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Notes on the Contribution of Louis De Bonald to Political Theology

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Notes on the Contribution of Louis De Bonald to Political Theology SOCIETY AND ANALOGY: NOTES ON THE CONTRIBUTION OF LOUIS DE BONALD TO POLITICAL THEOLOGY Francois Mathieu Gael Sarah A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of St Andrews 2018 Full metadata for this item is available in St Andrews Research Repository at: http://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/ Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10023/18570 This item is protected by original copyright Society and Analogy: Notes on the Contribution of Louis de Bonald to Political Theology Francois Mathieu Gael Sarah This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) at the University of St Andrews June 2018 Candidate’s declaration I, Francois Mathieu Gael Sarah, do hereby certify that this thesis, submitted for the degree of PhD, which is approximately 70,000 words in length, has been written by me, and that it is the record of work carried out by me, or principally by myself in collaboration with others as acknowledged, and that it has not been submitted in any previous application for any degree. I was admitted as a research student at the University of St Andrews in August 2013. I received funding from an organisation or institution and have acknowledged the funder(s) in the full text of my thesis. Date Signature of candidate Supervisor’s declaration I hereby certify that the candidate has fulfilled the conditions of the Resolution and Regulations appropriate for the degree of PhD in the University of St Andrews and that the candidate is qualified to submit this thesis in application for that degree. Date Signature of supervisor Permission for publication In submitting this thesis to the University of St Andrews we understand that we are giving permission for it to be made available for use in accordance with the regulations of the University Library for the time being in force, subject to any copyright vested in the work not being affected thereby. We also understand, unless exempt by an award of an embargo as requested below, that the title and the abstract will be published, and that a copy of the work may be made and supplied to any bona fide library or research worker, that this thesis will be electronically accessible for personal or research use and that the library has the right to migrate this thesis into new electronic forms as required to ensure continued access to the thesis. I, Francois Mathieu Gael Sarah, confirm that my thesis does not contain any third-party material that requires copyright clearance. The following is an agreed request by candidate and supervisor regarding the publication of this thesis: Printed copy No embargo on print copy. Electronic copy No embargo on electronic copy. Date Signature of candidate Date Signature of supervisor Underpinning Research Data or Digital Outputs Candidate’s declaration I, Francois Mathieu Gael Sarah, hereby certify that no requirements to deposit original research data or digital outputs apply to this thesis and that, where appropriate, secondary data used have been referenced in the full text of my thesis. Date Signature of candidate General acknowledgements Deus Optimus Maximus To the Memory of Professor Nicholas “Nick” Rengger (1959-2018), my primary supervisor, mentor and friend. CAPD. To my parents, my benefactors, my supervisors and tutors at the University of St Andrews, my friends. Funding This work was graciously supported by the 600th Anniversary Fund Scholarship in the School of IR at the University of St Andrews ABSTRACT Among the counter-revolutionary figures who emerged after the French Revolution, the figure and works of Louis de Bonald (1754-1840), unlike those of Joseph de Maistre, remain shrouded in obscurity. Yet, he was in his own time recognised as the foremost critique of the excesses of the revolutionary period. His attempt at articulating a traditionalist philosophy of society and authority deserve to be better known among scholars if only because of the originality of his doctrine of the primitive revelation, which seeks to give an account of human knowledge based upon a particular understanding of human reason, and of the nature and function of language. His works also contain most invaluable insights about the ways in which societies are constituted, through a trifunctional and tripersonal understanding of the structure of social hierarchy. From his engagement on the questions of relations of the religious and the political, Louis de Bonald’s works seems ideally framed for providing a fresh perspective to the study of political theology. The acknowledged indebtedness of some of the modern proponents of political theology, e.g., Carl Schmitt, is sufficient a motive for attempting a delineation of the main features of Bonald’s political, social and epistemological doctrines in the light of an analogy of social forms. However, Bonald’s vindication of the traditional social and customary institutions