A. Jainchill, D’Argenson, Considérations sur le gouvernement, a critical edition, with other political texts

D’Argenson, Considérations sur le gouvernement, a critical edition, with other political texts

Edited and introduced by Andrew Jainchill

Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment 2019:05

ISBN: 9781786942272, 304 pages, £65.00

 

René-Louis de Voyer de Paulmy, marquis d’Argenson (1694-1757), minister of state and author, was one of the boldest critics of the social and political structure of Old Regime France to put pen to paper in the eighteenth century. His Considérations sur le gouvernement ancien et présent de la France advanced a scathing indictment of the existing order alongside a far-reaching reform plan to spread democracy and obviate aristocracy within the monarchy. Manuscripts of the Considérations circulated clandestinely among philosophes and other political writers such as the abbé Saint-Pierre, Voltaire, and Rousseau until its posthumous publication in 1764.

This is the first critical edition of d’Argenson’s Considérations, based on four different manuscripts and presented here with a selection of d’Argenson’s other political writings that have never been published. Drawing on a wide range of sources, Andrew Jainchill introduces d’Argenson’s treatise with an essay interpreting his political ideas, showing the important changes he made to the different manuscripts over the decades he worked on the text, and situating within the political and intellectual context d’Argenson’s political project to introduce democracy into absolute monarchy.

• Uses rare manuscripts and previously unstudied archival sources.
• Ideas of democracy, equality, and monarchy in the Enlightenment.
• New interpretation of d’Argenson’s political theory/philosophy.

Table of Contents:

Acknowledgments List of abbreviations Introduction Note on additional texts Note on the text Jusqu’où la démocratie peut être admise dans le gouvernement monarchique [Considérations sur le gouvernement ancien  et présent de la France], by René-Louis de Voyer de Paulmy, marquis d’Argenson Essai de l’exercice du tribunal européen par la France pour la pacification universelle. Appliqué au temps courant, by René-Louis de Voyer de Paulmy, marquis d’Argenson  Mémoire contre les abus de la taille arbitraire, présenté au cardinal de Fleury, en décembre 1731, by René-Louis de Voyer de Paulmy, marquis d’Argenson Lettre sur le livre de l’Essai politique, by René-Louis de Voyer de Paulmy, marquis d’Argenson Observations sur l’ouvrage politique manuscrit de M., by Saint-Pierre Observations de l’abbé de Saint-Pierre sur le précédent mémoire [Mémoire contre les abus de la taille arbitraire, présenté au cardinal de Fleury, en décembre 1731], by Saint-Pierre Bibliography Index

(Read Andrew Jainchill's accompanying blog post on the marquis d'Argenson's Considérations)

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Andrew Jainchill is Associate Professor of History at Queen’s University (Canada) and the author of Reimagining Politics after the Terror: The Republican Origins of French Liberalism as well as articles and book chapters in a variety of venues.

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The Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment series, previously known as SVEC (Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century), has published over 500 peer-reviewed scholarly volumes since 1955 as part of the Voltaire Foundation at the University of Oxford. International in focus, Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment volumes cover wide-ranging aspects of the eighteenth century and the Enlightenment, from gender studies to political theory, and from economics to visual arts and music, and are published in English or French.