Gabriel Bonnot de Mably - Misplaced Pages

French philosopher, historian, and writer (1709–1785)

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Gabriel Bonnot de Mably
Gabriel Bonnot de Mably, Musée de la Révolution française.
Born	(1709-03-14)March 14, 1709
Died	April 2, 1785(1785-04-02) (aged 76)
Nationality	French

Gabriel Bonnot de Mably (14 March 1709 in Grenoble – 2 April 1785 in Paris), sometimes known as Abbé de Mably, was a French philosopher, historian, and writer, who for a short time served in the diplomatic corps. He was a popular 18th-century writer.

Biography

Gabriel Bonnot was born at Mably, Loire into a family that belonged to the Noblesse de robe or Nobles of the Robe. This class formed the Second Estate whose rank derived from holding judicial or administrative posts and were often hard-working professionals, unlike the aristocratic Noblesse d'épée or Nobles of the Sword. He and his older brother Jean added "de Mably" to their names; his younger brother Étienne used another family property, at Condillac, Drôme. As 'Condillac', he also became a noted writer and philosopher.

Gabriel and his brothers were educated in an institution run by the Society of Jesus or Jesuits; he enrolled in a seminary at Saint-Sulpice. In 1742, he became a confidant of Cardinal Tencin, then Minister of State without Portfolio, for whom he carried out various diplomatic roles during the 1740 to 1748 War of the Austrian Succession. They included negotiating an alliance with Prussia in 1743 and preparing terms for the 1746 Congress of Breda, which sought to agree a separate peace with Britain. However, he fell out with Cardinal Tencin and thereafter focused on scholarly pursuits.

Based on the recommendation of Françoise-Louise de Warens, in April 1740, Mably's older brother Jean employed the 28-year-old Jean-Jacques Rousseau as tutor for his two oldest sons. Rousseau produced two short works addressed to Jean de Mably: "Memorandum Presented to Monsieur de Mably on the Education of Monsieur His Son" and the shorter "Plan for the Education of Monsieur de Sainte-Marie". These outline a proposed system of education for Jean de Mably's sons and also present one of his earliest public self-reflections and self-justifications. By summer 1741, Rousseau realized he was ill-suited to the position and the two agreed to end his employment, parting on friendly terms.

The historian Leo Damrosch explains that at this time, Abbé de Mably

had just published a treatise comparing Roman institutions of government with French ones and celebrating the progress of civilization ... Conversing with Mably, Condillac, Parisot, Bordes, and their friends, Rousseau found himself in a stimulating intellectual milieu, and the studies he had put himself through in Chambéry suddenly came to life.

Rousseau would remain lifelong friends with Mably and his family. Both Mably and his brother Condillac visited Rousseau when he moved to Montmorency, Val-d'Oise. Rousseau later reflected upon his experience tutoring Jean de Mably's sons in The Confessions.

Influence

In 1909, the anarchist Peter Kropotkin credited Mably several achievements: he is credited with being responsible for why the study of politics, constitutions, and elective representation in the 18th century was so popular, with inspiring the egalitarian, communal, and anti-inequality ethos of the French Revolution, and for being an early advocate of communist or communal possession of the land.

Abbé de Mably's legacy is often associated with his views on the authority of the social body, which he considered synonymous with liberty. However, this perspective has been criticized, notably by the political theorist Benjamin Constant. In his essay "The Liberty of the Ancients Compared with that of the Moderns," Constant argues that Mably, along with Rousseau, misunderstood the concept of liberty by equating it with the authority of the state. Constant wrote, "The abbé de Mably, like Rousseau and many others, had followed the ancient government in thinking that the authority of the social body is liberty; and to him any means seemed good if it extended the active scope of that authority over the recalcitrant part of human existence whose independence he deplored." Constant further elaborated that Mably desired the law to reach beyond actions and into thoughts, even "the most fleeting impressions," advocating for a level of control that would leave no aspect of life free from legislative authority.

This perspective highlights Mably's intellectual contribution to the ideological underpinnings of the revolution's excesses. Specifically, Constant noted the influence of Mably's ideas on the leaders of the French Revolution:

"The men whom the flow of events swept to the head of our revolution were—inevitably, given the education they had received—steeped in ancient views that have become false, views that Rousseau and de Mably had made respectable. Rousseau’s metaphysics, in the middle of which there are sudden flashes of sublime truth, and passages of stirring eloquence; and Mably’s austerity: his intolerance, his hatred of all human passions, his eagerness to enslave everyone, his extravagant principles about what the law can achieve, the difference between what he recommended and what had previously existed, his denunciation of wealth and even of property;—all these things were bound to charm men who were lit up by a recent victory, and who, having gained control of the law’s power, were happy about the idea of extending this power to everything. They found valuable support in the fact that two writers—ones with no axe to grind, and haters of human despotism—put the text of the law into the form of axioms. They wanted to use public power in the way (so they had learned from their guides) it had once been used in the free states. They believed that everything should give way before the collective will, and that all restrictions on individual rights would be amply compensated for by participation in social power."

In essence, Mably's legacy, as interpreted by Constant and other contemporaries in France following the immediate aftermath of the revolution, is one of statism and despotism, where he mistook the liberty of ancient city-states for the principles of modern representative government.