is also to be complemented by a commitment for a jusnaturalist understanding of the dignity, freedom and rights of human beings as put forward by the luminaries of the Aristotelean-Thomist school, namely Jacques Maritain and Charles Journet. The present attempt at redefining political theology, in the light of Bonald’s thought, regards the social as a fundamental category of being. It is from the perspective of the permanence of society, in its immutable structure and logic of self-conservation, that man’s social nature can be properly understood. Table of Contents Prolegomena A. Introduction 1 B. Overview of the Status Quaestionis 3 C. Political Theology 7 i. Scepticism and Anarchism: Spinoza and Bakunin 7 ii. Juridical Political Theology: Carl Schmitt 8 iii. Two Responses to Carl Schmitt: Peterson and Blumenberg 15 iv. Ecclesiological Political Theology 24 D. The Present Task 34 Chapter 1. Historical Circumstances A. Note on the Life and Times of Louis de Bonald 37 B. The Context of Bonaldian Thought 42 i. Introduction 42 ii. The Counter-Revolution 44 iii. The Dilemma of Limited Politics 49 iv. Church and State 50 Chapter 2. Introduction to Bonald’s Social Philosophy A. Love, will and force in God, Man, and Society 69 B. The Constitution of Society 73 C. Civil Society 78 Chapter 3. The Developments of Bonald’s Social Philosophy A. Power, Minister and Subject 87 B. Sovereignty, between Theism and Atheism 90 C. Mediation, or the true nature of Power 92 D. The Bonaldian Political Summa 94 i. The Properties of Public Power in Society 96 ii. Bonald’s Constitutional Typology: From Wills to Persons 98 iii. On Religious Society 103 iv. On the Reformation and its Sequels 106 Chapter 4. Bonald’s Critique and Renovation of Philosophy A. The Allegory of Philosophy and Revolution 109 B. Bonald’s Restoration of Philosophy 114 i. The Theory of Ideas 114 ii. The Theory of Language: Primitive Revelation and Tradition 119 Chapter 5. Bonald’s Political Theology: Summary and Appraisals A. Summary of Bonald’s System 126 B. Bonald’s Critics 129 i. Maine de Biran (1766-1824) 129 ii. Ventura de Raulica (1792-1861) 134 iii. Henri de Lubac s.j. (1896-1991) 139 iv. John Milbank (1952 - ) 141 A Last Word: Bonald’s Contribution, or Social Analogy 143 Bibliography 151 Prolegomena A. Introduction The aim of the present study taken as a whole is to give an account of the contribution of Louis de Bonald (1754-1840) in connection with what may be broadly termed “theologico-political themes”, and the object of these prolegomena, in turn, is to attempt to delimitate the scope of such themes, to give an outline of a certain perspective upon the status quaestionis with regards to political theology, and to show where a more extensive engagement with the thought of Bonald could lead to an enrichment in the understanding of the field. The continued presence, or fact, of religion, whether in the struggles of the homo religiosus against himself and the times, or in the form of the conventional institutions and engagements (churches, religious orders, schools, charities, and other comparable organisations and endowments) or in less traditional bodies and endeavours (lobbies, think-tanks, pressure groups, interest groups, identity groups, armed groups) both at the domestic and international levels, or still, in the permanence of certain symbols and ceremonies, presents a constant challenge to one of the fundamental principles of Western modernity: the separation of religion (as an organisation or a system of thought) from politics. The contemporary history of the West, and of Europe in particular, is no doubt fraught with profound continuities and discontinuities that tentatively may be characterised as being between traditions and manners retained from the old Christendom and the Ancien Régime, and the attitudes of self-assertive Modernity that arose towards the end of the Middle Ages. It could be argued that the ways in which theologico-political themes have been addressed or the manner in which theologico-political inquiries have been prosecuted have all depended to a significant degree upon the diverse opinions and perspectives relative to these continuities and discontinuities. In other words, theologico-political thinking has reflected the particular philosophy of history that arose in the context of the political and philosophical changes that came to a crescendo in the revolutionary periods of the 18th and 19th centuries. In terms of the dialectic of continuities and discontinuities, the old world was begun and ended a number of times, in a temporal arc from the coronation of Charlemagne by Pope Leo III and the Treaty of Rome of 1957 (and subsequent treaties, including those of these current times), including the struggles between the Empire and the Papacy, between the national Kingdoms and the Papacy, and the Empire. It also includes the national revolutions, the wars, the loss of territories, the reconfiguration of borders, the destruction of empires, the extension of the imperial idea outside 1 of Europe, the creation of new nations.
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