Naigeon critique de la Déclaration des Droits

Abstract

Roland Mortier : Naigeon as a critic of the declaration ofrights. The proclamation of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen on 26th August 1789 aroused fierce criticism. Some of it came from the right and the clergy while other, equally severe, critics vere to be found among the heirs of the great 18th- century philosophes. J.A. Naigeon was their mouthpiece when he came out against the reference to the Supreme Being, which he denounced as an intolerable intrusion of the religious sphere into the political. He announced his preference for the project presented by Condorcet, while reaffirming his fidelity to Diderot's materialism. At the same time, he condemned the lukewarm attitude of some philosophers (Montesquieu) and the cowardice of others (D'Alembert).

Judging a declaration: Condorcet, rights and the general will in 1789

“…34 In the Manuscript Declaration, on the other hand, Condorcet hedged: 'in societies numerous and narrow, the consequences that it is necessary to deduce from this Natural Right to whom such and such a thing belongs are not really evident.' 35 Condorcet was not arguing here that objectively just derivative rights, deduced from natural rights did not exist. Indeed, he was explicit that derivative rights could not simply be 'arbitrarily' created by society, as objective 'limits to rights fixed by reason and by nature exist.'…”

“…However, he did worry that 'all individuals do not place [these limits] at precisely the same points,' even if everyone agreed upon the fundamental principles of natural law. 36 Although this language of 'limits' is somewhat confusing, it seems clear that Condorcet was here talking about the difficulty of discerning the full extent of rights, deduced from natural law, that people should enjoy in society: in other words, their derivative rights. This is an epistemological, rather than an ontological problem.…”

“…At times, he replaced it with 'volonté commune', or instead used the term 'raison commune'. 51 Moreover, at points he explicitly -15described this entity as judging rather than willing. One of the 'powers' which resides in the 'common will' was to 'determine the general rules, equal for all, according to which the society ought to be governed.'…”

“…He attempts to insist that 'the general forgetfulness of one of the rights of humanity does not make it any less real', but the assertion rings slightly hollow. 62 Doesn't the fact that it should be evident, but had been forgotten, undermine the authority and legitimacy provided by its supposed selfevidence? He had, it will be recalled, dismissed any such concern in the Vie de Turgot with reassurances that enlightened men, at least, would always recognise the 'truth' of rights.…”

Vers un modèle de la pédagogique entrepreneuriale

“…-à la cognition (information, apprentissage, etc) ; -à l'action (adaptation, moyens, occasions etc) présentées (Mortier, 1996 ;Fayolle, 1999 ;Chakir, 2003)…”