François Fénelon: Modern philosopher or conservative theologian?
| DOI | 10.1177/14748851211002022 |
| Date | 01 July 2021 |
| Author | Alexandra Oprea |
| Published date | 01 July 2021 |
| Subject Matter | Symposium on Ryan Hanley’s Fénelon |
Symposium on Ryan Hanley’s F
enelon EJPT
Franc¸ois F
enelon:
Modern philosopher or
conservative theologian?
Alexandra Oprea
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA
Ryan Patrick Hanley, The Political Philosophy of F
enelon, Oxford University Press: New York, NY,
2020; 324 pp.: ISBN 9780190079635, US$39.95 (hbk)
Franc¸ois F
enelon, F
enelon: Moral and Political Writings, edited and translated by Ryan Patrick
Hanley, Oxford University Press: New York, NY, 2020; 286 pp.: ISBN 9780190079581, US
$39.95 (hbk)
Abstract
Ryan Patrick Hanley makes two original claims about Franc¸ois F
enelon: (1) that he is
best regarded as a political philosopher, and (2) that his political philosophy is best
understood as “moderate and modern.” In what follows, I raise two concerns about
Hanley’s revisionist turn. First, I argue that the role of philosophy in F
enelon’s account is
rather as a handmaiden of theology than as an autonomous area of inquiry—with
implications for both the theory and practice of politics. Second, I use F
enelon’s writ-
ings on the education of women as an illustration of the more radical and reactionary
aspects of his thought. Despite these limits, the book makes a compelling case for
recovering F
enelon and opens up new conversations about education, religion, political
economy, and international relations in early modern political thought.
Keywords
Education, F
enelon, Locke, political philosophy, Rousseau, theology
Corresponding author:
Alexandra Oprea, College of Arts and Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina
27599-3100, USA.
Email: alexandraroprea@gmail.com
European Journal of Political Theory
2021, Vol. 20(3) 580–586
!The Author(s) 2021
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DOI: 10.1177/14748851211002022
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