July 30, 2025 • 18 mins
Welcome, listeners. Today, we explore one of the most controversial and thought-provoking works in political philosophy: Reflections on Violence by Georges Sorel. Written in the early 20th century, this book dives deep into the nature of violence—not as chaos or destruction, but as a moral and revolutionary force. Sorel challenges us to rethink the role of collective struggle, especially through the general strike, which he sees as a powerful tool of transformation for the working class. At the heart of his theory is the idea of myth—not fantasy, but a shared vision that inspires action and unity. For Sorel, the myth of the proletarian revolution isn't about prediction—it's about purpose and moral awakening. Whether you agree or disagree with his ideas, Reflections on Violence remains a powerful and intellectually challenging work. So, sit back, and let’s enter the world of Georges Sorel—where philosophy meets struggle, and theory meets the fire of revolution.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Section twenty four, Chapter seven, Part two of Reflections on Violence.
This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
visit LibriVox dot org. Read by Brian Travis. Reflections on Violence,
(00:22):
Ay Yours, Sorel, translated by Thomas Ernest Hume. Chapter seven,
The Ethics of the Producers, Part two. At the beginning
of any research on modern ethics, this question must be asked,
under what conditions is regeneration possible? The Marxists are absolutely
(00:44):
right in laughing at the utopists, and in maintaining that
morality is never created by mild preaching, by the ingenious
constructions of theorists, or by fine gestures. Brudon, having neglected
this problem, suffered from many alu usions about the persistence
of the forces which gave life to his own ethics.
(01:05):
Experience was soon to prove that his undertaking was to
remain fruitless. And if the contemporary world does not contain
the roots of a new ethic, what will happen to it?
The size of a whimpering middle class will not save
it if it has forever lost its morality. Very shortly
before his death, Renon was much engrossed with the ethical
(01:27):
future of the world. Quote moral values decline, that is
a certainty sacrifice has almost disappeared. One can see the
day coming when everything will be syndicalized. Footnote. Reynon is
complaining that the corporative associations dominate society too much. It
(01:49):
is clear that he had had none of the veneration
for the corporative spirit that so many contemporary idealists display.
In the footnote, when organized selfishness will take the place
of love and devotion, there would be strange upheavals, the
two things which alone until now have resisted the decay
(02:09):
of reverence the army footnote. He did not foresee that
his son in law would agitate violently against the army
in the Dreyfus affair and a footnote, and the church
will soon be swept away in the Universal Torrent footnote
Renault fou Detache, age fourteen and a footnote. Renon showed
(02:35):
a remarkable insight in writing this at the very moment
when so many futile intellects were announcing the renaissance of
idealism and foreseeing progressive tendencies in a church that was
at length reconciled with the modern world. But all his life,
Renon had been too favored by fortune not to be optimistic.
(02:56):
He believed, therefore, that the evil of the future would
consent simply in the necessity of passing through a bad period.
And he added, quote, no matter the resources of humanity
are infinite, the eternal designs will be fulfilled. The springs
of life, ever forcing their way to the surface, will
never be dried up end quote. He had finished several
(03:19):
months before the fifth volume of his History of the
People of Israel, and this volume, having been printed from
the unaltered manuscript, contains a more imperfect expression of his
ideas on the subject. It is known that he corrected
his proofs very carefully. We find in this the most
gloomy presentiments. The author even questions whether humanity will ever
(03:42):
attain its real end. Quote. If this globe should happen
not to fulfill its purpose, there will be others to
carry on to its final end. The program of all life,
light reason in truth in quote footnote Renon Eastwa du
Pabla Disrie, Volume five, page four into twenty one into
(04:07):
footnote The times to come frightened him. Quote the immediate
future is dark. The triumph of light is not assured.
