Charles Fourier

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Charles Fourier

Charles Fourier [ ʃaʀl fuˈʀje ] (born April 7, 1772 in Besançon , † October 10, 1837 in Paris ) was a French social theorist, a proponent of early socialism and a sharp critic of early capitalism .

Life

Charles Fourier was the son of Marie and Charles Fourier, a wealthy cloth merchant. The father died when Charles was nine years old. He attended a humanistic high school . Following his mother's request, he began a commercial apprenticeship in Lyon and Rouen in 1791 , after he had not been admitted to a military school in Mézières as a non-noblewoman . In 1793 he took part in the uprising against the rule of the convent in Lyon . He was captured following the victory of the government forces, but was released after the intercession of a Jacobin cousin .

He lost his father's fortune partly through confiscation and partly after speculation. Fourier practically had to make ends meet in unpopular trades, as a traveling salesman, clerk, broker and cashier. All of his attempts to devote himself entirely to the sciences failed due to lack of money.

1803-1804 he published a series of articles in which he presented his ideas of the "universal harmony", the "calculation of social and erotic attractions" for the first time.

In 1808 his first major work appeared, the theory of four movements ( Théorie des quatre Mouvements ).

1815-1816 Fourier retired to Talissieu im Bugey and began to edit his numerous manuscripts. A first student, Just Muiron, contacted him. In 1819 he completed the Grand Traité ( Great Treatise , eight volumes), which he brought out in 1821, greatly abridged and freed from the erotic passages. The work was hardly noticed by the public.

After a financially oppressive phase and an unsteady life between Besançon , Paris , Lyon and the Jura , the clearest formulation of the economic aspects of his theory appeared in 1829 in The New World of Industry and Socialization ( Le nouveau monde industriel et sociétaire ).

Towards the end of his life he quarreled with Robert Owen and with the followers of Saint-Simon , fell out with his students, waited every day at 12 noon in his house for a patron who would give him his first phalanstery (see also “Main ideas”) ) financed, but slowly became known and sometimes even celebrated. La fausse industrie ( The False Industry ) was published 1835–1836, the last work during his lifetime .

Fourier's grave on the Cimetière de Montmartre

On October 10, 1837, Fourier died in Paris in his apartment, which, like everyone else before, he had turned into a greenhouse full of flowers and plants.

Main ideas

Fourier rejected state unification in every respect. He criticized the tendency of many social revolutionary models towards a single culture not only in social and working life, but also in the world of emotions, relationships and thoughts. He is convinced that social harmony does not arise through the suppression of (economic, dominant, sexual, etc.) drives, but rather through the acting out of the various attractions, which are differently concentrated in each individual, and which affect talent, intellectual abilities, emotional life, etc. - or association forces. He saw the happy man as a being moved and controlled by passions; and he is far from wanting to change passions; he believed that through “opposing” passions they could be integrated into social driving forces in a harmonious whole that was conducive to the “uplift” ( eating place ) of people.

Isaac Newton's theory of universal gravity and the attraction of the celestial bodies can be used to illustrate this idea (in fact, this theory had a decisive influence on Fourier's own discovery): like the stars and planets, whose gravity should actually cause everything If you get into their gravity field, are drawn in and swallowed up, are kept in harmonious circles by balancing the counterweights, then the passionate attraction among people, left free and in their interaction, brings about the automatic order to a social cosmos.

For Fourier, “order” was always “composite order”, and insofar as this ideal order was envisaged as a feasible, socially and emotionally revolutionary model, he called it phalansterium (French Phalanstère , from Greek phalanx and Latin monasterium , Monastery). This cooperative order, which Fourier usually called "harmony", is not only an economic community, but also a love community. The ascetic work ethic of capitalism, partly ennobled by Christian, especially Protestant theology, which had degraded physical love to a form of reward, was radically criticized in its “dismemberment” (French: morcelage ). This is regarded as an important contribution by Fourier to the history of libertarian socialism : a liberation of work is not possible without a liberation of sexuality - and vice versa.

Fourier is considered to be the father of the term feminism . He dealt intensively with equality between men and women . In his work From the New World of Love he wrote, “Harmony does not come about if we commit the stupidity of restricting women to the kitchen and saucepan. Nature has endowed both sexes equally with the ability for science and art. "

In his work The False Industry , he worked out his demand for an unconditional basic income . He saw the supply of all individuals in society with the essentials of life as a right and justified it with the fact that the "first natural right" to hunting, gathering, fishing, grazing, and thus to the procurement of what is necessary to satisfy hunger in the Civilization has been lost.

Fourier repeatedly combined his criticism of capitalism with a sometimes angry anti-Semitism . He considered trade, credit and financial speculation to be unproductive, immoral, and the cause of numerous evils in his presence. He saw their excesses, namely usury and exploitation, personified in Judaism , which he understood not as a religion but as a nation. Therefore, he advocated reversing the emancipation of the Jews and withdrawing citizenship from the Jews. Since, in his opinion, Jews did not do productive work, he called them parasites . In order to dissuade them from what he believed to be unproductive and harmful activities, they should be forced to do agricultural work in phalansteries.

Influences

Already in the 19th and early 20th centuries Fourier exerted a great influence on some socialist theorists (libertarian- syndicalist direction). It is also known that the father of the philosopher and psychologist William James , Henry James Sr., was significantly influenced in his ideas by Fourier. Fourier's “Phalansterium” set a literary monument among others by Imre Madách with his play “ The Tragedy of Man ” (Hungarian: “Az ember tragédiája”, 1861) and Nikolai Gavrilowitsch Tschernyshevsky in his novel “ What to do? “(Russian Что делать , 1863).

With his ideas on the basic income, Fourier influenced the philosopher John Stuart Mill , who took Fourier's concept in part in his main work on political economy and described it as "the most skilfully put together of all forms of socialism".

