's fundamental philosophical principle is that of what he calls the "triad" —a triplicity which he finds to pervade all things, which inGodis "power, intelligence and love," in man "sensation, sentiment and knowledge".[1]
Leroux was described as a Protestant.[6]His religious doctrine ispantheistic;and, rejecting the belief in a future life as commonly conceived, he substitutes for it a theory ofmetempsychosis.In social economy he preserves thefamily,countryandproperty,but finds in all three, as they now are, adespotismwhich must be eliminated. He imagines certain combinations by which this triple tyranny can be abolished. His solution seems to require the creation of families without heads, countries without governments and property withoutright of possession.In politics he advocates absolute equality — ademocracy.[1]
His views might be considered anti-Semitic in present times. Leroux believed that Jewish-controlled banks had replaced the social institution of the churches with modern values which he had a negative view of: "We are destined to a future where individualism and egoism will triumph at the expense of the social good; the Jews, a people who epitomize individualism and egoism, are thus predestined to triumph over others." Leroux is highly critical of the modern capitalist economic system which he blames on Jews. According to Leroux Jews, who had once crucified Jesus, were crucifying the Christian world with capitalist tyranny.[7]
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^abcdefghChisholm 1911,p. 485.
- ^abGriffiths, David A. (1983). "Pierre Leroux Redivivus".Nineteenth-Century French Studies.12(1–2). University of Nebraska Press: 105–115.JSTOR23536496.
- ^Rosenkranz, K.,Über Schelling und Hegel. Ein Sendschreiben an Pierre Leroux.Königsberg, 1843. An online version of the German text of Rosenkranz' piece can be found at:https://archive.org/details/ueberschellingu00rosegoog.Karl Marx,in an 1843 letter toLudwig Feuerbach,attempted to gain the latter's co-operation with theFranco-German Annalsand proposed that Feuerbach write a critique of Schelling. Marx wrote: "How cunningly Herr von Schelling enticed the French, first of all the weak, eclectic Cousin, then even the gifted Leroux. For Pierre Leroux and his like still regard Schelling as the man who replaced transcendental idealism by rational realism, abstract thought by thought with flesh and blood, specialised philosophy by world philosophy! To the French romantics and mystics he cries:" I, the union of philosophy and theology, "to the French materialists:" I, the union of flesh and idea, "to the French sceptics:" I, the destroyer of dogmatism, "in a word," I... Schelling! "Cp. Marx to Feuerbach, October 3, 1843. Marx/EngelsCollected Works,Vol. 27, Moscow, 1962. Online at:http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/df-jahrbucher/feuer.htm.
- ^"Pierre, Henri Leroux"(in French). National Assembly.Retrieved1 October2021.
- ^Breckman, Warren (2013).Adventures of the Symbolic: Postmarxism and Democratic Theory.Columbia University Press. p. 58.ISBN9780231143943.
- ^"Pierre Leroux(1797-1871)".Welcome to Ohio University.2004-10-20.Retrieved2022-10-14.
- ^Brustein, William L.; Roberts, Louisa (2015).The Socialism of Fools: Leftist Origins of Modern Anti-Semitism.Cambridge University Press. p. 38.
References
[edit]- This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Chisholm, Hugh,ed. (1911). "Leroux, Pierre".Encyclopædia Britannica.Vol. 16 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 485.This work in turn cites:
- Raillard, Célestin (1899).Pierre Leroux at ses œuvres.Paris.
- Reybaud, Louis (1842).Études sur les réformateurs et socialistes modernes.Brussels.
- Thomas, Pierre-Félix (1904).Pierre Leroux: sa vie, son œuvre, sa doctrine.Paris.
- article in R. H.Inglis Palgrave(ed).Dictionary of Political Economy.
Further reading
[edit]- J. Maîtron (ed. by),Dictionnaire biographique du mouvement ouvrier français. Première partie: 1789-1864(Paris, 1964): t. II, pp. 501–503.
- Jack Bakunin,Pierre Leroux and the birth of democratic socialism, 1797-1848(New York, 1976)
- Jacques Viard,Pierre Leroux et les socialistes européens(Arles, 1982)
- Armelle Le Bras-Chopard,De l'égalité dans la différence: le socialisme de Pierre Leroux(Paris, 1986)
- Marisa Forcina,I diritti dell’esistente. La filosofia della “Encyclopédie nouvelle” (1833-1847)(Lecce, 1987)
- Barbel Kuhn,Pierre Leroux: Sozialismus zwischen analytischer Gesellschaftskritik und sozialphilosophischer Synthese: ein Beitrag zur methodischen Erforschung des vormarxistischen Sozialismus(Frankfurt am Main, 1988)
- Miguel Abensour,Le Procès des maîtres rêveurs(Paris, 2000)
- Bruno Viard,Pierre Leroux, penseur de l’humanité(Aix-en-Provence, 2009)
- Andrea Lanza,All'abolizione del proletariato! Il discorso socialista fraternitario. Parigi 1839-1847(Milano, 2010)
External links
[edit]- Biographical sketch(in Italian)
- Biographical sketch(in French). Site discusses intellectual background ofGeorge Sand.
- http://www.amisdepierreleroux.org(in French)
- "Individualism and Socialism"(in English)
- 1798 births
- 1871 deaths
- Writers from Paris
- Politicians from Paris
- The Mountain (1849) politicians
- Members of the 1848 Constituent Assembly
- Members of the National Legislative Assembly of the French Second Republic
- Pantheists
- 19th-century French philosophers
- Saint-Simonists
- French economists
- French socialists
- Utopian socialists
- Forty-Eighters
- French male writers
- 19th-century male writers