Apology of Liberty in Lettres sur les ouvrages et le caractère de J.-J. Rousseau: Mme de Staël's Contribution to the Discourse on Natural Sociability

Abstract

This article analyses Mme de Staël's ideas on liberty as they were expressed in Lettres sur les ouvrages et le caractère de J.-J. Rousseau of 1788–1789. Lettres sur les ouvrages et le caractère de J.-J. Rousseau was a reaction to highly polemical debates on liberty that originated in the discourse on natural sociability and that existed in the Parisian salon society between the 1770s and 1780s. Staël combined the two opposing philosophical and economic viewpoints, by the philosophes and Rousseau on the one hand and by Necker and the economists on the other, into a set of liberal values applicable to a new political era despite some self-contradictions. As such, Staël sustained the intellectual legacy of the French enlightenment into revolutionary France.

Notes

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  [2] Delon, “Madame de Staël dans les dictionnaires du bicentenaire”, 112. Godechot, Jacques. Foreword, 29.

  [3] Goodman, The Republic of Letters. Chartier, Roger. Les origines culturelles de la révolution française. Gordon, Citizens without Sovereignty.

  [4] Habermas, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere, 30.

  [5] Habermas, Structural, 69–70.

  [6] Goodman, Republic, 3.

  [7] Goodman, Dena. “Men and Women of Letters.” Vol. 3 of Kors, A. C. ed. Enclopedia of the Enlightenment. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003: 57.

  [8] Gordon, Citizens.

  [9] Goodman, Republic. Chartier, Cultural. Gordon, Citizens.

 [10] Lands, Women and the Public Sphere in the Age of the French Revolution.

 [11] Kale, “Women, the Public Sphere, and the Persistence of Salons”. Habermas, Structural, 23–30. Furet recognises the continuity between ancien régime salons and Revolutionary clubs. Furet, François. Penser la révolution française. Paris: Gallimard, 1978.

 [12] Kale, “Women”, 133.

 [13] Jaume, L'individu.

 [14] Balayé, Simone. “Staël and Liberty: An Overview”, 13.

 [15] Reddy, “Sentimentalism and its Erasure: The Role of Emotions in the Era of the French Revolution”.

 [16] Reddy, “Sentimentalism,” 111.

 [17] Reddy, Navigation, 170.

 [18] Marso, (Un) Manly Citizens Jean-Jacques Rousseau's and Germaine de Staël's Subversive Women, 91.

 [19] Goodman, Republic, 85.

 [20] Mme de Staël. “Lettres sur les ouvrages et le caractère de J.-J.Rousseau.” In Œuvres de Jeunesse. Paris: Desjonquères, 1997: 35.

 [21] Taylor, B. Rousseau's Contemporary Reputation in France.

 [22] Barny, Prélude idéologique à la Révolution Française; Le Rousseauisme avant 1789, 14–17.

 [23] Kors, A. C. “The Myth of the Coterie Holbachique”.

 [24] Taylor, “Rousseau's”, 1548–49.

 [25] See d'Alembert's letter to Hume on July 21, 1766. Hume, The Letters of David Hume, Vol. 2, 412–15. Goodman. “The Hume–Rousseau Affair. Gordon, Citizens, 161–3. Hulliung, The Autocritique of Enlightenment: Rousseau and the Philosophes.

 [26] Taylor, “Rousseau's”, 1558.

 [27] Hume, Letters, 413.

 [28] It was translated and edited by Suard. Gordon, Citizens, 129–76.

 [29] Taylor, “Rousseau's”, 1569–70. Diderot wrote so in Mémoires Secrets for 20 July 1778. See similar passages in Essai sur les Règnes de Claude et de Néron in the same year.

 [30] Staël, “Lettres”, 85. Kohler, Pierre, Staël et la Suisse, 92–115.

 [31] Gordon, Citizens, 54–55.

 [32] Hirschman, The Passions and the Interests: Political Arguments for Capitalism before its Triumph, 38–39.

 [33] Gordon, Citizens, 59–61.

 [34] Gordon, Citizens, 56.

 [35] “Hobbisme.” In L'Encyclopédie de Diderot et d'Alembert, CD-Rom PC. Redon: Paris, 2002.

 [36] Ida, Hisashi. Genèse d'une morale matérialiste, 249. See, for example, d'Holbach, Le système social. Vol. 3. Paris: Hachette, 1971: 87–89.

 [37] “Hobbisme”.

 [38] The most representative philosophes were d'Holbach, Helvétius and to a lesser extent Diderot.

 [39] Derathe, Jean-Jacques Rousseau et la science politique de son temps, 100–19. Nemours, P. et al., De l'origine et des progrès d'une science nouvelle, 17.

 [40] Derathe, Jean-Jacques, 144.

 [41] Rosenblatt, Rousseau and Geneva, 58–60.

 [42] Rosenblatt, Rousseau, 59.

