Human Nature and the French Revolution : : From the Enlightenment to the Napoleonic Code / / Xavier Martin.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Berghahn Books Complete eBook-Package 2000-2013
• VerfasserIn: Martin, Xavier,
• Place / Publishing House: New York ;, Oxford : : Berghahn Books, , [2001]; ©2001
• Year of Publication: 2001
• Language: English
• Series: Polygons: Cultural Diversities and Intersections ; 3
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (304 p.)
• Other title: Frontmatter --; Contents --; Foreword --; Notes on Translation --; Abbreviations --; 1. Human Nature --; 2. Helvétius and d’Holbach --; 3. Voltaire --; 4. Rousseau --; 5. Pedagogy and Politics --; 6. Mirabeau and Sieyès --; 7. The Audacity of the Philanthropists --; 8. Robespierre --; 9. Making an Impression --; 10. Cabanis and Destutt de Tracy --; 11. La Réveillière-Lépeaux and Leclerc --; 12. Supervised Sovereignty --; 13. Madame de Staël and Constant --; 14. Bonaparte: Idéologue? --; 15. The Napoleonic Code --; Conclusion --; Bibliography --; Index
• Format: Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
• ISBN: 9781782381709; 9783110998283
• DOI: 10.1515/9781782381709?locatt=mode:legacy
• Access: restricted access
• Hierarchical level: Monograph
• Statement of Responsibility: Xavier Martin.

What view of man did the French Revolutionaries hold? Anyone who purports to be interested in the "Rights of Man" could be expected to see this question as crucial and yet, surprisingly, it is rarely raised. Through his work as a legal historian, Xavier Martin came to realize that there is no unified view of man and that, alongside the "official" revolutionary discourse, very divergent views can be traced in a variety of sources from the Enlightenment to the Napoleonic Code. Michelet's phrases, "Know men in order to act upon them" sums up the problem that Martin's study constantly seeks to elucidate and illustrate: it reveals the prevailing tendency to see men as passive, giving legislators and medical people alike free rein to manipulate them at will. His analysis impels the reader to revaluate the Enlightenment concept of humanism. By drawing on a variety of sources, the author shows how the anthropology of Enlightenment and revolutionary France often conflicts with concurrent discourses.