Intellectual History of Liberalism

An Intellectual History of Liberalism by Pierre Manent, translated by Rebecca Balinski, 117 pages

In An Intellectual History of Liberalism, Manent traces the key lines of thought leading up to, through, and beyond the crucible of the French Revolution, as developed by Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Constant, Guizot, and Tocqueville.  In Manent's account, the liberal tradition begins with the attempt to exclude the Church from civic life by eliminating transcendent elements from politics - a development that marks a rupture with the classical as well as medieval traditions.  With Hobbes this was accomplished through a wholly negative anthropology which posited men as individuals locked in a perpetual struggle with one another, with the State as the necessary moderator.  Although Manent's focus is on the resulting steadily growing division between society and the State, his analysis is profound enough to pull in other themes as well, notably the replacement of an argument for liberty grounded in nature with one founded in the idea of progress.