Joseph de Maistre

From Vero - Wikipedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox philosopher Joseph Marie, comte de MaistreTemplate:Efn (1 April 1753 – 26 February 1821)<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> was a Savoyard lawyer, diplomat, and political philosopher. He is chiefly remembered as one of the intellectual forefathers of modern conservatism, noted for his advocacy of social hierarchy and monarchy in the period immediately following the French Revolution.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> French by language and culture,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Maistre was nonetheless a subject of the King of Piedmont–Sardinia, whom he served in various government positions, including stints in the Savoy Senate (1787–1792), as ambassador to the Russian Empire (1803–1817),<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> and as minister of state to the court in Turin (1817–1821).Template:Efn

A key figure of the Counter-Enlightenment and a precursor of Romanticism,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Maistre regarded monarchy both as a divinely sanctioned institution and as the only stable form of government.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Maistre argued that the rationalist rejection of Christianity was directly responsible for the Reign of Terror and the chaos that followed the Revolution of 1789 in France.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> He therefore called for the restoration of the House of Bourbon to the throne of France and for the ultimate authority of the Pope in both spiritual and temporal matters.

Biography

Maistre was born in 1753 at Chambéry, Duchy of Savoy, at that time part of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia which was ruled by the House of Savoy from their capital in Turin.<ref name=berlin>Template:Cite speech</ref> His family was of French and Italian origin.<ref name="geneanet">Template:Cite web</ref> His grandfather André (Andrea) Maistre (1661–1722), whose parents François Maistre (1630–1674) and Margarita Maistre (née Dalmassi) (died 1717) originated in the County of Nice,<ref name="geneanet"/> had been a draper and councilman in Nice (then under the rule of the House of Savoy) and his father François-Xavier Maistre (1705–1789), who moved to Chambéry in 1740, became a magistrate and senator, eventually receiving the title of count from the King of Piedmont-Sardinia. His mother's family, whose surname was Desmotz, were from Rumilly.<ref name="triomphe">Template:Cite book Preview available here</ref> He was the eldest of ten surviving children and godfather to his younger brother, Xavier, who would become a major general and a popular writer of fiction.<ref name=cath>Template:Cite CE1913</ref><ref name=xav>Template:Cite CE1913</ref>

Stipple engraving of Maistre from a painting by Pierre Bouillon in which he is shown wearing the insignia of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus

Maistre was probably educated by the Jesuits.<ref name=cath/> After the Revolution, he became an ardent defender of the Jesuits, increasingly associating the spirit of the Revolution with the Jesuits' traditional enemies, the Jansenists. After completing his training in the law at the University of Turin in 1774, he followed in his father's footsteps by becoming a senator in 1787.

In his early years Maistre was a liberal and supporter of Gallicanism. The philosopher and mystic Louis Claude de Saint-Martin was a major and lasting influence for Maistre. In one of his first public addresses Maistre praised the American Revolution proclaimingTemplate:Cquote

A member of the progressive Scottish Rite Masonic lodge at Chambéry from 1774 to 1790,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Maistre originally favoured political reform in France, supporting the efforts of the magistrates in the Parlements to force King Louis XVI to convene the Estates General. As a landowner in France, Maistre was eligible to join that body and there is some evidence that he contemplated that possibility.<ref name="lebrun">Template:Cite web</ref> Maistre was alarmed by the decision of the Estates-General to combine aristocracy, clergy and commoners into a single legislative body which became the National Constituent Assembly. After the passing of the August Decrees on 4 August 1789, he decisively turned against the course of political events in France.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Portrait of Maistre by Swiss painter Félix Vallotton from La Revue blanche, 1895