End quote. He dreaded socialism, and there is no doubt
that by socialism he meant the humanitarian idiocy which he
saw emerging in this stupid middle class world. It was
(04:29):
in this way that he came to think that Catholicism
might perhaps be the accomplice of socialism. Footnote. Renauld look
sit Page four unto twenty into footnote. On the same
page he speaks of the divisions which may exist in
a society, and this is of considerable importance. Quote. Judea
(04:51):
and the Greco Roman world were like two universes, revolving
one beside the other under opposing influences. The history of
humanity by no means synchronizes in its various parts. Tremble
at this moment, perhaps the religion of the future is
being created, and we have no part in it. I
(05:12):
envy wise Kimrie, who saw beneath the earth. It is
there that everything is prepared. It is there that we
must look. End quote. There is in these words nothing
that the theorists of the class war could not approve of.
In them, I find the commentary to what Renault said
a little later on the subject of quote, the springs
(05:35):
of life, ever forcing their way to the surface end quote.
Regeneration is being brought about by a class which works subterraneously,
and which is separating itself from the modern world. Is
judaism did from the ancient world. Whatever the official sociologists
may think, the lower classes are by no means condemned
(05:55):
to live on the crumbs which the upper classes let fall.
We are glad to see Renault protest against this imbeciled doctrine.
Syndicalism claims to create a real proletarian ideology, and whatever
the middle class professors say of it, historical experience has
proclaimed by the mouth of Renault tells us that this
(06:16):
is quite possible, and that out of it may come
the salvation of the world. The syndicalist movement is really
being developed underground. The men who devote themselves to it
do not make much noise in the world. What a
difference between them and the former leaders of democracy, whose
sole aim was the conquest of power. These men were
(06:38):
intoxicated by the hope that the chances of life might
someday make them republican princess. While waiting for the wheel
of fortune to turn to their advantage. In this way
they obtained the moral and material advantages that celebrity procures
for all virtuosi in the society, which is accustomed to
paying well those who amuse it. Chief motive force behind
(07:01):
many of them was their immeasurable pride, and they fancied that,
as their name was bound to shine with singular brilliancy
in the annals of humanity, they might buy that future
glory by a few sacrifices. None of these motives for
action exists for the syndicalists of to day. The proletariat
(07:21):
has none of the servile instincts of democracy. It no
longer aspires to walk on all fours before a former
comrade who has become a chief magistrate, or to swoon
for joy before the toilets of ministers wives footnote. The
essence of democracy is concentrated in the moux attributed to
Mademoiselle Floucon quote it is we who are the princesses
(07:47):
end quote. The democracy is happy when it sees a
ridiculous creature like Felixe's fort, whom Joseph Rayna compared to
the bourgeois Jon Tilloumes treated with princely honors eastward de
la Fere Dreyfus, Volume four, page five hundred fifty two.
(08:08):
In the footnote, the men who devote themselves to the
revolutionary cause know that they must always remain poor. They
carry on their work of organization without attracting attention, and
the meanest hack who scribbles for le Manite is much
better known than the militants of the Confederacion de Travais. Footnote.
(08:31):
Parliamentary socialism is very keen on good manners, as we
can assure ourselves by consulting Girou Richard's numerous articles. I
quote at random several specimens. On June first, nineteen o three,
he declared in the Petit Republique that Queen Natalie of
Servia should have been called to order quote for having
(08:54):
listened to the preaching of p. Coubet at Auberville, and
he demands that she be admonished by the police commissary
of her district. On September twenty six, he has roused
to indignation by the coarseness and the ignorance of good
manners exhibited by Admiral Marichel. The Socialist code has its
(09:14):
mysteries the wives of socialists are sometimes called ladies and
sometimes citizen essis. In the society of the future, there
will evidently be disputes about the order of precedence, as
there were at Versailles on July thirtieth, nineteen o three.
Cassaignac makes great fun in the autorite of his having
(09:37):
been taken to task by Girou Richard, who had given
him lessons in good manners into footnote. For the great
majority of the French public, Griefou Law will never have
the notoriety of Ruin as footnote. Grieffu Law, who had
been a shoemaker, was at one time secretary of the
Confederacion du trevais remarkably intelligent. C f. A pamphlet by
(10:03):
him entitled Voyage Revolutionnaire translator's note. Renee was Malone's principal disciple.
