Introduction
| Author | David Lay Williams |
| DOI | 10.1177/14748851211002020 |
| Published date | 01 July 2021 |
| Date | 01 July 2021 |
| Subject Matter | Symposium on Ryan Hanley’s Fénelon |
Symposium on Ryan Hanley’s F
enelon EJPT
Introduction
David Lay Williams
DePaul University, 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
This introduction to the review symposium on Ryan Patrick Hanley’s works on the
relatively neglected early modern philosopher Franc¸ois F
enelon (1651–1715) provides
a brief overview of the symposium itself before turning to Hanley’s treatment of
F
enelon’s work on the intersection of politics and religion, culminating in a compar ison
of F
enelon with his most celebrated admirer, Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The article
sketches how both francophone thinkers employ conceptions of divine justice as a
measure to counter the dangers of amour-propre, contrasting F
enelon’s thick theology
with Rousseau’s thin theology.
Keywords
Amour-propre, divine justice, Franc¸ois F
enelon, religion and politics, theology
Introduction
Franc¸ ois F
enelon wrote at the peak of religiously informed political philosophy,
when religiosity was not merely acknowledged but was actively incorporated into
political thinking. But it was only a few decades before the philosophes would
expressly reject not only the incorporation of religious principles into political
philosophy, but religious principles themselves as dangerously false and hostile
to progress.
Corresponding author:
David Lay Williams, DePaul University, 990 W. Fullerton, Suite 2205, Chicago, Illinois 60614-2201, USA.
Email: david.williams@depaul.edu
European Journal of Political Theory
2021, Vol. 20(3) 568–574
!The Author(s) 2021
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DOI: 10.1177/14748851211002020
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