Maistre fled Chambéry when it was taken by a French revolutionary army in 1792, but he was unable to find a position in the royal court in Turin and returned the following year. Deciding that he could not support the French-controlled regime, Maistre departed again, this time for Lausanne, Switzerland,<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> where he discussed politics and theology at the salon of Madame de Staël, and began his career as a counter-revolutionary writer,<ref>Template:Cite document</ref> with works such as Lettres d'un Royaliste Savoisien ("Letters from a Savoyard Royalist", 1793), Discours à Mme. la Marquise Costa de Beauregard, sur la Vie et la Mort de son Fils ("Discourse to the Marchioness Costa de Beauregard, on the Life and Death of her Son", 1794) and Cinq paradoxes à la Marquise de Nav... ("Five Paradoxes for the Marchioness of Nav...", 1795).<ref name=berlin/>

From Lausanne, Maistre went to Venice and then to Cagliari, where the King of Piedmont-Sardinia held the court and the government of the kingdom after French armies took Turin in 1798. Maistre's relations with the court at Cagliari were not always easy.<ref name=berlin/> In 1802, he was sent to Saint Petersburg in Russia as ambassador to Tsar Alexander I.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> His diplomatic responsibilities were few and he became a well-loved fixture in aristocratic and wealthy merchant circles, converting some of his friends to Roman Catholicism and writing his most influential works on political philosophy.

Maistre's observations on Russian life, contained in his diplomatic memoirs and in his personal correspondence, were among Leo Tolstoy's sources for his novel War and Peace.<ref name=berlin/> After the defeat of Napoleon and the restoration of the House of Savoy's dominion over Piedmont and Savoy under the terms of the Congress of Vienna, Maistre returned in 1817 to Turin and served there as magistrate and minister of state until his death. He died on 26 February 1821 and is buried in the Jesuit Church of the Holy Martyrs (Chiesa dei Santi Martiri).

Philosophy

Politics

Template:Conservatism in France In Template:Lang ("Considerations on France", 1796), Maistre claimed that France has a divine mission as the principal instrument of good and evil on Earth. He interpreted the Revolution of 1789 as a providential event in which the monarchy, the aristocracy and the Ancien Régime in general, instead of directing the influence of French civilization to the benefit of mankind, had promoted the atheistic doctrines of the 18th-century philosophers. He claimed that the crimes of the Reign of Terror were the logical consequence of Enlightenment thought as well as its divinely-decreed punishment.<ref name= HCaR>Template:Cite journal</ref>

In his short book Essai sur le Principe Générateur des Constitutions Politiques et des Autres Institutions Humaines ("Essay on the Generative Principle of Political Constitutions and other Human Institutions", 1809), Maistre argued that constitutions are not the product of human reason, but rather come from God, who slowly brings them to maturity.

What was novel in Maistre's writings was not his enthusiastic defense of monarchical and religious authority per se, but rather his arguments concerning the practical need for ultimate authority to lie with an individual capable of decisive action as well as his analysis of the social foundations of that authority's legitimacy. In his own words which he addressed to a group of aristocratic French émigrés, "You ought to know how to be royalists. Before, this was an instinct, but today it is a science. You must love the sovereign as you love order, with all the forces of intelligence."<ref name="Sénart">Quoted by Philippe Sénart in "Maistre et Tocqueville", Joseph de Maistre. Les Dossiers H, (Lausanne: Editions L'Age d'Homme, 2005), p. 646. Template:ISBN</ref> Maistre's analysis of the problem of authority and its legitimacy foreshadows some of the concerns of early sociologists such as Auguste Comte<ref>Barth, Hans (1956). "Auguste Comte et Joseph de Maistre". In: Etudes Suisses de l'Histoire Générale, XIV, pp. 103–138.</ref> and Henri de Saint-Simon.<ref name="Levy-Bruhl">Lucien Lévy-Bruhl (1903). The Philosophy of Auguste Comte. New York: Putnam and Sons, pp. 297-8.</ref><ref name="Pickering">Pickering, Mary (1993). Auguste Comte: An Intellectual Biography, vol. 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 261–8 Template:ISBN</ref>

Despite his preference for monarchy, Maistre acknowledged that republics could be the superior form of government, depending on the situation and the people. Maistre also defended the government of the United States because its people were heirs to the democratic spirit of Great Britain, which he felt France lacked.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Religion

