Raynal’s and Diderot’s Patriotic History of the Two Indies, or The Problem of Anti-Colonialism in the Eighteenth Century

Tricoire, Damien

doi:10.1353/ecy.2018.0027

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 12 publications

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“…Scholars have tended to stress two sides of the Histoire that seem in tension with one another: on the one hand, the Histoire denounced slavery and the violence of Europeans in other parts of the world, which has even led some scholars to call the text not only anti-slavery but also anticolonial (Muthu 2009; Terjanian 2013). On the other hand, scholars such as Sunil M. Agnani have argued that the text also endorsed a kind of “soft colonialism” that would be established with the consent of the colonized and would benefit the colonizers and colonized alike (Agnani 2013; Michaud 2014; Strugnell 2011; Thomson 2017; Tricoire 2018). As Agnani points out, Raynal did denounce the currently existing form of colonialism, but only to advocate for a “softer,” more economically profitable and sustainable form of European dominance—one created by the consensual mixing of populations and trade (Agnani 2013, 40).…”

Section: Despotism In the Histoire Des Deux Indesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oriental Despotism and the Limits of Doux Commerce, from Montesquieu to Raynal

Yoon

2022

Political Theory

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According to one interpretation, Montesquieu believed that laws should be suited to the particular physical and moral characteristics of a nation, and that political change should not be abruptly imposed. However, as Montesquieu nonetheless condemned despotism, he argued that change in despotic regimes should happen gradually through the noncoercive alternative of doux commerce. My aim is to challenge this interpretation of Montesquieu in two ways. First of all, Montesquieu was far more skeptical about the possibility of political change; so strong was his physical determinism that Montesquieu himself thought that despotic states could not be reformed, even through commerce. Second, even though successors of Montesquieu—such as the Abbé Raynal—did view the use of force in reforming despotic states as futile and preferred commerce as a benign alternative, they had to acknowledge that even commerce could not take root in those supposedly despotic states without coercion. The two most representative doux commerce theorists of the eighteenth century, when confronted with the prevailing trope of Oriental despotism, were far less optimistic about the civilizing effect of commerce than today’s interpretations suggest. My reading of The Spirit of the Laws and The History of the Two Indies suggests the limits of turning to eighteenth-century doux commerce ideals to theorize political reform in so-called despotic governments today.

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Section: Despotism In the Histoire Des Deux Indesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oriental Despotism and the Limits of Doux Commerce, from Montesquieu to Raynal

Yoon

2022

Political Theory

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Diderot and the ideal of paternalistic monarchy. An enlightenment struggle against moral decay and for political harmony

Tricoire

2024

History of European Ideas

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Since the 1990s, there has been a growing tendency to interpret Diderot as a radical who first put into question absolutism in the Encyclopédie and then became a fierce opponent of any kind of ‘despotism’, even the ‘enlightened’ one, and a fervent partisan of democratic revolutions in the 1770s. It is argued here that the narrative that cuts Diderot’s life into different phases obscures continuities in his political thought, and misrepresents partly the political vision he had in the 1770s. Diderot’s political thought may have been more coherent than usually acknowledged, and this coherence is to be found in his ideal of a paternalistic monarchy taking advice from its subjects and respecting their rights, that is the constitution of the realm. This idea is not to be mixed up with a democratic programme of government by the people, nor with the endorsement of political change via a revolution. Rather, when towards the end of his life Diderot lost hope that the constitutional order of the French monarchy would be respected, he both feared civil war and hoped that these tumults might bring about the regeneration of the French monarchy. This vision derived from a classical cyclic view of history.

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The 'Histoire des Deux Indes'

Kwiatkowski

2024

Hist. Historiogr.

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This article proposes an interpretation of the Histoire philosophique et politique des établissements et du commerce des Européens dans les deux Indes (1770) within the intellectual context of Enlightenment historiography. The first section describes the book, its contents, editions, authorship, and censorship. The second section provides a critical synthesis of the history of historiography on the work. The third section proposes an interpretation of the Histoire as an enlightened critique of colonialism and empire. A brief conclusion situates the book within a specific definition of the Enlightenment that accounts for its contradictions rather than attempting to overcome them.

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Raynal’s and Diderot’s Patriotic History of the Two Indies, or The Problem of Anti-Colonialism in the Eighteenth Century

Cited by 3 publications

References 12 publications

Oriental Despotism and the Limits of Doux Commerce, from Montesquieu to Raynal

Oriental Despotism and the Limits of Doux Commerce, from Montesquieu to Raynal

Diderot and the ideal of paternalistic monarchy. An enlightenment struggle against moral decay and for political harmony

The 'Histoire des Deux Indes'

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