He was for some time a deputy very much opposed
to the Marxist naturally a great adversary of the Confederacion
du Trevai. A type of socialist politician who occupies a
considerable place in journalism and in parliament, but who does
(10:26):
not count at all intellectually into translator's note into footnote
and in the absence of the material advantages which they
could hardly expect. They have not even the satisfaction that
celebrity can give. Putting their whole trust in the movements
of the masses, they have no expectation of a Napoleonic glory,
(10:47):
and they leave the superstition of great men to the
middle classes. It is well that it is so, because
the proletariat will be able to develop itself much more
surely if it organizes itself iNSCs guarrity. Socialist politicians shun
occupations which do not provide celebrity, and which are consequently
not profitable. They are then not at all disposed to
(11:11):
trouble themselves with the work of the syndicates, the object
of which is to remain proletarian. They make a show
on the parliamentary stage, but that as a rule does
not amount to much. The men who do participate in
the real working class movement are an example of what
have always been looked upon as the greatest virtues. They cannot,
(11:34):
in fact acquire any of those things which the middle
classes regard as especially desirable. If, then, as renown asserts
footnote renownt Uposet, Volume four, page two hundred sixty seven
into footnote History rewards the resign adnegation of men who
strive uncomplainingly and who accomplish without profit, a great historical work.
(11:58):
We have a new reason for believing in the advent
of socialism, since it represents the highest moral ideal ever
conceived by man. This time, it is not a new
religion which is shaping itself underground without the help of
the middle class thinkers. It is the birth of a virtue,
a virtue which the middle class intellectuals are incapable of understanding,
(12:21):
a virtue which has the power to save civilization, as
Renowned hoped it would be saved, but by the total
elimination of the class to which Renault belonged. Let us
now consider closely the reasons which made renound dread a
decadence of the middle class. Footnote. Renault pointed out one
(12:42):
symptom of decadence on which he did not insist enough,
and which does not seem to have particularly impressed his readers.
He was irritated by the restlessness, the claims to originality
and the naive rivalry of the young metaphysicians. But my
dear fellows, it is useless to give oneself so much
(13:02):
headache merely to change from one error to another. End quote.
Puie detaches, page ten. A restlessness of this kind which
puts on nowadays a sociological socialist or humanitarian air is
a sure sign of anemia. And a footnote he was
struck by the decay of religious ideas. Quote. An immense
(13:26):
moral and perhaps intellectual degeneracy will follow the disappearance of
religion from the world. We at the present day can
dispense with religion because others have it for us. Those
who do not believe are carried along by the more
or less believing majority. But on the day when the
majority lose this impulse, the men of spirit themselves will
(13:48):
go feebly to the attack. End quote. It is the
absence of the sentiment of sublimity, which renown dreaded like
all old people in their days of sadness. He thinks
of his childhood and adds quote man is of value
in proportion to the religious sentiment which he preserves from
his first education, in which colors his whole life. End quote.
(14:12):
He himself had lived all his life under the influence
of the sentiment of sublimity inculcated in him by his mother.
We know in fact that Madame Renond was a woman
of lofty character, but the source of sublimity is dried up. Quote.
Religious people live on a shadow. We live on the
(14:32):
shadow of a shadow. On what will those who come
after us live? End quote footnote Renon Foulliet Detache, pages
seventeen to eighteen. Into footnote Renon, as was his wont,
tried to mitigate the gloom of the outlook which his
perspicacity presented to him. He is like many other French writers, who,
(14:56):
wishing to please a frivolous public, never dare to go
to the bottom of the problems that life presents. Footnote.
