Pierre-Joseph Proudhon

New Proudhon Library

Justice in the Revolution and in the Church: First Study (Parallel English)

February 6, 2023 Shawn P. Wilbur
The theory of Immanence, while resolving the apparent contradictions of morality, still explains all the fictions of the allegedly revealed system. It gives, so to speak, the natural history of theology and worship, the reason for the mysteries, the biography of the gods. It shows us how religion was born from the preponderance given in society to one of the essential elements of the soul, an element which, sovereign in metaphysics, must remain secondary in practice, the Ideal. It is only of yesterday, and we already owe to it that spark which makes the lights of the old faith pale; slandered excessively, it will save us from the corruptions in extremis of a reaction to despair and a religiosity that is dying out.

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Featured articles

“Justice” — A Second Attempt

January 7, 2023 Shawn P. Wilbur
The goal is to translate the twelve studies in Justice in the Revolution and in the Church—and to do so, where necessary, twice, producing translations of both the 1858 first edition and the expanded and corrected 1860 edition. I’m revising my 2009 translation of the 1860 “Program” for about the third time and will I will tackle the extensive notes and “Nouvelles de la Révolution” (which make up two of the six volumes of the second edition) as I complete the relevant studies, including La Pornocratie, which appears in manuscript form as one more of the “Nouvelles” sections and was originally intended by Proudhon to follow the two studies on “Love and Marriage.”

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New Proudhon Library

Justice in the Revolution and in the Church: First Study (Parallel French)

January 6, 2023 Shawn P. Wilbur
PREMIÈRE ÉTUDE POSITION DU PROBLÈME DE LA JUSTICE À Son Éminence Mgr Matthieu, Cardinal-Archevêque de Besançon. Monseigneur, Avez-vous eu connaissance d’un petit livre, format in-32, couverture jaune, qui a paru, il y a tantôt deux ans, sous ce titre : Proudhon, par Eugène de Mirecourt, chez Gustave Havard, éditeur, rue Guénégaud, Paris ? — Non, répondez-vous, mes souvenirs ne remontent pas si haut. Je ne connais ni l’auteur ni son ouvrage. — Pardon, Monseigneur : ce petit livre fait partie d’une collection intitulée les Contemporains. Il a pour numéro d’ordre 32. C’est une soi-disant biographie dont l’auteur, M. de Mirecourt, après avoir reconnu, […]
Featured articles

Justice in the Revolution and in the Church: Preliminary Discourse (Parallel English)

January 5, 2023 Shawn P. Wilbur
These draft translations are part of on ongoing effort to translate both editions of Proudhon’s Justice in the Revolution and in the Church into English, together with some related works, as the first step toward establishing an edition of Proudhon’s works in English. They are very much a first step, as there are lots of decisions about how best to render the texts which can only be answered in the course of the translation process. It seems important to share the work as it is completed, even in rough form, but the drafts are not suitable for scholarly work or publication elsewhere in their present state.

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New Proudhon Library

Justice in the Revolution and in the Church: Preliminary Discourse (Parallel French)

January 1, 2023 Shawn P. Wilbur
— 1858 First Edition — — 1860 Revised Edition — DE LA JUSTICE DANS LÀ RÉVOLUTION ET DANS L’ÉGLISE. ÉTUDES DE PHILOSOPHIE PRATIQUE ADRESSÉES A SON ÉMINENCE M. LE CARDINAL MATTHIEU, ARCHEVÊQUE DE BESANÇON. PROLOGUE Sous le nom d’un archevêque, j’adresse ces Études à tous les membres du clergé français. Comme au temps des Césars la société est menacée de se dissoudre ; et comme au temps des Césars l’Église croit avoir seule la puissance de la régénérer. L’ouvrage qu’on va lire ayant pour but de reconnaître la réalité et l’intensité du mal, d’en assigner la cause, d’en découvrir le remède, […]
Proudhon Library

Second Study—Personnes—Parallel French

December 6, 2022 Shawn P. Wilbur
— Formatting in progress — 1858 1860 ESSAIS D’UNE PHILOSOPHIE POPULAIRE. — NO. 2 DEUXIÈME ÉTUDE LES PERSONNES CHAPITRE PREMIER. Principe de la dignité personnelle. Monseigneur, Puisque c’est à l’occasion d’un fait personnel que j’ai conçu l’idée de mon livre, permettez-moi d’abord de revenir sur ce fait, auquel vous n’êtes pas étranger, et de vous poser une question. Le particulier, dit la logique, reproduit le général ; le fait est nécessairement l’expression de l’idée. En partant d’un fait, nous n’arriverons que mieux à la loi, tandis que le contraire serait impossible. Telle n’est pas, j’en conviens, la méthode des révélateurs ; mais […]
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Reading Proudhon Today

November 16, 2022 Shawn P. Wilbur
There is a lot of interesting material in Proudhon’s unpublished manuscripts, not all of which is vital to understanding his project, but there are two sets of texts in particular that any serious student should at least be aware of—if only to know what we don’t know.

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