The Terror of Natural Right: Republicanism, the Cult of Nature, and the French Revolution

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Dan Edelstein

The Terror of Natural Right

Republicanism, the Cult of Nature, and the French Revolution

Dan Edelstein

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Hardback

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English

University of Chicago Press
01 October 2009

European history; Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900; French Revolution; Political science & theory

Natural right—the idea that there is a collection of laws and rights based not on custom or belief but that are “natural” in origin—is typically associated with liberal politics and freedom. In The Terror of Natural Right, Dan Edelstein argues that the revolutionaries used the natural right concept of the “enemy of the human race”—an individual who has transgressed the laws of nature and must be executed without judicial formalities—to authorize three-quarters of the deaths during the Terror. Edelstein further contends that the Jacobins shared a political philosophy that he calls “natural republicanism,” which assumed that the natural state of society was a republic and that natural right provided its only acceptable laws. Ultimately, he proves that what we call the Terror was in fact only one facet of the republican theory that prevailed from Louis’s trial until the fall of Robespierre.

A highly original work of historical analysis, political theory, literary criticism, and intellectual history, The Terror of Natural Right challenges prevailing assumptions of the Terror to offer a new perspective on the Revolutionary period.

By: Dan Edelstein
Imprint: University of Chicago Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 24mm, Width: 17mm, Spine: 3mm
Weight: 737g
ISBN: 9780226184388
ISBN 10: 0226184382
Pages: 350
Publication Date: 01 October 2009
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Dan Edelstein is associate professor of French at Stanford University.

Reviews for The Terror of Natural Right: Republicanism, the Cult of Nature, and the French Revolution

This is a brilliant, provocative, enormously compelling book. Edelstein has produced one of the most important studies of the French Revolution in many years, and one that is sure to make a major mark on the study of European history. - David Bell, Johns Hopkins University