After the appearance in 1816 of his French translation of Plutarch's treatise On the Delay of Divine Justice in the Punishment of the Guilty, Maistre published Du Pape ("On the Pope") in 1819, the most complete exposition of his religious conception of authority. According to Maistre, any attempt to justify government on rational grounds will only lead to unresolvable arguments about the legitimacy and expediency of any existing government and that this in turn will lead to violence and chaos.<ref>Murray, John C. (1949). "The Political Thought of Joseph de Maistre," The Review of Politics, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 63–86.</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> As a result, Maistre argued that the legitimacy of government must be based on compelling, but non-rational grounds which its subjects must not be allowed to question.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Maistre went on to argue that authority in politics should derive from religion and that in Europe this religious authority must ultimately lie with the Pope.

Ethics

Template:Theodicy In addition to his voluminous correspondence, Maistre left two books that were published posthumously. Soirées de St. Pétersbourg (1821) is a theodicy in the form of a Platonic dialogue<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> in which Maistre argues that evil exists because of its place in the divine plan, according to which the blood sacrifice of innocents returns men to God via the expiation of the sins of the guilty. Maistre sees this as a law of human history as unquestionable as it is mysterious.

Science

Examen de la Philosophie de Bacon ("An Examination of the Philosophy of Bacon", 1836) is a critique of the thought of Francis Bacon,<ref>Huet, François (1837). "Le Chancelier Bacon et le Comte Joseph de Maistre." In: Nouvelles Archives Historiques, Philosophiques et Littéraires. Gand: C. Annoot-Braekman, vol. I, pp. 65–94.</ref> whom Maistre considers to be the fountainhead of the destructive rationalistic thought.<ref>Gourmont, Rémy de (1905). "François Bacon et Joseph de Maistre." In: Promenades Philosophiques. Paris: Mercure de France, pp. 7–32.</ref> Maistre also argued, romantically, that genius plays a pivotal role in great scientific discoveries, as demonstrated by inspired intellects such as Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilei and Isaac Newton, contrary to Bacon's theory about conforming to a mechanistic method.<ref name="Liberalism and Tradition worldcat.org">Template:Cite book</ref>

Personal life

Maistre was married to Françoise de Morand de Saint-Sulpice (1759–1839),<ref>EXTRACT FROM THE REGISTER OF MARRIAGE ACTS OF St-LEGER IN CHAMBERY FOR THE YEAR 1786: The year 1786 and September 17.</ref> daughter of colonel of the Chablais regiment Jean-Pierre de Morand (1703–1759) and his wife Anne Marie Favier du Noyer (1732–1812), with whom he had three children: daughters Adèle (1787–1862), who married administrator Template:Ill (1774–1849) and Constance (1793–1882), who married soldier Eugène-Alexandre de Montmorency-Laval, fourth duc de Laval (1773–1851), and son Rudolphe (1789–1866), military officer who fought for the Russian Empire at the battles of Friedland, Smolensk, Moskova (Borodino), Bérézina, Dresde, and Leipzig.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Legacy and reputation

Statue of the Joseph and Xavier de Maistre brothers outside the old fortress in their hometown Chambéry
Street named after Joseph de Maistre in Montmartre, Paris
Joseph de Maistre's tomb at the Church of the Holy Martyrs in Turin

Politics

Together with the Anglo-Irish statesman and philosopher Edmund Burke, Maistre is commonly regarded as one of the founders of European conservatism.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Fuchs, Michel (1984). "Edmund Burke et Joseph de Maistre", Revue de l'Université d'Ottawa, Vol. 54, pp. 49–58.</ref> Maistre exerted a powerful influence on the Spanish political thinker Juan Donoso Cortés,<ref>Tarrago, Rafael E. (1999). "Two Catholic Conservatives: The Ideas of Joseph de Maistre and Juan Donoso Cortes," Template:Webarchive Catholic Social Science Review, Vol. 4, pp. 167–177.</ref><ref>Spektorowski, Alberto (2002). "Maistre, Donoso Cortes, and the Legacy of Catholic Authoritarianism," Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 63, No. 2, pp. 283–302.</ref> the French royalist Charles Maurras and his nationalist movement Action Française<ref>Gerin-Ricard, Lazare de (1929). Les Idées Politiques de Joseph de Maistre et la Doctrine de Maurras. La Rochelle: Editions Rupella.</ref> as well as the German philosopher of law Carl Schmitt.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

