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Constant : Political Writings

Constant, Benjamin

9780521316323

ISBN 10: 0521316324 / 0-521-31632-4
ISBN 13: 9780521316323

Publication Date: 1988
Binding: Softcover

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Synopsis:

Acknowledgements; Introduction; Bibliographical note; Preface to the first edition; Preface to the third edition; Foreword to the fourth edition; Part I. The Spirit of Conquest: 1. The virtues compatible with war at given stages of social development; 2. The character of modern nations in relation to war; 3. The spirit of conquest in the present condition of Europe; 4. Of a military race acting on self-interest alone; 5. A further reason for the deterioration of the military class within the system of conquest; 6. The influence of this military spirit upon the internal condition of nations; 7. A further drawback of the formation of this military spirit; 8. The effect of a conquering government upon the mass of the nation; 9. Means of coercion necessary to supplement upon the mass of the nation; 10. Further drawbacks of the system of warfare for enlightenment and the educated class; 11. The point of view from which a conquering nation today would regard its own successes; 12. Effect of these successes upon the conquered peoples; 13. On uniformity; 14. The inevitable end to the successes of a conquering nation; 15. Results of the system of warfare in the present age; Part II. Usurpation: The specific aim of the comparison between usurpation and monarchy; Differences between usurpation and monarchy; One respect in which usurpation is more hateful than absolute despotism; Usurpation cannot survive in this period of our civilisation; Can usurpation not be maintained by force?; The kind of liberty offered to men at the end of the last century; The modern imitators of the republics of antiquity; The means employed to give to the moderns the liberty of the ancients; Does the aversion of the moderns for this pretended liberty imply that they love despotism?; A sophism in favour of arbitrary power excercised by one man; The effects of arbitrary power upon intellectual progress; Religion under arbitrary power; Men's inability to resign themselves voluntarily to arbitrary power in any form; Despotism as a means of preserving usurpation; The effect of illegal and despotism measures on regular governments themselves; Implications of the preceding considerations in relation to despotism; Causes which make despotism particularly impossible at this age of our civilisation; As usurpation cannot be maintained through despotism, since in our days despotism itself cannot last, usurpation has no chance of enduring; Additions to The spirit of conquest and usurpation; Bibliographical note; Bibliography; Index.

Political Writings
Diderot, Denis; Wokler, Robert; Mason, John Hope

Pufendorf : On the Duty of Man and Citizen According to Natural Law
Pufendorf, Samuel

Philosophy and Government 1572-1651
Tuck, Richard

Bentham : A Fragment on Government
Hart, Herbert L.; Bentham, Jeremy

The Spirit of the Laws
Montisquieu, C. De

God, Locke, and Equality : Christian Foundations in Locke's Political Thought
Waldron, Jeremy