Napoleon and Philosophical School of “Ideologists”

The school of “ideologists” (l’école des idéologues) exerted significant influence on the intellectual atmosphere in France during the Revolution, Consulate and the First Empire. Originally, the philosophical and political program of the ideologists was published in compressed but systematic form in Volney’s The Ruins, or Meditation on the Revolutions of Empires. In the year of its publication, Napoleon wrote a small text devoted to comparison of monarchy and republic. The result was not in favor of the old regime; Napoleon obviously shared republican sympathies during that period. In the next year, in a letter addressed to the military commissioner in Valence, he listed Volney’s most important works, expressing approval of his political outlook. After Napoleon’s return to Paris from the Egyptian campaign, the ideologists welcomed his rise to power. However, mutual disappointment came before long, when Napoleon took measures to restrict the influence of philosophical opposition. Napoleon was the first to give a negative political coloring to the concept of ideology, initially used by philosophers for designation of science about ideas, their origin and development. Breaking off with the republican beliefs of his youth, which continued to inspire the ideologists, Napoleon remained close to them in another aspect: limiting the role of the clergy in public life. Napoleon said more than once that religion was necessary for society as a reliable support of morals. But at the same time he reproached priests with inappropriate love of to them, to worldly goods, accused them of hypocrisy and deception, conferred on them responsibility for numerous wars. The author concludes that Napoleon was not to completely get rid of the philosophical spirit of his epoch: the anticlericalism of Rousseau, Voltaire and the later Enlightenment - school of ideologists - persisted in his outlook.

1. Barras P. (1895–1896) Mémoires de Barras, membre du Directoire (Vols. 1–4). Paris: Hachette (in French).

2. Brehier E. (2004) Histoire de laphilosophie. Paris: PUF (in French).

3. Cabanis P.-J.-G. (1980) Rapports du physique et du moral de l`homme. Genève: Slatkine (in French).

4. Cambacérès J.-J.-R. (1999) Mémoires inédits (Vols. 1–2). Paris: Perrin (in French).

5. Destutt de Tracy A.L.C. (2011–2018) Oeuvres complètes (Vols. 1–8). Paris: Vrin (in French).

6. Fouché J. (1825) Mémoires (Vols. 1–2). Bruxelles: De Mat (in French).

7. Guillois A. (2013) Le salon de madame Helvétius. Cabanis et les idéologues. Genève: Slatkine (in French).

8. Ivanova A.S. (2013) The Elements of “Ideology”: Antoine Destutt de Tracy and his Science of Ideas. Voprosy filosofii. 2013. No. 8, pp. 146-148 (in Russian).

9. Madelin L. (2003) Histoire du consulat et de l`empire (Vols. 1–4). Paris: Robert Laffont (in French).

10. Manfred A.Z. (1980) Napoleon Bonaparte. Moscow: Mysl’ (in Russian).

11. Moravi G. (1905) Napoléon bibliophile. Recherches spéciales de psychologie napoléonienne, avec documents inédits. Paris: Lecampion (in French).

12. Napoléon Bonaparte (1858–1869). Correspondance (publ. par ordre de l`empereur Napoléon III) (Vols. 1–32). Paris: Plon (in French).

13. Napoléon Bonaparte (1956). Selected Works. Moscow: Voenizdat (Russian translation).

14. Napoléon Bonaparte (2001). Oeuvres littéraires et écrits militaires (Vols. 1–3). Paris: Claude Tchou.

15. Napoléon Bonaparte (2004–2018). Correspondance générale (Vols. 1–15). Paris: Fayard (in French).

16. Picavet F. (1891) Les idéologues. Paris: Félix Alcan (in French).

17. Roederer P.L. (1909) Journal. Paris: Daragon (in French).

18. Roederer P.L. (1942) Bonaparte me disait... Paris: Horisons de France (in French).

19. Tarle E.V. (2012) Napoleon. Saint Petersbourg: Azbuka (in Russian).

20. Vandal А. (1995) Works (Vols. 1-4). Rostov-on-Don: Fenix (Russian translation).

21. Villefosse L. & Bouissounouse J. (1969) L`opposition à Napoléon. Paris: Flammarion (in French).Volney C.F. (1962) Selected Atheistic Works. Moscow: USSR Academy of Sciences Press (Russian translation).

22. Volney C.F. (1989-1998) Oeuvres (Vols. 1-3). Paris: Fayard (in French).