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Understanding of Political and Moral Thought of Benjamin Constant in His Historical and Intellectual Context

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Understanding of Political and Moral Thought of Benjamin Constant in His Historical and Intellectual Context UNDERSTANDING OF POLITICAL AND MORAL THOUGHT OF BENJAMIN CONSTANT IN HIS HISTORICAL AND INTELLECTUAL CONTEXT A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF YILDIRIM BEYAZIT UNIVERSITY BY PINAR GÜNDOĞDU IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN THE DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE AND PUBLIC ADMINISTARTION JUNE 2017 Approval of the Institute of Social Sciences Assoc. Prof. Dr. Seyfullah Yıldırım Manager of Institute I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Master of Sciences. Prof. Dr. Yılmaz Bingöl Head of Department This is to certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Sciences. Asst. Prof. Dr. Mümin Köktaş Supervisor Examining Committee Members Prof. Dr. Tanel Demirel (Çankaya Uni, PSIR) Asst. Prof. Dr. Mümin Köktaş (YBU, PSPA) Asst. Prof. Dr. Güliz Dinç (YBU, PSPA) PLAGIARISM I hereby declare that all information in this thesis has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work; otherwise, I accept all legal responsibility. Name, Last Name: Pınar Gündoğdu Signature : iii ABSTRACT UNDERSTANDING OF POLITICAL AND MORAL THOUGHT OF BENJAMIN CONSTANT IN HIS HISTORICAL AND INTELLECTUAL CONTEXT Gündoğdu, Pınar M.A., Department of Political Science and Public Administration Supervisor: Asst. Prof. Dr. Mümin Köktaş June 2017, 121 pages Benjamin Constant (1767-1830) was a Swiss-French philosopher in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. As well as one of the France’s leading writers, Constant was also a journalist and an active politician. The importance of Constant stems from the fact that he was the first thinker in France who used the term ‘liberal’ to describe his political stance. Constant constructed his ideas mainly on liberty, more specifically individual liberty, and opposition to despotism and absolute authority. Although he experienced the Age of Enlightenment, he got inspired by romanticism and therefore he did not only eulogize pure reason, but also he embraced the importance of sentiments. In this context, this thesis was a descriptive study which is mainly based on literature review and Constant’s own works. It was aimed to analyze Constant’s political and moral philosophy in his intellectual and historical context from a liberal perspective. It was focused on his intellectual biography and his thoughts on the concepts of liberty, sovereignty, constitutional order, commerce, romanticism and religion. It was reached the conclusion that Constant’s ideas were a composition of republican, conservative and liberal values and because he modified or reconstructed his ideas in accordance with social structure and conditions of the period, he was a pragmatic liberal. Finally, there were no sufficient studies on Constant in Turkey. Therefore, it is thought that this thesis contributed to the literature of political theory by introducing Constant’s philosophy in details. Keywords: Benjamin Constant, Liberalism, France, Liberty iv ÖZET TARİHİ VE ENTELLEKTÜEL BAĞLAMINDA BENJAMİN CONSTANT’IN SİYASET VE AHLAK DÜŞÜNCESİNİ ANLAMA Gündoğdu, Pınar Yüksek Lisans, Siyaset Bilimi ve Kamu Yönetimi Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Yrd. Doç. Dr. Mümin Köktaş Haziran 2017, 121 sayfa Benjamin Constant (1767-1830), on sekizinci yüzyılın sonlarında ve on dokuzuncu yüzyılın başında yaşamış İsviçre kökenli Fransız filozoftur. Fransa’nın önde gelen yazarlarından biri olmasının yanı sıra Constant ayrıca bir gazeteci ve aktif bir politikacıdır. Constant’ın önemi, siyasi duruşunu Fransa’da liberal olarak tanımlayan ilk kişi olmasından kaynaklanmaktadır. Constant fikirlerini esas olarak özgürlük, daha özel olarak da bireysel özgürlük ile despotizm ve mutlak otoriteye karşıtlık üzerine kurmuştur. Aydınlanma Çağı’nı tecrübe etmesine rağmen romantizm akımından da etkilenmiştir ve bu yüzden sadece saf aklı yüceltmemiş, aynı zamanda duyguların önemini de kabul etmiştir. Bu bağlamda, bu tez temel olarak literatür taramasına ve Constant’ın kendi eserlerine dayanan betimsel bir çalışma olmuştur. Tezde Constant’ın siyaset ve ahlak felsefesini kendi tarihsel ve entelektüel bağlamında ele almak amaçlanmıştır. Bunun için, Constant’ın entelektüel biyografisi ile özgürlük, egemenlik, anayasal düzen, ticaret, romantizm ve din kavramları üzerine düşüncelerine odaklanılmıştır. Çalışmada, Constant’ın fikirlerinin cumhuriyetçi, muhafazakar ve liberal değerlerin bir kompozisyonu olduğu ve