The Political Thought of Anacharsis Cloots A Proponent of Cosmopolitan Republicanism in the French Revolution

• Format: eBook
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Boston De Gruyter 2023
• Subjects: Aufklärung; Cosmopolitanism; Enlightenment; Französische Revolution; French revolution; Kosmopolitismus; Republicanism; Republikanismus; thema EDItEUR::3 Time period qualifiers::3M c 1500 onwards to present day; thema EDItEUR::3 Time period qualifiers::3M c 1500 onwards to present day::3MP 20th century, c 1900 to c 1999; thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPA Political science and theory; thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPF Political ideologies and movements; thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPF Political ideologies and movements::JPFK Centrist democratic ideologies; thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JP Politics and government::JPF Political ideologies and movements::JPFN Nationalism; thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology; thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History; thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHA History: theory and methods::NHAH Historiography; thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHB General and world history; thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHD European history; thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHT History: specific events and topics::NHTB Social and cultural history; thema EDItEUR::Q Philosophy and Religion::QD Philosophy::QDT Topics in philosophy::QDTS Social and political philosophy
• Online Access: Open Access: DOAB: description of the publication; Open Access: DOAB, download the publication

 Historians have often either ignored Anacharsis Cloots (1755-1794) or considered him deranged because he claimed to be the 'orator of the human race' and devised a 'universal republic' based on the 'sovereignty of the human race'. This book is the first comprehensive study of the entire body of Cloots's written works and political actions. By contextualizing them, the book non only rehabilitates Cloots as a political thinker worthy of consideration, but also argues that his political thought constitutes a specific branch of republicanism in the age of Atlantic revolutions: cosmopolitan republicanism. The introduction suggests how 18th-century French cosmopolitanism was a new philosophical tradition, but was composed of several themes, which the book then analyses in Cloots's writings. The first chapter provides a brief overview of his life. The second chapter explains why he called himself orator and wrote pamphlets, and why contemporary readers should not discard this as non-philosophical. Having established Cloots's writings as constituting a philosophical system, the following chapters explores it through the themes laid out in the introduction. First, the concept of reason and his understanding of science. Second, the paradigm of natural law and the role of nature in moral and political thought. Third, the conception of humanity and individuals in nature and society. Finally, republicanism and its principles. The last chapter summarizes the elements of Cloots's cosmopolitan republicanism and opens a research programme to other political thinkers in the age of Atlantic revolutions for historians and political theorists. ; Historians have often either ignored Anacharsis Cloots (1755-1794) or considered him deranged because he claimed to be the 'orator of the human race' and devised a 'universal republic' based on the 'sovereignty of the human race'. This book is the first comprehensive study of the entire body of Cloots's written works and political actions. By contextualizing them, the book non only rehabilitates Cloots as a political thinker worthy of consideration, but also argues that his political thought constitutes a specific branch of republicanism in the age of Atlantic revolutions: cosmopolitan republicanism. The introduction suggests how 18th-century French cosmopolitanism was a new philosophical tradition, but was composed of several themes, which the book then analyses in Cloots's writings. The first chapter provides a brief overview of his life. The second chapter explains why he called himself orator and wrote pamphlets, and why contemporary readers should not discard this as non-philosophical. Having established Cloots's writings as constituting a philosophical system, the following chapters explores it through the themes laid out in the introduction. First, the concept of reason and his understanding of science. Second, the paradigm of natural law and the role of nature in moral and political thought. Third, the conception of humanity and individuals in nature and society. Finally, republicanism and its principles. The last chapter summarizes the elements of Cloots's cosmopolitan republicanism and opens a research programme to other political thinkers in the age of Atlantic revolutions for historians and political theorists.