 [43] Rosenblatt, Rousseau, 59. Journal Etranger (April 1754), 55.

 [44] Miller, David. “Hume and Possessive Individualism”.

 [45] Rosenblatt, Rousseau, 59.

 [46] Dent, A Rousseau Dictionary, 232–35.

 [47] Rosenblatt, Rousseau, 185–91.

 [48] Rousseau, “Economie politique”, in L'Encyclopédie de Diderot et d'Alembert.

 [49] Helvétius, C. A. Treatise on Man, 128.

 [50] Helvétius, C. A. Treatise on Man, 143.

 [51] Goodman, “Hume”, 177.

 [52] Goodman, “Hume”, 161.

 [53] Hume, Letters, vol. 2, 445.

 [54] Suard, Foreword to David Hume, 3.

 [55] Gordon, Citizens, 168.

 [56] Gordon, Citizens, 168.

 [57] Contemporaries called the physiocrats economists. In this article, economists refer generally to those who were influenced by the physiocratic school. They include Turgot and his younger disciples such as Condorcet, Sieyès and Roederer.

 [58] Hume, Letters, vol. 2, 422.

 [59] Hume, Letters, vol. 2, 426.

 [60] Hume, Letters, vol. 2, 426

 [61] Hume, Letters, vol. 2, 426.

 [62] Hume, Letters, vol. 2, 426.

 [63] Hume, Letters, vol. 2, 425.

 [64] Hume, Letters, vol. 2, 425.

 [65] Hume, Letters, vol. 2, 430.

 [66] Hume, Letters, vol. 2, 431.

 [67] Ida, Genèse, 19–20.

 [68] See Helvétius, Treatise (Section III, Chapter 9).

 [69] “Génie”, in L'Encyclopédie de Diderot et d'Alembert.

 [70] “Génie”, in L'Encyclopédie de Diderot et d'Alembert

 [71] Turgot, Jacques, Ecrits économiques, 224.

 [72] Turgot, Jacques, Ecrits économiques, 224.

 [73] Turgot, Jacques, Ecrits économiques, 225

 [74] Turgot, Jacques, Ecrits économiques, 225.

 [75] See the letter from Morellet to Hume on 8 September 1766. Hume, Letters, vol. 2, 443–44.

 [76] Hirschman, Passions, 97.

 [77] Hont and Ignatieff, “Needs and Justice in the Wealth of Nations, 1–44. Whatmore, “Adam Smith's Role in the French Revolution”.

 [78] Scurr, Ruth. “The Social Foundation of the Modern Republic”, Ph.D. diss., 26–28.

 [79] Sonenscher, “The Nation's Debt and the Birth of the Modern Republic: the French Fiscal Deficit and the Politics of the Revolution of 1789”, 89–103.

 [80] Nemours, l'Origine, 17.

 [81] Journal d'agriculture, du commerce et des finances, for example.

 [82] Hont and Ignatieff, “Needs”, 13–26.

 [83] Necker created two provincial assemblies in Berry and Haute Guyenne in 1780. In 1788, he opened assemblies of notables. Egret, Jean. Necker, 125–40.

 [84] Necker, Eloge de Jean-Baptist Colbert, 69.

 [85] Prault, L'Esprit de Necker, 44.

 [86] Sonenscher, “The Nation's Debt and the Birth of the Modern Republic, Part 2, 303–04.

 [87] Grange, Les idées de Necker, 157–61.

 [88] Necker, Eloge, 20–21.

 [89] Necker, Eloge, 21.

 [90] Necker, Jacques. Sur la législation et le commerce des grains, 278.

 [91] Necker, Sur la législation, 278.

 [92] Hirschman, Passions, 67–114.

 [93] For example, both groups promoted public opinion.

 [94] Necker, De l'importance de l'opinion religieuse.

 [95] Renauld, Antoine Destutt de Tracy.

 [96] Jardin, André. Histoire du libéralisme politique, 136–61.

 [97] Condorcet, Réflexions sur le commerce des blés, 2.

 [98] Condorcet, Réflexions sur le commerce des blés, 2.

 [99] Condorcet, Réflexions sur le commerce des blés, 11.

[100] Condorcet, Réflexions sur le commerce des blés, 11–12.

[101] Anon. Lettres à M. le comte de M…par M…sur le plan de M. Turgot.

[102] Scurr, Ruth. “The Social Foundation of the Modern Republic and Social Equality in Pierre-Louis Roederer's Interpretation of the Modern Republic, 1793”.

[103] Scurr, “Social”, 28–30.

[104] Scurr, “Social”, 29.

[105] Sonenscher, “Nation's Debt, Part 2”, 306.

[106] Sonenscher, “Nation's Debt, Part 2”, 83.

[107] Sonenscher, “Nation's Debt, Part 2”, 87.

[108] Sonenscher, “Nation's Debt, Part 2”, 22, 26, 41–48.

[109] Sonenscher, “Nation's Debt, Part 2”., 62.