fikirlerini toplumun yapısına ve dönemin koşullarına göre yeniden oluşturduğu için pragmatik bir liberal olduğu sonucuna ulaşılmıştır. Son olarak, Türkiye’de Constant üzerine yapılmış yeterli çalışma yoktur. Bu nedenle, bu tezin Constant’ın felsefesini detaylı analiz ederek siyaset teorisi literatürüne katkı sağladığı düşünülmektedir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Benjamin Constant, Liberalizm, Fransa, Özgürlük v DEDICATION To the memory of my beloved mother and to my esteemed husband vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstly, I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor Asst. Prof. Dr. Mümin Köktaş for his guidance, advice, criticism, encouragements and insight throughout my master thesis. His guidance and psychological support helped me in writing of this thesis. Besides my supervisor, I would like to thank thesis committee Prof. Dr. Tanel Demirel and Asst. Prof. Güliz Dinç for their suggestions and motivating comments. I am greatly thankful to my mother for her support, prayers and love, which I always feel deeply in my heart, and to my whole family for their encouragement, support and love. Finally, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my beloved husband, Ömer Gündoğdu for his unquestioning support and patience. His encouragement, support and devotion mean a lot to me. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS PLAGIARISM ...................................................................................................................... iii ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................................... iv ÖZET ..................................................................................................................................... v DEDICATION ..................................................................................................................... vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................ vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................... viii CHRONOLOGY ................................................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 6 CHAPTER 1 ........................................................................................................................ 12 INTELLECTUAL BIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................... 12 1.1. Constant’s Life and Career ........................................................................................... 12 1.2. Constant’s Thought on the French Revolution ............................................................. 20 1.3. Constant’s Famous Novel: Adolphe ............................................................................ 28 CHAPTER 2 ........................................................................................................................ 33 CONSTANT’S DISTINCTION OF LIBERTY: ANCIENT LIBERTY VERSUS MODERN LIBERTY ............................................................................................................................ 33 2.1. Background of Ancient and Modern Liberty Distinction ............................................. 33 2.2. War-Liberty Relations .................................................................................................. 36 2.3. Commerce- Liberty Relations ...................................................................................... 37 2.4. Private Sphere versus Political Sphere ......................................................................... 39 2.5. Individual Liberty and Political Liberty ....................................................................... 41 2.6. Constant’s Distinction of Liberty in terms of Negative Liberty and Positive Liberty . 44 viii CHAPTER 3 ........................................................................................................................ 51 BENJAMIN CONSTANT’S POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY ............................................... 51 3.1. Jean- Jacques Rousseau and The Social Contract ........................................................ 51 3.2. Benjamin Constant’s Criticisms towards Rousseau’s Ideas ......................................... 55 3.3. The Doctrine of Separation of Powers and Montesquieu’s Contribution .................... 63 3.4. Benjamin Constant’s Arguments on the Separation of Powers and Neutral Power ..... 69 3.5. Government as an evil or as a necessary evil: Benjamin Constant versus William Godwin ................................................................................................................................ 75 3.6. Constant’s Thought on Federalism
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