ÉPOPÉE TERRESTRE ET ÉPOPÉE CÉLESTE: LA "BASE" ET LE "NOM" DANS L´ESSAI SUR LE PRINCIPE GÉNÉRATEUR DES CONSTITUTIONS POLITIQUES DE JOSEPH DE MAISTRE

Abstract

A contemporary of Napoleon’s epic and of the fracas of the ensuing battles, Joseph de Maistre, supercilious observer of earthly events and inspired interpretor of the celestial world, offers a radical view of History taking its source from the divine origin of the word. The French Revolution having put an end to a stable world of divine right, one can imagine a succession of constitutions written in a language, obviously inadequate. Man, instead of serving God, will defend from now on iniquitous laws since they turn him away from God and his oral teaching. The Essay on the generating principle of political constitutions intends to oppose the degeneration caused by an obsession of the written word among Maistre’s contemporaries, which leads to a world closed in on itself, oblivious to the divine, condemned to the ephemeral, (as Maistre is oblivious to the meaning of the event). Maistre opposes, therefore, the madness of men which manifests itself by a boundless pride to a world where all is tied together and where everything leads to metaphysical other worlds. To ignore divine laws is to condemn oneself to failure and the most severe punishment: death. In order not to fall into the trap of written History, ironically, Maistre writes his essay in the form of a catalogue of propositions and reminds his reader of vital truths.