However, according to Carolina Armenteros, who has written four books about Maistre, his writings influenced not only conservative political thinkers but also the utopian socialists.<ref name="Armenteros">Armenteros, Carolina (2011). The French Idea of History: Joseph de Maistre and his Heirs, 1794-1854. Ithaca, NY and London: Cornell University Press Template:ISBN</ref> Early sociologists such as Auguste Comte and Henri de Saint-Simon explicitly acknowledged the influence of Maistre on their own thinking about the sources of social cohesion and political authority.<ref name="Levy-Bruhl" /><ref name="Pickering" />

Maistre has been criticized by classical liberals. Literary critic Émile Faguet described Maistre as "a fierce absolutist, a furious theocrat, an intransigent legitimist, apostle of a monstrous trinity composed of pope, king and hangman, always and everywhere the champion of the hardest, narrowest and most inflexible dogmatism, a dark figure out of the Middle Ages, part learned doctor, part inquisitor, part executioner".<ref>Émile Faguet, Politiques et Moralistes du Dix-neuvieme Siècle, 1st series, Paris: Société Française d'Imprimerie et de Librairie, 1899. Cited in: Template:Cite book</ref> Political historian Isaiah Berlin considered Maistre a forerunner to the 20th-century movement of fascism, claiming that Maistre knew the self-destructive impulses in human nature and intended to exploit them.<ref>Template:Cite speech</ref> However, Italian fascism openly rejected Maistre's reactionary conservatism.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Literature

Maistre's skills as a writer and polemicist ensured that he continues to be read. Matthew Arnold, an influential 19th-century critic, wrote as follows while comparing Maistre's style with that of his Irish counterpart Edmund Burke:

"Joseph de Maistre is another of those men whose word, like that of Burke, has vitality. In imaginative power he is altogether inferior to Burke. On the other hand, his thought moves in closer order than Burke's, more rapidly, more directly; he has fewer superfluities. Burke is a great writer, but Joseph de Maistre's use of the French language is more powerful, more thoroughly satisfactory, than Burke's use of the English. It is masterly; it shows us to perfection of what that admirable instrument, the French language, is capable."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1910 describes his writing style as "strong, lively, picturesque" and states that his "animation and good humour temper his dogmatic tone".<ref name=cath/> George Saintsbury called him "unquestionably one of the greatest thinkers and writers of the eighteenth century".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Although a political opponent, Alphonse de Lamartine called him the "Plato of the Alps".<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Admiring the splendour of his prose, Lamartine stated:

Template:Blockquote

Maistre is also associated with the Counter-Enlightenment movement Romanticism<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and is often referred to as a Romantic.<ref name="Liberalism and Tradition worldcat.org" /><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name= HCaR /><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Among those who admired him was Charles Baudelaire – the most famous Romantic poet in France – who described himself a disciple of the Savoyard counter-revolutionary, claiming that Maistre had taught him how to think.<ref>Template:Cite thesis</ref><ref>Eygun, Francois-Xavier (1990). "Influence de Joseph de Maistre sur les "Fleurs du Mal" de Baudelaire", Revue des Etudes Maistriennes, Vol. 11, pp. 139–147.</ref><ref>"De Maistre and Edgar Poe taught me to reason." – Baudelaire, Charles (1919). Intimate Papers from the Unpublished Works of Baudelaire. Baudelaire – His Prose and Poetry. New York: The Modern Library, p. 245.</ref>

