Georges Sorel Criticism
Georges Sorel (1847-1922) was a French social and political theorist whose ideas have significantly influenced diverse movements such as Russian Bolshevism and Italian Fascism, as well as various left-wing radical groups. Sorel blended socio-economic thoughts from Karl Marx with philosophical insights from figures like Schopenhauer, Bergson, Croce, and Nietzsche. His work critiques rational and empirical methodologies for failing to capture the broader spectrum of human nature, emphasizing elements like sexuality, religion, and nationality. Sorel's most famous work, Reflexions sur la violence, proposes that such instincts form a timeless mythology driven by the quest for freedom, which could justify violent action.
Born in Cherbourg, Sorel grew up in a middle-class Catholic family. Despite the revolutionary nature of his work, he remained devoutly Catholic and middle-class throughout his life. His educational background includes studies at the Ecole Polytechnique and the Ecole des Ponts et Chaussees, leading to a career as an engineer. Sorel's relationship with his common-law wife, Marie-Euphrasie David, whose working-class status and staunch Catholicism influenced his awareness of social injustice, played a crucial role in shaping his philosophical endeavors.
Sorel's works challenge the rational empiricism of thinkers like Renan and Durkheim. In Le Proces de Socrate, he contends that excessive intellectualism leads to a decadent society, ignoring fundamental human desires. He argued that society's mechanization stifles the creative "elan vital." In Les Illusions de progres, Sorel critiques the sterility of modern life and capitalism's exploitation of the working class. His seminal text, Reflexions sur la violence, advocates for labor unions to use "heroic violence" to combat the capitalist state's oppressive forces, framing the class struggle as a mythic battle. Sorel's work, though sometimes incendiary and disorganized as noted by Isaiah Berlin, positions him as a significant figure in political thought.
Contents
- Principal Works
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Essays
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Reflections on Violence
(summary)
In the following excerpted review of Sorel's Reflections on Violence, Lovejoy identifies key differentiators between Sorel's socialist concepts and traditional socialist theories.
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Reflections on Violence
(summary)
In the following excerpt, political philosopher Bosanquet admires Sorel's thesis in Reflections on Violence, but takes exception to translator and philosopher T. E. Hulme's interpretation.
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Sorel, Marx, and the Drama
(summary)
In the following review of Reflections on Violence, economist and philosopher Orage credits Sorel with providing a necessary mythology to socialist philosophy, and declares Sorel a worthy disciple of Karl Marx.
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The Function of Myth
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Burnham examines what he perceives as Sorel's contempt for political science.
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The Evolution of Anarchism and Syndicalism: A Critical Review
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Nomad examines Sorel's philosophical history, identifying Sorel's links with Marxism, democratic socialism and Bolshevism as key to understanding his body of work.
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Disciples and Dissenters
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Meisel examines how Sorel's contemporaries reacted positively and negatively to his theories.
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Sorel: Philosopher of Syndicalism
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Carr identifies the intellectual sources of Sorel's most important writings.
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Georges Sorel: Myth and Anarchy
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Bowie attempts to discredit Sorels by tracing an unflattering connection between Sorel's absorption of the theories of Marx and Nietzsche with the rise of Fascism.
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Irrationalism and Myth in Georges Sorel
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Rouanet examines the European political and cultural landscape in which Sorel wrote and thought.
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Some Reflections on Sorel and Machiavelli
(summary)
In the following excerpt originally written in 1965, Wood expands on James Burnham's thesis that Sorel was a Machiavellian thinker, arguing that grounds for the comparison of the two thinkers are to be sought in their common devotion to a regenerative morality born out of strife and conflict, with both viewing politics as a kind of warfare described in military terms.
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The Illusions of Progress
(summary)
In the following excerpted foreward and introduction to Sorel's The Illusions of Progress, Nisbet and Stanley, respectively, examine Sorel's view of virtue as action, and attempt to put his work in perspective.
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The Legacy of Georges Sorel: Marxism, Violence, Fascism
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Talmon examines Sorel's legacy on such European contemporaries as Hulme, Lenin, Wyndham Lewis, Ramon Fernandes, and Benedetto Croce.
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Georges Sorel
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Berlin assesses Sorel's work as incendiary and disorganized, while declaring him one of the century's foremost political thinkers.
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Rationalism and Commitment in Sorel
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In the following excerpt, Vernon draws distinctions between traditional interpretations of Marxism and Sorel's interpretation, exploring Georges Sorel's thought in the light of two contrasting conceptions: rationalism and commitment.
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The Question of Sorel
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Band declares that Sorel is more important as a populizer of ideas rather than as an original thinker.
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Georges Sorel: On Lenin and Mussolini
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Roth examines the influence of the writings of Marx, Prudhomme, Vico, and Bergson on Sorel's system of beliefs.
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Myth and Symbol in Georges Sorel
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Gross traces the treatment of myth and symbolic images in Sorel's body of work.
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Georges Sorel and the Myth of Violence: From Syndicalism to Fascism
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Rohrich examines French historical events during Sorel's lifetime that influenced his conservative political thinking.
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Social Foundations of Contemporary Economics
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Stanley examines the influence of the writings of Henri Bergson, William James, and Pierre-Joseph Proudhon on the writings of Sorel.
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Myth and Politics in the Works of Sorel and Barthes
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Tager compares the theses of Roland Barthes and Sorel.
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Interpreting Georges Sorel: Defender of Virtue or Apostle of Violence?
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Vincent examines previous critical interpretations of Sorel's work and categorizes him as a cautious pessimist.
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Georges Sorel and the Rise of Political Myth
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Ohana identifies apparent inconsistencies in Sorel's philosophy, which he attributes to the rapidly changing cultural milieu within his lifetime.
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Mass Minds and Modernist Forms: Political, Aesthetic, and Psychological Theories
(summary)
In the following, Tratner links Sorel with Gustave Le Bon, author of The Crowd, to examine the modernist works of Ezra Pound, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf T. S. Eliot, and W. B. Yeats.
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Reflections on Violence
(summary)
- Further Reading