In four lectures, Thibon examines the bonds that hold a civilization together: shared faith, living communities, education and an authority capable of protecting genuine freedoms. He distinguishes organic unity from enforced uniformity, challenges the identification of democracy with liberty, and considers Donoso Cortés’s account of faith and political power. Throughout, he asks what remains of freedom when inherited obligations give way to isolated individuals and an expanding state.
Gustave Thibon — 1 recording in the archive.
Related reading: Diagnostics: Essai de physiologie sociale by Gustave Thibon.
Ladies, gentlemen, and my goodness. I can well say my dear friends, given my seniority in these meetings and the links that have already been created between us, I have to deal this evening with a particularly vast subject and particularly difficult because of its generality. Well, if you want, we'll start. It's a bit abstract, but what do you want? You have to go through that. And we'll start with some definitions. And I could talk to you at length about the word unity which has several definitions in philosophical dictionaries. Let us choose the one which seems to relate best to our subject. Unity is said to be the character of what is one, that is to say which forms an organic whole and which would change its nature if it removed one of its parts. The typical example is the body. And you will notice, since we let's talk about unity, pluralism, that the word unity automatically implies pluralism, because it is precisely the diversity of organs which ensures unity, which ensures the integrity of the body. Because precisely, is it not the same everywhere? This diversity converges towards a common goal: conservation, harmony, and development of this body. Feel good that ultimately, the same can be said for the whole of the universe which is made up of elements which complement each other and which combine with a view to a higher harmony. The gravitation of the stars, solidarity between the various kingdoms of mineral, plant and animal nature. You know the meaning of the word universe which means both one and winter. And to the extreme limit, at the divine limit, we have the mystery of the trinity, God one and three. The subsisting relation is the model, the model inaccessible of course, since we are not God, but it really is the perfect archetype. I would first like to distinguish between diversity, digital plurality and plurality qualitative, which is very different. Um the grains of fable, for example on a beach, well there, we can only speak of numerical plurality. The quality is the same while there is qualitative diversity between the organs of a body. Well, it is this diversity, this plurality that interests us here. Obviously, everything is relatively clear when it comes to nature. The cosmos, the word says it in Greek, is constituted by an order. Difference serves unity, unity…