Franco-Prussian War And Nationalist Ideas Of Ernest Renan

In modern intellectual history, nationalist ideologies are divided into two types: political nationalism and cultural nationalism (or civic nationalism and ethnic nationalism). Ernest Renan is usually regarded as a typical political nationalist (and a liberal, a defender of people's "political will") by many scholars in Western countries (especially the scholars in English-speaking countries). The author thus puts Renan's nationalist ideas into the historical background of Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871), and disscusses them from the perspective of "relationship between political situation and political ideology".Firstly, this dissertation aims to investigate Renan's original ideas by returning to the historical backdrop. The author use the method of backdrop analysis for the sake of overcoming disturbances from moral judgements, ideological judgements and the "nationalist typology" . Secondly, this dissertation aims to illuminate the complexity of Renan's nationalist ideas. In fact, Ernest Renan was not a proper libral but a libral with devout belief of conservatism and elitism. Thirdly, this dissertation foucus on the historical context of Renan's masterpiece Qu' est-ce qu' une Nation?. As a metter of fact, the Franco-Prussian War and the Alsace Problem make the French intellectuals, such as Ernest Renan, to defend the sovereign rights of France in Alsace.For these reasons, this dissertation attempts to interpret and analyze Renan's nationalist thoughts on the basis of his works, correspondence and related archives. At the same time, this dissertation discusses Renan's nationalist thoughts in the nationalist intellectual history in the second half of the nineteenth century and the historical background of the war, so that we can avoid the tendancy to explaining and comprehending the thinkers' thougts without historical sense.This dissertation consists of the introduction, five chapters, and the conclusion. These seven sections are the principle body of the whole dissertation.The introduction mainly briefs readers on Renan's personal life (before 1870) and political works and gives a general survey of history of Renan's studies. Regarding Renan's personal life (before 1870), the author foucuses on the conflict between Renan's liberal ideas and conservative ideas. The survey of Renan's studies, on the other hand, shows that the differences between the viewpoints of the French scholars and those of the British and American scholars. 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.In the first chapter, the author discusses two traditional types of nationalist ideologies in France and in Germany, namely, French political nationalism (or civic nationalism) and German cultural nationalism (or ethnic nationalism). At the same time, the author also provides some examples and counterexamples on these two types of nationalist ideologies. By analyzing the Qu' est-ce qu' une Nation? in the typology of nationalist ideologies, the author tries to make clear Renan's historical status in French political nationalist tradition.In the second chapter, the author commences on studying Renan's academic activities before 1870 (and his academic communication with Arthur de Gobineau) and his cultural nationalist ideas. In this chapter, readers will see Renan's image far from "a typical political nationalist" . The author tries to distinguish the several aspects of Renan's cultural nationalist ideas. Some aspects are antipathic to civic nationlism, others are relative to.In the third chapter, the author narrates the experiences in the war and the reflections after the war of Renan, Taine and Gobineau. All the three nationalists ascribed the defeat of France to democracy, and have written down their reflections with conservative viewpoints. In Renan's La réforms intellectuelle et morale de la France, readers can not see Renan's any deference to people's "political will" .In the fourth chapter, the author introduces two debates (Coulanges-Mommsen debate and Renan-Strauss debate) on the Alsace problem after the Franco-Prussian war. In the double contexts of the war and the debates, the author reanalyzes the Qu' est-ce qu' une Nation? and explains to readers why Renan insisted on plebiscite on the Alsace problem. In addition, the author also tell readers Renan's metaphor of elitism in the Qu' est-ce qu' une Nation?.In the fifth chapter, the author enumerates Renan's nationalist adherents and their principal ideas. Renan and Taine were two personages in the French nationalist intellectual history in the second half of nineteenth century. They deeply influenced their direct adherents (followers of Renan and Taine's nationalism) and their indirect adherents (followers of Gobineau's racism). But the ideas of Renan and those of his adherents were not always coherent.The conclusion is a general evaluation on Renan's life and works. The author attempts to give a judgement on Renan's nationalist ideas. What the author wants to tell readers is that political thinkers' (especially nationalist thinkers') standpoints and speeches were often restricted by political situation. Their words and their works should be comprehended in historical background and context.