Charles Fourier Archives - Page 2 of 4 - The Libertarian Labyrinth

Charles Fourier, Framework for the Integral Study of Nature

September 12, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

FOURIER ON THE UNITY OF SYSTEM IN UNIVERSAL NATURE. Modern sophists, particularly in France, have generally aimed at explaining the unity of system which is remarkable in universal nature, and yet the philosophical world never was farther removed from the right line of study on this subject than at present. There is hardly a correct idea abroad concerning the fundamental basis of universalism or general unity, which may be thus resumed:— Unity of man with man, Unity of man with God, Unity of man with the universe. In this book it will be demonstrated that philosophers have either purposely or […]

Charles Fourier, The Critical State of Civilization (2 of 2)

September 12, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

FOURIER, ON THE CRITICAL STATE OF CIVILIZATION IN EUROPE. There never was a greater want of useful discoveries in the civilized world than at present. Society is now afflicted with four disastrous elements of a comparatively modern date, which aggravate the primithve causes of human suffering. These modern elements of social misery are, 1. The new pestilence and its complications.[1] 2. The insalubrious effects of injudicious culture and the destruction of Forests. 3. The permanency of revolutionary ferment4. The alarming increase of public debts and stock-jobbing speculation. This quadruple plague proves that civilization and refinement are progressing like the lobster, […]

Charles Fourier, The Critical State of Civilization (1 of 2)

September 12, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

[This section from The Treatise on Domestic-Agricultural Association immediately follows the material already posted from The Morning Star. It appeared in the November 25, 1840 issue (No. 6) of that paper.] FOURIER ON THE CRITICAL STATE OF CIVILIZATION IN EUROPE. ELEMENTS OF DECLINE IN THE POLITICAL WORLD.. The most recent and the most remarkable elements of decline in the political organization of society in Europe, are, national debts and revolutions, which generate each other. Our political doctors have hitherto failed in devising remedies for these social evils. As a check on the prodigality of national expenditure and the increase of […]

Edouard Silberling, Entries from the Dictionary Of Phalansterian Sociology

August 9, 2012

[ezcol_2third] Entries from the DICTIONARY OF PHALANSTERIAN SOCIOLOGY ABANDONMENT.—The abandonment of the weak, of children and of the elderly is one of the characteristics that civilization has borrowedfrom savagery. New Industrial World.109, 407, 424.—The civilized order can only produce eviland hypocrisy. It is powerless to ensure the effective protection of the weak. Supportfor children quickly degenerates intoexploitation, under the mask of charity, and assistance for the infirmand elderly degenerates into abuse. BEE.—The beehive and the hornets’ nest depict the two political orders of harmony and civilization. Q. 429.—The hive depicts the three functions of unitary industry: production, distribution, consumption. III. […]

Fourier’s response to the Gazette de France — II

July 24, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

SECOND PART OF FOURIER’S REFUTATION OF THE GAZETTE OF FRANCE. [Part One] For some time past the secret influence of the philosophic Pandemonium had enjoined the discipline of general science in the press, concerning the science of “attractive industry,” but the indiscreet Gazette has disobeyed the word. It is proverbially noted for its gossiping propensity, and notwithstand the tactics of obscurism, one of its scribes, inspired with a new idea, has aimed a fatal blow of calumny against my principle, by charging them with insult to our Saviour, Jesus Christ. The cause of this attack was a speech made by […]

Fourier’s response to the “Gazette de France” (1835)

June 18, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

The Phalanx, 1 no. 13 (June 29, 1844): 185-187; 1 no. 14 (July 13, 1844): 205-209 FOURIER‘S REPLY TO THE GAZETTE DE FRANCE, in which his doctrines were grossly misrepresented as being anti-christian. “Having been publicly calumniated in the columns of a daily newspaper, by some pseudo-Christians, who are evidently influenced by that false pride which they pretend to condemn, it is my duty to refute their sophistry, and show the inconsistency of those absurd critics and false prophets who publicly admit the want of that very discovery of practical truth, which they blindly calumniate in my theory. “‘Tant de […]

From “The Morning Star” (October 21, 1840)

June 15, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

[one_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”] [In October, 1840, Hugh Doherty launched The Morning Star, or Phalansterian Gazette as the organ of the associationist movement in England. It lasted twelve issues, and was succeeded by The London Phalanx. The first issue announced an intention of providing weekly translation from Fourier’s work, and while that plan was ultimately not accomplished, there were a number of translations included in the paper. This first selection, from that first issue (October 21, 1840), is drawn from the “Foreword” of The Treatise on Domestic-Agricultural Association.] [/one_third][two_third_last padding=”0 0px 0 10px”] TRANSLATION OF THE MOST POPULAR PARTS […]

Charles Fourier, “Cosmogony”

May 28, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

[one_third padding=”0 10px 0 0px”][/one_third][two_third_last padding=”0 0px 0 10px”] COSMOGONY. FROM A MANUSCRIPT OF FOURIER. Translated for the Harbinger. —— PREAMBLE. Having reached this twenty-first section, I feel the same temptation which Montesquieu did at his twenty-first book. He wanted to address an invocation to the Muses; I read it in a journal which seemed astonished, and with reason, at this weakness. Montesquieu, amongst other complaints, said to the virgins of Pindus: “I have run a long career, and I am overburdened with cares.” Nevertheless he had, to support his labors and distract him from his cares, an income of […]

Victor Considerant, The Ideal of a Perfect Society

May 27, 2012

THE IDEAL OF A PERFECT SOCIETY. I. Let us in thought construct upon some globe a society, in which social causes of evil shall not exist, and where humanity shall employ its activity and power in the development of the elements needed for the happiness of its members. There would be, on such a globe, an order like that which reigns in the system of the stars. In this system, the worlds of different orders are arranged in hierarchies—the satellites burn around their planets, and the planets around the central sun, which concentrates all the attractions of the group, and […]

Not just for pear-growers anymore

May 27, 2012 Shawn P. Wilbur

The anarcho-Fourierist renaissance continues. In “The Lesson of the Pear Growers’ Series,” I had suggested that there might still be some lessons to be learned from Charles Fourier’s approach to questions of individual passion, competition, etc. Unfortunately, “Note A,” which contains the most concise explanation of Fourier’s associative model, is not available (yet) in a public-domain translation online—and it is a bit of a stretch, at times, to make the analogies between growing pears (and apples, and quinces) and other sorts of labor we might actually be planning on engaging in. Fortunately, one of Fourier’s disciples wrote a work illustrating […]