Writings

Mably's most well-known work is Entretiens de Phocion, a dialogue first published in 1763, which introduced themes of his mature thought. Two of his works were published posthumously and they had a profound effect on the early deliberations on the assembly of the Estates-General of 1789: an enlarged version of his Histoire de France (first published in 1765), which was published in May 1789 to great acclaim. Authorities tried unsuccessfully to suppress it by confiscating many copies. Secondly, Des droits et des devoirs du citoyen, written in 1758, was also published after his death. He warned against events that later developed during the French Revolution.

These two works were seen to contribute to the later concepts of both communism and republicanism. He advocated the abolition of private property, which he stated incompatible with sympathy and altruism, and conducive to one's antisociality or egotism. He praises elitist Plato, but also the enlightened Stoic views on natural human equality. Mably went further than the traditional Stoic argument that all men possessed a divine spark. He also went beyond the liberal concept of equality before the law, and argued for the equality of needs. He argued that virtue was more valued than the acquisition or possession of material wealth, and criticized idleness. He found an audience among those who were critical of the inherited wealth and privilege of the nobility, who did no work.

Mably's complete works were published in 15 volumes in 1794–1795, with an obituary/biography by Gabriel Brizard.

List of 18 published works by Gabriel Bonnot de Mably (1709–1785)

Parallèle des Romains et des François par rapport au gouvernement (1740)
Lettres à Madame la Marquise de P... sur l'Opéra (1741)
Le droit public de l'Europe fondé sur les traités conclus jusqu'en l'année 1740 (1746)
Observations sur les Grecs (1749)
Observations sur les Romains (1751)
Des principes des négociations pour servir au Droit public fondé sur les traités@ (1757)
Entretiens de Phocion, sur l'introduction de la morale avec la politique, traduits du grec de Nicoclès, avec des remarques (1763)
Réponse de M. Abbé de Mably à M. Abbé Rome (1764)
Observations sur l'histoire de France, Books I – IV (1765)
Observations sur l'histoire de la Grèce, ou Des causes de la Prospérité et des malheurs des Grecs (1766)
Doutes proposées aux philosophes économistes sur l' Ordre naturel et essentiel des sociétés politiques (1768)
Du commerce des grains (1775)
De l'étude de l'histoire à Monseigneur le prince de Parme Tome XVI du cours d'études pour l'instruction du Prince de Parme, aujourd'hui S.A.R. l'Infant D. Ferdinand, duc de Parme, Plaisance, Gasuelle etc. par M. l'Abbé de Condillac (1775)
De la législation, ou Principes des lois (1776)
Du gouvernement et des lois de la Pologne (1771 or 1776 ?)
De la manière d'écrire l'histoire (1783)
Principes de morale (1784)
Observations sur le gouvernement et les lois des États-Unis d'Amérique (1784)

Posthumous publications of individual works, published in 1786-1794

Observations sur l'histoire de France, nouvelle édition précédée de l'éloge historique de L'auteur par M. l'abbé Brizard (1788)
De la situation politique en Pologne en 1776
Le Banquet des politiques
De l'étude de la politique
Des maladies politiques et de leur traitement
Des droits et des devoirs du citoyen (1789; reprinted in 1793; written in 1758)
Du commerce des grains
De la superstition
Notre gloire et nos rêves
De la paix d'Allemagne
De la mort de l'impératrice-reine
L'oracle d'Apollon
Des talens
Du beau
Du développement, des progrès et des bornes de la raison
Le compte rendu
La retraite de M. Necker
Du cours et de la marche des passions dans la société

Posthumous Complete works to 1795

Œuvres complètes de l'Abbé Mably précédées nouvelle édition précédée de l'éloge historique de l'auteur par M. l'abbé Brizard, 12 vol., slightly incomplete London edition (1789)
Œuvres complètes de l'abbé Mably, 19 vol., Toulouse (Sens) & Nîmes (Gaude) edition, (1791)
Œuvres complètes de l'abbé Mably, nouvelle édition; revue, corrigée et augmentée, 19 vols. Toulouse (Sens) & Nîmes (Gaudeedition), (1793)
Collection complète des œuvres de l'abbé Mably, 15 vols. Paris edition (Desbrières), (1794/1795) more complete than previous editions.

Recent Translations in English by Simon de Vries

Concerning the Rights & Duties of the Citizen – Comtal Publications, 2008 – ISBN 0-9557974-0-3
Letters to Madame the Marchioness of P **** on the Opera – Comtal Publications, 2010 – ISBN 978-0-9557974-1-5

References

^ Leo Damrosch (2007). Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Restless Genius. Mariner Books.
Gaspar, Julia (2013). The Marquis d'Argens: A Philosophical Life. Lexington. p. 244. ISBN 978-0739182338.
Lieber, Francis (1836). Encyclopædia Americana: Volume VIII. Deliver, Thomas & Co. p. 170.
Peter Kropotkin (1909). "Chapter 2". The Great French Revolution, 1789-1793. Translated by N. F. Dryhurst. New York: Vanguard Printings.
Peter Kropotkin (1909). "Chapter 58". The Great French Revolution, 1789-1793. Translated by N. F. Dryhurst. New York: Vanguard Printings.
Peter Kropotkin (1909). "Chapter 3". The Great French Revolution, 1789-1793. Translated by N. F. Dryhurst. New York: Vanguard Printings.
^ Benjamin Constant (1819). "The Liberty of the Ancients Compared with that of the Moderns," Translated by Biancamaria Fontana. In Political Writings. Cambridge University Press, 1988.

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