Republicanism and the French Revolution An Intellectual History of Jean-Baptiste Say's Political Economy

by Whatmore, Richard

• ISBN13: 9780199241156
• ISBN10: 0199241155
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-01-11
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This book provides a new interpretation of political thought and political economy in France from the death of Louis XVI to the July revolution of 1830. The clash between modern republicanism and other theories of governing societies is the background to a thorough interpretation of the life and writings of Jean-Baptiste Say, the most famous political economist of the post-revolutionary era.

Author Biography

Richard Whatmore is Lecturer in Intellectual History in the School of English and American Studies at the University of Sussex.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations	x
Preface	xi
Acknowledgements	xiv
Part I Reinterpreting Say
The J.-B. Say problem	3	(14)
Say's Disputed Intellectual Legacy	3	(3)
Smith's French Interpreters	6	(4)
Say and the French Revolution	10	(7)
Republicanism and Political Economy	17	(20)
Say's Ideology	17	(1)
Political Economy in Eighteenth-Century France	18	(5)
Eighteenth-Century Republicanism	23	(5)
The Political Economy of Modern Republicanism	28	(9)
Part II The Intellectual Context of Say's Ideas
The Political Economy of French Decline	37	(24)
Dupont's Attack on the `British' Say	37	(2)
Explaining Britain's Strength	39	(2)
Commerce and Constitutions	41	(2)
Montesquieu's Critique of the British Example	43	(3)
The Intellectual Legacy of the Seven Years War	46	(4)
Physiocratic Strategy	50	(3)
Reviving Reason-of-State Political Economy	53	(8)
The Republican Turn in France, 1776-1789	61	(24)
Neo-Physiocracy	61	(1)
Turgot and `L' Organisation sociale'	62	(4)
The Effects of the American Revolution	66	(2)
Sieye`s' `L'Art social'	68	(5)
Rœderer's Representative Democracy	73	(4)
Claviere's Republicanism for Large States	77	(8)
Revolution and the Political Economy of Terror	85	(26)
The Problem of Manners in the Revolution	85	(1)
Claviere's assignat Solution	86	(3)
Regenerative War	89	(4)
The Terror Solution	93	(2)
Republicanism Transformed	95	(3)
A Science of Mœeurs	98	(13)
Part III Republican Political Economy
Say's Republicanism, 1794-1798	111	(25)
Moral and Political Science at the Institut National	111	(3)
Ginguene and La Decade philosophique	114	(3)
Assessing the Revolution	117	(3)
Secular Manners and the Problem of Religion	120	(5)
Republican Political Economy	125	(4)
The Reception of Olbie	129	(7)
The Idea of a Traite d'economie politique	136	(20)
Say and the Consulate	136	(3)
Ideologue Republicanism	139	(2)
The `General Fact' Approach to Political Economy	141	(2)
Uniting Virtue with Self-Interest	143	(2)
The Aims and Method of the First Traite	145	(3)
Political Economy Ancient and Modern	148	(4)
Say's Critique of Consular Republicanisms	152	(4)
Defending Republican Manners	156	(14)
Say and Smith	156	(1)
Industrious Manners and Egalitarian Ranks	157	(4)
Frugality	161	(1)
Moderate Wealth	162	(3)
Moral Commerce	165	(2)
Republicanism Revised	167	(3)
Restoring French Glory	170	(19)
Britain's Weakness	170	(1)
Perspectives on Smith in Consular Argument	171	(3)
False Gods and Natural Liberty	174	(3)
Natural Liberty in France	177	(6)
The Fate of the First Traite	183	(6)
Part IV Republican Political Economy in Conditions of Monarchy
Rejecting the Post-War Settlement	189	(16)
The Return of the Bourbons and British Constitutionalism	189	(2)
The Second Traite	191	(3)
Say's View of Britain	194	(2)
Say's View of France	196	(3)
Political Economy as Civic Education	199	(6)
`Social Science in its Entirety'	205	(12)
Ricardo, Malthus, Sismondi	205	(2)
The Influence of Bentham	207	(3)
The Cours complet	210	(3)
The Final Writings	213	(4)
Conclusion	217	(4)
Bibliography	221	(12)
Index	233