Brunetier addressed this reproach to French literature. Quote, if you
wish to know why they scene or Moliere, for example,
never attain the depth we find in a Shakespeare or
a Gerta chochet le fin, and you will find that
(15:19):
the defect is due to the influence of the salons
and of women. Evolucione de he genre, third edition, page
one hundred twenty eight, and a footnote. He does not
wish to frighten his amiable lady admirers, so he adds, therefore,
that it is not necessary to have a religion burdened
(15:40):
with dogmas. Such a religion, for example, as Christianity, the
religious sentiment should suffice. Since Renond there has been no
lack of chatter about this vague religious sentiment, which should
suffice to replace the positive religions which are coming to grief.
F Buisson informs us that quote, no religious doctrines will survive,
(16:03):
but only religious emotions, which far from contradicting either science,
art or morality, will steep them in a feeling of
profound harmony with the life of the universe. Footnote Gustitiones
des morales Lectures given by several professors in the Bibliotheque
(16:23):
da Sience Sociel, page three hundred twenty eight into footnote This,
unless I am unable to see beyond my nose, is
the merest balderdash on what will those who come after
us live? This is the great problem posed by Regnon,
in which the middle classes will never be able to solve.
(16:45):
If any doubt is possible on this point, the stupidities
uttered by the official moralist would show that the decadence
is henceforth fatal. Speculations on the harmony of the universe,
even when the universe is personified, are not the kind
of thing which will give men that courage which regnon
compared to that of the soldier in the moment of attack.
(17:06):
Sublimity is dead in the middle classes, and they are
doomed to possess no ethic in the future. Footnote I
must call attention to the extraordinary prudence shown by Ribault
in his Ciccologe de sintiment in dealing with the evolution
of morality. It might have been expected that, on the
analogy of the other sentiments, he would have come to
(17:29):
the conclusion that there was an evolution towards a purely
intellectual state and to the disappearance of its efficacy. But
has not dared to draw this conclusion for morality, as
he did for religion. Into footnote the winding up of
the Dreyfus affair, which the dreyfoussardes to the great indignation
(17:50):
of Colonel Picard. Footnote I referred to an article published
in the Gazette de Lauzon April Tewod nineteen o six,
from which the liber Parrot gave a fairly long extract c. F.
Joseph raina opposite Volume six, page thirty six. Several months
after I had written these lines, Picard was himself the
(18:12):
object of exceptionally favorable treatment. He had been conquered by
the fatalities of Parisian life, which have run stronger men
than he. In the footnote knew how to put to
such good account. Has shown that middle class sublimity is
a stock exchange asset. All the intellectual and moral defects
(18:32):
of a class tainted with folly showed themselves in that affair.
End of Section twenty four
Section twenty four, Chapter seven, Part two of Reflections on Violence.
This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
visit LibriVox dot org. Read by Brian Travis. Reflections on Violence,
(00:22):
Ay Yours, Sorel, translated by Thomas Ernest Hume. Chapter seven,
The Ethics of the Producers, Part two. At the beginning
of any research on modern ethics, this question must be asked,
under what conditions is regeneration possible? The Marxists are absolutely
(00:44):
right in laughing at the utopists, and in maintaining that
morality is never created by mild preaching, by the ingenious
constructions of theorists, or by fine gestures. Brudon, having neglected
this problem, suffered from many alu usions about the persistence
of the forces which gave life to his own ethics.
(01:05):
Experience was soon to prove that his undertaking was to
remain fruitless. And if the contemporary world does not contain
the roots of a new ethic, what will happen to it?
The size of a whimpering middle class will not save
it if it has forever lost its morality. Very shortly
before his death, Renon was much engrossed with the ethical
(01:27):
future of the world. Quote moral values decline, that is
a certainty sacrifice has almost disappeared. One can see the
day coming when everything will be syndicalized. Footnote. Reynon is
complaining that the corporative associations dominate society too much. It
(01:49):
is clear that he had had none of the veneration
for the corporative spirit that so many contemporary idealists display.
