Robespierre at Machiavel? Robespierre at Machiavel?: The worship of the supreme and the 'return to principles' ; Robespierre chez Machiavel ? Robespierre chez Machiavel ?: Le culte de l'Être suprême et le « retour aux principes »

Abstract

Under its black legend, Machiavel could be regarded as a real pushback by the actors of the French Revolution (1789-1799). This was indeed the case in Robespierre, who referred several times to the author of the Prince as the exact antithesis of the moralisation process of the Year II Mountain Revolution. The good reference in his view was Jean-Jacques Rousseau, "this philosopher formed by malheur" (in the Jacobins), this "preceptor of human genus" (speech of 18 floreal year II), who used a "male and probe eloquence" to love the title. According to Robespierre and Saint-Just, probity is the visible testimony of the title: it implies the transparency of the acts, the correctness of the intention and the responsibility assumed to all. While the 'enemies of the people' advance masked, the probe does not conceal: 'Patriot is nothing more than a probe and magnanimate man in the full strength of the word'. Machiavelism is the negation of this politico-moral ethos. [First paragraph of Article] ; Can we compare Robespierre's and Machiavelli's thinking? Robespierre himself spoke in various occasions of Machiavelli as a model for tyranny, despotism, evil in ethics and politics - just the contrary for the conduct he praised during the French Revolution. Nevertheless, some aspects of the Robespierrist discourse (especially during the spring of 1794) can evoke Machiavelli: the "return to basic principles" is a necessity for the collective salvation, the worship of "l'Etre Suprême" is essential in the life of a Republic (a"vertuous republic" according to Maximilien Robespierre). Concerning this point, civic religion, Robespierre knew very well the page by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and the quotation made by him of Machiavelli's Discorsi. So, it can be fruitful to give an interpretation of the famous cult celebrating the Supreme Being and the immortalityof the soul, in the French context as much as in the Machiavellian perspective. ; Under its black legend, Machiavel could be regarded as a real pushback by the actors of the French ...