Barbarism And Civilization In Joseph De Maistre's Counter-Enlightenment Thoughts

In intellectual history, the traditional image of Count Joseph de Maistre has its peculiar ideological characteristics. Maistre is often considered a spokesperson for emigres, a counter-revolutionary propagandist, a defender of the ancien régime, and an ultramontane. This dissertation thus puts his thoughts in the counter-enlightenment backdrop and discusses them from the perspective of "barbarism and civilization". Firstly, this dissertation aims to investigate Maistre's thoughts in an off-the-beaten-track way, that is, in a more comprehensive than ideological way. Secondly, this dissertation focuses on the significance of Maistre's thoughts in the whole counter-enlightenment movement - his thoughts are one of the significant and influential forms in the early counter-enlightenment history. And thirdly, Maistre was most interested in the issue of "barbarism and civilization" which is also one of the core concepts in his theories. This catholic thinker castigated the French Revolution and the counter-enlightenment movement. This is because he felt that the fine traditional European civilization was facing an unprecedented threat and was likely to fall into a state of glaring decadence. In light of this, this dissertation attempts to interpret and analyze Maistre's thoughts on "barbarism and civilization" on the basis of his works, correspondence and related archives. Meanwhile, this dissertation discusses his thoughts in the whole intellectual history, with a view to emphasizing the historical sense in the studies of Maistre's thoughts.This dissertation consists of the introduction, five chapters, and the conclusion.The introduction mainly briefs the readers of Maistre's personal life and works and gives a general survey of history of Maistre's studies. Regarding this counter-enlightenment thinker personal life, the author focuses on the correlations between Maistre's personal life and the evolution in his thoughts. The survey of Maistre's studies, on the other hand, shows that the study of Maistre's thoughts on "barbarism and civilization" is in line with the current trends of the studies, that is, the sectionalization and the de-ideologicalization. What's more, there has not been such research on this particular issue. This dissertation therefore is expected to become a tentative study in this regard.Towards a better understanding of Maistre's counter-enlightenment thoughts, the first chapter of this dissertation discusses the French counter-enlightenment movement in the late 18th century, including the major members, public spheres and discourses of the movement, the convoluted relations between counter-enlightenment movement and enlightenment movements, and the impact of the French Revolution on the counter-enlightenment movement. In this process, the counter-enlightenment...