In the footnote, when organized selfishness will take the place
of love and devotion, there would be strange upheavals, the
two things which alone until now have resisted the decay
(02:09):
of reverence the army footnote. He did not foresee that
his son in law would agitate violently against the army
in the Dreyfus affair and a footnote, and the church
will soon be swept away in the Universal Torrent footnote
Renault fou Detache, age fourteen and a footnote. Renon showed
(02:35):
a remarkable insight in writing this at the very moment
when so many futile intellects were announcing the renaissance of
idealism and foreseeing progressive tendencies in a church that was
at length reconciled with the modern world. But all his life,
Renon had been too favored by fortune not to be optimistic.
(02:56):
He believed, therefore, that the evil of the future would
consent simply in the necessity of passing through a bad period.
And he added, quote, no matter the resources of humanity
are infinite, the eternal designs will be fulfilled. The springs
of life, ever forcing their way to the surface, will
never be dried up end quote. He had finished several
(03:19):
months before the fifth volume of his History of the
People of Israel, and this volume, having been printed from
the unaltered manuscript, contains a more imperfect expression of his
ideas on the subject. It is known that he corrected
his proofs very carefully. We find in this the most
gloomy presentiments. The author even questions whether humanity will ever
(03:42):
attain its real end. Quote. If this globe should happen
not to fulfill its purpose, there will be others to
carry on to its final end. The program of all life,
light reason in truth in quote footnote Renon Eastwa du
Pabla Disrie, Volume five, page four into twenty one into
(04:07):
footnote The times to come frightened him. Quote the immediate
future is dark. The triumph of light is not assured.
End quote. He dreaded socialism, and there is no doubt
that by socialism he meant the humanitarian idiocy which he
saw emerging in this stupid middle class world. It was
(04:29):
in this way that he came to think that Catholicism
might perhaps be the accomplice of socialism. Footnote. Renauld look
sit Page four unto twenty into footnote. On the same
page he speaks of the divisions which may exist in
a society, and this is of considerable importance. Quote. Judea
(04:51):
and the Greco Roman world were like two universes, revolving
one beside the other under opposing influences. The history of
humanity by no means synchronizes in its various parts. Tremble
at this moment, perhaps the religion of the future is
being created, and we have no part in it. I
(05:12):
envy wise Kimrie, who saw beneath the earth. It is
there that everything is prepared. It is there that we
must look. End quote. There is in these words nothing
that the theorists of the class war could not approve of.
In them, I find the commentary to what Renault said
a little later on the subject of quote, the springs
(05:35):
of life, ever forcing their way to the surface end quote.
Regeneration is being brought about by a class which works subterraneously,
and which is separating itself from the modern world. Is
judaism did from the ancient world. Whatever the official sociologists
may think, the lower classes are by no means condemned
(05:55):
to live on the crumbs which the upper classes let fall.
We are glad to see Renault protest against this imbeciled doctrine.
Syndicalism claims to create a real proletarian ideology, and whatever
the middle class professors say of it, historical experience has
proclaimed by the mouth of Renault tells us that this
(06:16):
is quite possible, and that out of it may come
the salvation of the world. The syndicalist movement is really
being developed underground. The men who devote themselves to it
do not make much noise in the world. What a
difference between them and the former leaders of democracy, whose
sole aim was the conquest of power. These men were
(06:38):
intoxicated by the hope that the chances of life might
someday make them republican princess. While waiting for the wheel
of fortune to turn to their advantage. In this way
they obtained the moral and material advantages that celebrity procures
for all virtuosi in the society, which is accustomed to
paying well those who amuse it. Chief motive force behind
(07:01):
many of them was their immeasurable pride, and they fancied that,
as their name was bound to shine with singular brilliancy
in the annals of humanity, they might buy that future
glory by a few sacrifices. None of these motives for
action exists for the syndicalists of to day. The proletariat
(07:21):
has none of the servile instincts of democracy. It no
longer aspires to walk on all fours before a former
comrade who has become a chief magistrate, or to swoon
for joy before the toilets of ministers wives footnote. The
essence of democracy is concentrated in the moux attributed to
Mademoiselle Floucon quote it is we who are the princesses
(07:47):
end quote. The democracy is happy when it sees a
ridiculous creature like Felixe's fort, whom Joseph Rayna compared to
the bourgeois Jon Tilloumes treated with princely honors eastward de
la Fere Dreyfus, Volume four, page five hundred fifty two.
