Reading Notes: 35.7, Revolutionary Thought in France

The French Revolution, like both the English Revolution and the American Revolution, can be traced back to a period of absurd actions of the monarchy's ambitious ambitions. The Great Monarch wanted to implement a plan of expansion, but at that time the tax capacity of the whole of Europe did not meet the necessary war readiness costs.

During the American Revolutionary War, France rarely showed signs of revolution. At this time in France, there were many enlightened ideas, speeches and sentiments spreading.

In the first half of the 18th century, Montesquieu of France (1689-1755) wrote "On the Spirit of law", which systematically analyzed the socio-political and religious systems: 1 was to strip the French absolute monarch of its overall magical prestige, and 2 was to sweep away the honor of many misconceptions of the time.

In the mid- and late 18th century, the "Encyclopedic School", under diderot's leadership, planned a new world in its complete sets of writings.

Alongside the encyclopedic school were the economics and physiocrats, who made many bold and crude discussions about the production and distribution of food and goods.

The doctrine of Rousseau (1712-1778) held that in the primitive state, human beings had virtue and happiness, but these were more difficult to explain through the activities of monks, kings, lawyers, and so on.

Rousseau's book The Social Contract places more emphasis on forgiveness for breaches of contracts than on the necessity of enforcing them.

The author argues that Rousseau's influence on human thought was unconventional, and that his doctrine struck not only at the existing social structures, but also at all social organizations. But the prevalence of Rousseau's theory has been very conducive to the promotion of an emotional and rhetorical approach to social and political issues.

The author also believes that society must first experience setbacks and then make people feel the need to know in order for theory to get its rightful place.