Works

Template:Catholic philosophy Template:Martinism

English translations

See also

Notes

Template:Notelist

References

Template:More footnotes needed Template:Reflist

Sources

Template:Refbegin

  • Armenteros, Carolina (2007). "From Human Nature to Normal Humanity: Joseph de Maistre, Rousseau, and the Origins of Moral Statistics," Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 68, No. 1, pp. 107–30.
  • Armenteros, Carolina (2007). "Parabolas and the Fate of Nations: Early Conservative Historicism in Joseph de Maistre's De la Souveraineté du Peuple," History of Political Thought, Vol. 28, No. 2, pp. 230–52.
  • Armenteros, Carolina et al.. (2010). The New Enfant du Siècle: Joseph de Maistre as a Writer, St. Andrews Studies in French History and Culture.
  • Armenteros, Carolina (2011). The French Idea of History: Joseph de Maistre and his Heirs, 1794–1854. Ithaca, NY and London: Cornell University Press Template:ISBN
  • Armenteros, Carolina and Richard Lebrun (2011). Joseph de Maistre and his European Readers: From Friedrich von Gentz to Isaiah Berlin. Leiden and Boston: Brill.
  • Armenteros, Carolina and Richard Lebrun (2011). Joseph de Maistre and the Legacy of Enlightenment. Oxford: The Voltaire Foundation.
  • Austern, Donald M. (1974). The Political Theories of Edmund Burke and Joseph de Maistre as Representative of the Schools of Conservative Libertarianism and Conservative Authoritarianism. Amherst: Boston College Doctoral Thesis.
  • Barbey D'Aurevilly, Jules (1889). "Joseph de Maistre". In: Les Prophètes du Passé. Paris: Calmann Lévy, pp. 50–69.
  • Barthelet, Philippe (2005). Joseph de Maistre: Les Dossiers H. Geneva: L'Age d'Homme.
  • Blamires, Cyprian P. (1985). Three Critiques of the French Revolution: Maistre, Bonald and Saint-Simon. Oxford: Oxford University Doctoral Thesis.
  • Bradley, Owen (1999). A Modern Maistre: The Social and Political Thought of Joseph de Maistre. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press.
  • Brandes, Georg (1903). "Joseph de Maistre." In: Main Currents in Nineteenth Century Literature, Vol. 3. The Reaction in France. New York: The Macmillan Company, pp. 87–112
  • Template:Cite book
  • Camcastle, Cara (2005). The More Moderate Side of Joseph de Maistre. Ottawa: McGill-Queen's University Press.
  • Caponigri, A.R. (1942). Some Aspects of the Philosophy of Joseph de Maistre. PhD Thesis, University of Chicago.
  • Croce, Benedetto (1922). "Il Duca di Serra-Capriola e Giuseppe de Maistre". In: Archivio Storico per le Province Napoletane, Vol. XLVII, pp. 313–335.
  • Edwards, David W. (1977). "Count Joseph de Maistre and Russian Educational Policy, 1803-1828", Slavic Review, Vol. 36, pp. 54–75.
  • Eichrodt, Joan B. (1968). Orthodoxy, Autocracy, Nationality, and Joseph de Maistre. New York: Columbia University Master's Thesis.
  • Faust, A.J. (1882). "Count Joseph de Maistre," The American Catholic Quarterly Review, Vol. VII, pp. 17–41.
  • Fisichella, Domenico (1963). Giusnaturalismo e Teoria della Sovranità in Joseph de Maistre. Messina: Firenze (Rep. in Politica e Mutamento Sociale. Lungro di Cosenza: Costantino Marco Editore, 2002, pp. 191–243 Template:ISBN.)
  • Fisichella, Domenico (1993). Il Pensiero Politico di Joseph de Maistre. Roma-Bari: Laterza Template:ISBN.
  • Fisichella, Domenico (2005). Joseph de Maistre, Pensatore Europeo. Roma-Bari: Laterza Template:ISBN.
  • Garrard, Graeme (1995). Maistre, Judge of Jean-Jacques. An Examination of the Relationship between Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Joseph de Maistre, and the French Enlightenment. Oxford: Oxford University Doctoral Thesis.