(08:08):
In the footnote, the men who devote themselves to the
revolutionary cause know that they must always remain poor. They
carry on their work of organization without attracting attention, and
the meanest hack who scribbles for le Manite is much
better known than the militants of the Confederacion de Travais. Footnote.
(08:31):
Parliamentary socialism is very keen on good manners, as we
can assure ourselves by consulting Girou Richard's numerous articles. I
quote at random several specimens. On June first, nineteen o three,
he declared in the Petit Republique that Queen Natalie of
Servia should have been called to order quote for having
(08:54):
listened to the preaching of p. Coubet at Auberville, and
he demands that she be admonished by the police commissary
of her district. On September twenty six, he has roused
to indignation by the coarseness and the ignorance of good
manners exhibited by Admiral Marichel. The Socialist code has its
(09:14):
mysteries the wives of socialists are sometimes called ladies and
sometimes citizen essis. In the society of the future, there
will evidently be disputes about the order of precedence, as
there were at Versailles on July thirtieth, nineteen o three.
Cassaignac makes great fun in the autorite of his having
(09:37):
been taken to task by Girou Richard, who had given
him lessons in good manners into footnote. For the great
majority of the French public, Griefou Law will never have
the notoriety of Ruin as footnote. Grieffu Law, who had
been a shoemaker, was at one time secretary of the
Confederacion du trevais remarkably intelligent. C f. A pamphlet by
(10:03):
him entitled Voyage Revolutionnaire translator's note. Renee was Malone's principal disciple.
He was for some time a deputy very much opposed
to the Marxist naturally a great adversary of the Confederacion
du Trevai. A type of socialist politician who occupies a
considerable place in journalism and in parliament, but who does
(10:26):
not count at all intellectually into translator's note into footnote
and in the absence of the material advantages which they
could hardly expect. They have not even the satisfaction that
celebrity can give. Putting their whole trust in the movements
of the masses, they have no expectation of a Napoleonic glory,
(10:47):
and they leave the superstition of great men to the
middle classes. It is well that it is so, because
the proletariat will be able to develop itself much more
surely if it organizes itself iNSCs guarrity. Socialist politicians shun
occupations which do not provide celebrity, and which are consequently
not profitable. They are then not at all disposed to
(11:11):
trouble themselves with the work of the syndicates, the object
of which is to remain proletarian. They make a show
on the parliamentary stage, but that as a rule does
not amount to much. The men who do participate in
the real working class movement are an example of what
have always been looked upon as the greatest virtues. They cannot,
(11:34):
in fact acquire any of those things which the middle
classes regard as especially desirable. If, then, as renown asserts
footnote renownt Uposet, Volume four, page two hundred sixty seven
into footnote History rewards the resign adnegation of men who
strive uncomplainingly and who accomplish without profit, a great historical work.
(11:58):
We have a new reason for believing in the advent
of socialism, since it represents the highest moral ideal ever
conceived by man. This time, it is not a new
religion which is shaping itself underground without the help of
the middle class thinkers. It is the birth of a virtue,
a virtue which the middle class intellectuals are incapable of understanding,
(12:21):
a virtue which has the power to save civilization, as
Renowned hoped it would be saved, but by the total
elimination of the class to which Renault belonged. Let us
now consider closely the reasons which made renound dread a
decadence of the middle class. Footnote. Renault pointed out one
(12:42):
symptom of decadence on which he did not insist enough,
and which does not seem to have particularly impressed his readers.
He was irritated by the restlessness, the claims to originality
and the naive rivalry of the young metaphysicians. But my
dear fellows, it is useless to give oneself so much
(13:02):
headache merely to change from one error to another. End quote.