[110] Staël defined sentiment as “un composé de sensations et de pensés que vous ne faîtes jamais comprendre qu'à l'aide de l'émotion et du jugement réunis”. Madame de Staël, De l'influence des passions suivi de réflexions sur le suicide, edited by Chantal Thomas. Marseille: Rivages Poche, 2000: 242.

[111] Ida, Genèse, 246–50.

[112] Staël, “Lettres, ” 242.

[113] Staël, “Lettres, 242.

[114] Staël, “Lettres, 242.

[115] Staël, “Lettres, 60.

[116] Staël, “Lettres, 73.

[117] Staël, “Lettres, 73.

[118] Staël, “Lettres, 42.

[119] Staël, “Lettres, 85.

[120] Staël, “Lettres, 67.

[121] Staël, “Lettres, 43.

[122] Staël, “Lettres, 72.

[123] Staël, “Lettres, 77.

[124] Staël, “Lettres, 78.

[125] Staël, “Lettres, 73. Domenach, Jacques. “L'éloge de Rousseau prétexte à l'hagiographie de Necker chez Madame de Staël”, 79.

[126] Domenech, “L'éloge”, 79.

[127] Staël, “Lettres, ” 73.

[128] Domenech, “L'éloge », 77.

[129] Staël, “Lettres”, 43 (emphasis added).

[130] Taylor, “Rousseau”,1545–1574. Barny, Prélude, 14–17.

[131] Taylor, “Rousseau”, 1566–1567.

[132] After Rousseau's death, some assumed that he committed suicide. Staël revived this rumour. Barny, Prélude, 38.

[133] Staël, “Lettres”, 94.

[134] Staël, “Lettres”, 94.

[135] Tatin-Gourier, J–J. Le contrat social en question, 90–95.

[136] Staël, “Lettres”, 75.

[137] Staël, “Lettres, 42, 75–76. Rousseau, “The Social Contract” and Other Later Political Writings, 76–81.

[138] Staël, “Lettres”, 43.

[139] Staël, “Lettres”, 42.

[140] Staël, “Lettres”, 77.

[141] Staël, “Lettres”, 73–74.

[142] Schwartz, The Sexual Politics of Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

[143] Staël, “Lettres”, 51.

[144] Staël, “Lettres”, 55.

[145] Staël, “Lettres”, 46.

[146] Staël, “Lettres”, 47.

[147] Goodman, Republic, 1–11, Tenenbaum, S. “The Coppet Circle”, 454–55. Lougee, Carolyne C. “Le Paradis des Femmes”.

[148] Goodman, Republic, 8.

[149] Goodman, Republic, 91.

[150] Goodman, Republic, 90–135.

[151] Goodman, Republic, 54.

[152] Hulliung, Autocratique, 137–45.

[153] Helvétius, Treatise on Man (Section VIII, Chapters X and XI): 220–23.

[154] Fraisse, Muse de la raison. Hulliung, Autocritique, 137–45.

[155] Staum, Martin, S. “Ideologues.” In Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment, Vol. III: 248.

[156] Goodman, Republic, 242.

[157] Staël, “Lettres”, 47.

[158] Staël, “Lettres”, 46.

[159] Staël, “Lettres”, 46.

[160] Staël, “Lettres”, 46.

[161] Staël, “Lettres”, 69.

[162] Staël, “Lettres”, 69.

[163] On Susan Necker, see Kohler, Madame de Staël et la Suisse, 1–29. D'Haussonville, Le Salon de Madame Necker.

[164] D'Haussonville, Le Salon, vol. 2: 30. Gutwirth, M. Madame de Staël, Novelist: The Emergence of the Artist as Woman. Urbana–Chicago–London: University of Illinois Press, 1978: 35. Goodman, “Filial Rebellion in the Salon: Madame Geoffrin and Her Daughter.” French Historical Studies 16, no.1 (Spring 1989): 28–47.

[165] Goodman, “Filial”. Hesse, The Other Enlightenment.

[166] Roussel, “La critique de Madame de Staël”, 315–58.

[167] Glotz and Madeleine, Salons du XVIIIe Siècle, 295–338.

[168] Glotz and Madeleine, Salons, 295–338.

[169] Staël, “Lettres”, 63.

[170] Takeda, Chinatsu. “Madame de Staël.” In Encyclopedia of the Nineteenth-Century Thought, edited by G. Claeys. London: Routledge, 2004: 455–58.

[171] Madame de Staël, Delphine, edited by S. Balayé and L. Omacini. Vol. II. Geneva: Droz, 1990: 1003–04.

[172] Balayé, Lumières et liberté, 127.

[173] Balayé, Mme de Staël, 70.

[174] Staël, Delphine, vol. I, 1.

[175] Marso, Unmanly, 108–09.

[176] Takeda, “Staël”, 458.

[177] Takeda, Chinatsu. “Deux origines du courant libéral en France”.