The Moral and Political Thought of Early Modern French Philosopher François Fénelon (1651-1715)

FAIN: FA-58401-15

Ryan Patrick Hanley
Marquette University (Milwaukee, WI 53233-2225)

Fénelon's political masterwork was the most-read book in eighteenth-century France after the Bible. His economic proposals launched the central debate in Enlightenment political economy. And his many contributions as a religious thinker spoke to the key debates of both his day and ours. Yet for all this, a book-length study of his moral and political thought remains to be written in English. My book aims to redress this oversight. Its specific aims are two. First, it will show how the discrete strands of Fénelon's political thought--from his concepts of virtue and dignity to his economics and constitutional thought--form a unified whole built on the concept of pure love. Second, it will present Fénelon as a key if unexplored resource for contemporary theorists aiming to define, amidst the disorienting conditions and ethical challenges of modern individualism, the nature of human flourishing in a modern context and the optimal means of preserving human dignity today.

Associated Products

The Political Philosophy of Fénelon (Book)
Title: The Political Philosophy of Fénelon
Author: Ryan Hanley
Abstract: Fénelon was a nuanced and influential diagnostician of the ills of European society, one who carefully analysed phenomena as wide-ranging and complex as egocentrism, authoritarianism, and imperialism. Despite his influence there has been to date no interpretive monograph in English devoted specifically to his thought. Ryan Patrick Hanley aims to correct this oversight, providing the first book-length interpretative study of Fénelon's writings to appear in English. A companion volume to Hanley's comprehensive English translation of Fénelon's moral and political writings, this book focuses on Fénelon's political thought as a method of understanding his impact on areas ranging from economics and statecraft to religion and literature. Hanley begins by reconstructing Fénelon's political ideas for those who may be encountering his work directly or at length for the first time. He then articulates the connections between Fénelon's political thought and several other fields to which he made significant and long-recognized contributions, including not only philosophy and political science, but also economics, education, literature, theology, and spirituality. Building from this foundation, Hanley constructs a new understanding and appreciation of Fénelon's political thought and its significance. He argues that Fénelon is better understood as a moderate and modern thinker rather than as a radical or reactionary, and that Fénelon deserves to be seen not merely as a political thinker but as a political philosopher, one whose work has direct relevance to our political world today.
Year: 2020
Primary URL: https://www.worldcat.org/title/political-philosophy-of-fnelon/oclc/1143019424&referer=brief_results
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 9780190079635
Copy sent to NEH?: No

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