Puie detaches, page ten. A restlessness of this kind which
puts on nowadays a sociological socialist or humanitarian air is
a sure sign of anemia. And a footnote he was
struck by the decay of religious ideas. Quote. An immense
(13:26):
moral and perhaps intellectual degeneracy will follow the disappearance of
religion from the world. We at the present day can
dispense with religion because others have it for us. Those
who do not believe are carried along by the more
or less believing majority. But on the day when the
majority lose this impulse, the men of spirit themselves will
(13:48):
go feebly to the attack. End quote. It is the
absence of the sentiment of sublimity, which renown dreaded like
all old people in their days of sadness. He thinks
of his childhood and adds quote man is of value
in proportion to the religious sentiment which he preserves from
his first education, in which colors his whole life. End quote.
(14:12):
He himself had lived all his life under the influence
of the sentiment of sublimity inculcated in him by his mother.
We know in fact that Madame Renond was a woman
of lofty character, but the source of sublimity is dried up. Quote.
Religious people live on a shadow. We live on the
(14:32):
shadow of a shadow. On what will those who come
after us live? End quote footnote Renon Foulliet Detache, pages
seventeen to eighteen. Into footnote Renon, as was his wont,
tried to mitigate the gloom of the outlook which his
perspicacity presented to him. He is like many other French writers, who,
(14:56):
wishing to please a frivolous public, never dare to go
to the bottom of the problems that life presents. Footnote.
Brunetier addressed this reproach to French literature. Quote, if you
wish to know why they scene or Moliere, for example,
never attain the depth we find in a Shakespeare or
a Gerta chochet le fin, and you will find that
(15:19):
the defect is due to the influence of the salons
and of women. Evolucione de he genre, third edition, page
one hundred twenty eight, and a footnote. He does not
wish to frighten his amiable lady admirers, so he adds, therefore,
that it is not necessary to have a religion burdened
(15:40):
with dogmas. Such a religion, for example, as Christianity, the
religious sentiment should suffice. Since Renond there has been no
lack of chatter about this vague religious sentiment, which should
suffice to replace the positive religions which are coming to grief.
F Buisson informs us that quote, no religious doctrines will survive,
(16:03):
but only religious emotions, which far from contradicting either science,
art or morality, will steep them in a feeling of
profound harmony with the life of the universe. Footnote Gustitiones
des morales Lectures given by several professors in the Bibliotheque
(16:23):
da Sience Sociel, page three hundred twenty eight into footnote This,
unless I am unable to see beyond my nose, is
the merest balderdash on what will those who come after
us live? This is the great problem posed by Regnon,
in which the middle classes will never be able to solve.
(16:45):
If any doubt is possible on this point, the stupidities
uttered by the official moralist would show that the decadence
is henceforth fatal. Speculations on the harmony of the universe,
even when the universe is personified, are not the kind
of thing which will give men that courage which regnon
compared to that of the soldier in the moment of attack.
(17:06):
Sublimity is dead in the middle classes, and they are
doomed to possess no ethic in the future. Footnote I
must call attention to the extraordinary prudence shown by Ribault
in his Ciccologe de sintiment in dealing with the evolution
of morality. It might have been expected that, on the
analogy of the other sentiments, he would have come to
(17:29):
the conclusion that there was an evolution towards a purely
intellectual state and to the disappearance of its efficacy. But
has not dared to draw this conclusion for morality, as
he did for religion. Into footnote the winding up of
the Dreyfus affair, which the dreyfoussardes to the great indignation
(17:50):
of Colonel Picard. Footnote I referred to an article published
in the Gazette de Lauzon April Tewod nineteen o six,
from which the liber Parrot gave a fairly long extract c. F.
Joseph raina opposite Volume six, page thirty six. Several months
after I had written these lines, Picard was himself the
(18:12):
object of exceptionally favorable treatment. He had been conquered by
the fatalities of Parisian life, which have run stronger men
than he. In the footnote knew how to put to
such good account. Has shown that middle class sublimity is
a stock exchange asset. All the intellectual and moral defects
(18:32):
of a class tainted with folly showed themselves in that affair.
End of Section twenty four
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