  • Garrard, Graeme (1996). "Joseph de Maistre's Civilization and Its Discontents," Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 57, No. 3, pp. 429–46.
  • Template:Cite book
  • Gianturco, Elio (1937). Joseph de Maistre and Giambattista Vico (Italian Roots of the Maistre's Political Culture). New York: Columbia University.
  • Gianturco, Elio (1936). "Juridical Culture and Politico-historical Judgement in Joseph de Maistre", Roman Revue, Vol. 27, pp. 254–262.
  • Glaudes, Pierre (1997). Joseph de Maistre et Les figures de l'Histoire: Trois Essais sur un Précurseur du Romantisme Français. In: Cahiers Romantiques. Saint Genouph: Librairie Nizet.
  • Godechot, Jacques (1982). The Counter-Revolution, Princeton University Press.
  • Template:Cite book
  • Lebrun, Richard A. (ed., 1988). Maistre Studies, Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
  • Lebrun, Richard A. (2001). Joseph de Maistre's Life, Thought and Influence: Selected Studies. Ottawa: McGill-Queen's University Press.
  • Template:Cite book
  • Legittimo, Gianfranco (1963). Sociologi Cattolici Italiani: De Maistre, Taparelli, Toniolo. Roma: Il Quadrato.
  • Maistre, Rodolphe de, Hexis d'un soir ou de la prénotion d'un retour de l'Esprit dans la science, La Compagnie Littéraire, 2016, 154p. [1] (Template:ISBN)
  • Mandoul, Jean (1900). Un Homme d'État Italien: Joseph de Maistre et la Politique de la Maison de Savoie. Paris: Alcan.
  • Mazlish, Bruce (1955). Burke, Bonald and de Maistre. A Study in Conservatism. New York: Columbia University Doctoral Thesis.
  • McMahon, Darrin M. (2002). Enemies of the Enlightenment: The French Counter-Enlightenment and the Making of Modernity. Oxford University Press.
  • Menczer, Béla (1962). "Joseph de Maistre." In: Catholic Political Thought, 1789–1848. University of Notre Dame Press, pp. 59–61.
  • Monteton, Charles Philippe Dijon de (2007). Die Entzauberung des Gesellschaftsvertrags. Ein Vergleich der Anti-Sozial-Kontrakts-Theorien von Carl Ludwig von Haller und Joseph Graf de Maistre im Kontext der politischen Ideengeschichte. Frankfurt am Main et al. Template:ISBN.
  • Morley, John (1909). "Joseph de Maistre." In: Critical Miscellanies. London: Macmillan & Co., pp. 257–338.
  • Muret, Charlotte Touzalin (1933). French Royalist Doctrines since the Revolution. New York: Columbia University Press.
  • Pranchère, Jean-Yves (1992). Qu'est-ce que la Royauté? Joseph de Maistre. Paris: Vrin.
  • Pranchère, Jean-Yves (2005). L'Autorité contre les Lumières: la Philosophie de Joseph de Maistre. Geneva: Droz.
  • Sacré-Cœur Mercier, Lucille du (1953). The Historical Thought of the Comte Joseph de Maistre. Washington: Catholic University of America Thesis.
  • Siedentop, Larry Alan (1966). The Limits of Enlightenment. A Study of Conservative Political Thought in Early Nineteenth-Century France with Special Reference to Maine de Biran and Joseph de Maistre. Oxford: Oxford University Doctoral Thesis.
  • Thorup, Mikkel (2005). "'A World Without Substance': Carl Schmitt and the Counter-Enlightenment," Distinktion: Scandinavian Journal of Social Theory, Vol. 6, No. 1, pp. 19–39.
  • Thurston, Benjamin (2001). Joseph de Maistre. Logos and Logomachy. Oxford: Brasenose College-Oxford University Doctoral Thesis.
  • Vermale, François (1921), Notes sur Joseph de Maistre Inconnu. Chambéry: Perrin, M. Dardel Successeur.

Template:Refend

Template:Wikiquote Template:Commons category

Template:Joseph de Maistre Template:Navboxes Template:Authority control Template:Portal bar

Retrieved from "https://wiki.sarg.dev/index.php?title=Joseph_de_Maistre&oldid=147836"