Fourier's writings also inspired anti-Semites in the economic justification of their hostility to Jews in the late 19th century.

Fourier, Victor Considerant and Karl Bürkli have encouraged the establishment of full cooperatives or integrated cooperatives , which include other areas of life beyond the economic, such as common living and household, joint work, child care, schools, culture, health care, care for the elderly, etc. An example of this Influences Fourier is the first full cooperative in Switzerland, the Freidorf settlement cooperative in Muttenz , the construction of which was founded in 1921 by the Association of Swiss Consumers as a model project for a full cooperative.

Fourier's theories and designs became significant again in the course of the 1968 movement . Their motto, "Fantasy on Power" (French: L'imagination au pouvoir ) came directly from the New World of Love , and some of the most radical communal experiments of the 1970s, such as the action-analytical action by the Viennese actionism artist Otto Muehl, are also related to on Wilhelm Reich , also on Charles Fourier, just as the Situationists were inspired by him. Even Herbert Marcuse was referring to his concept of a free society.

Works

  • Œeuvres complétes . 12 vol. Paris 1966–1968

In addition to the works published during his lifetime, one should also mention:
Le nouveau monde amoureux ( The new world of love ), which was created around 1820 and made available in a complete edition in 1967.

This work focused on Fourier's boldest idea, which was also the least represented by his own students: that a social revolution can only lead to its goal in connection with a sexual revolution in the sense of free love .

  • Theory of the four movements and general determinations . Ed. Theodor W. Adorno , transl. E. Lenk. Frankfurt 1966.
  • The harmonious upbringing . Ed. W. Apelt. Berlin 1958.
  • From the New World of Love and About Freedom in Love . Selection & Introduction Daniel Guérin. With an appendix on Freedom at Work . Introduction to Marion Luckow. Translated by Eva Moldenhauer . Wagenbach, Berlin 1977 and others
    • newly published in 2017: Freedom in love. An essay. Nautilus , Hamburg 2017, ISBN 978-3-96054-055-7 (Translated by Eva Moldenhauer, the selection follows the 1977 Wagenbach edition)
  • The philosopher of classifieds. A Fourier reader. Translator Marie-Luise Frimont. Select and come. Martin Burckhardt. Semele, Berlin 2006 ISBN 978-3-938869-09-3
  • Economic-Philosophical Writings: A Selection of Texts . Translated and edited with an introduction by Lola Zahn . Academy, Berlin 1980
  • Individual pieces were translated and published in 1846 by Friedrich Engels (in the German Citizens' Book for 1846 ) and in 1975/76 by Marion Luckow (in Rowohlt's literary magazine 3 and Jahrbuch Politik 7 ).
  • About global social chaos. Selected writings on philosophy and social theory. Edited by Hans-Christoph Schmidt am Busch. Academy, Berlin 2012 ISBN 978-3-05-004914-4

In addition, he wrote texts with the titles:

  • The new industrial and social world, or the invention of an attractive and natural industrial process that divides work into passionate series (1829/30)
  • The false, fragmented, repulsive, lying industry and the antidote: the natural, true and attractive industry (1833/36), in which, among other things, he developed his concept for an unconditional income guarantee.

exhibition

  • 2010: L'écart absolu: Charles Fourier (German: The absolute deviation), Musée des Beaux-Arts et d'Archéologie, Besançon

Literature (selection)

  • Marvin Chlada , Andreas Gwisdalla: Charles Fourier. An introduction to his thinking , Alibri, Aschaffenburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-86569-180-4
  • Bernhard Becker : Karl Fourier. In addition to an appendix: 'The Social Palace or the Familistere in Guise'. With the portrait of Fourier and a picture of his phalanstere . Wilhelm Bracke jr., Braunschweig 1874
  • August Bebel : Charles Fourier. His life and his theories . JHW Dietz, Stuttgart 1888 (International Library 6) (New edition Reclam, Leipzig 1978 and Röderberg, Frankfurt 1978 ISBN 3-87682-441-9 )
  • Christo Mutafoff: On the history of the right to work with special consideration for Charles Fourier . Wyß, Bern 1897 (Berner Contributions to the History of Political Economy 10)
  • Guenter Behrens: The social utopia of Charles Fourier . Cologne 1977 (Univ. Cologne, Philos. Fac., Diss. From 1976)
  • Daniel Guérin : "Foreword", In: Charles Fourier: From the new world of love. About freedom and love . Wagenbach, Berlin 1977 ISBN 3-8031-2032-2 (see above)
  • Dietrich-Eckhard Franz: Fourier, François-Marie-Charles . In: Philosophers' Lexicon. From a collective of authors. Edited by Erhard Lange, Dietrich Alexander . Dietz, Berlin 1982, pp. 282-287
  • Elisabeth Lenk : Against the verdict on fantasy as fantasy. Introduction to the German edition of the theory of the four movements by Charles Fourier . In: Dies .: Kritische Phantasie , Matthes & Seitz Verlag, Munich 1986 ISBN 3-88221-368-X , pp. 11–56
  • Roland Barthes : Sade , Fourier, Loyola . Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt 1986 ISBN 978-3-518-28185-7
  • Jonathan F. Beecher: Charles Fourier. The Visionary and His World . University of California Press , Berkeley 1987, ISBN 0-520-05600-0
  • Walter Euchner (Ed.): Classics of Socialism. Vol. 1 From Gracchus Babeuf to Georgi Walentinowitsch Plechanow . CH Beck, Munich 1991 ISBN 3-406-35089-5 , p. 32
  • Michael Winter: Fourier, Charles . In: Bernd Lutz (Ed.): Metzler Philosophen Lexikon. From the pre-Socratics to the new philosophers . Metzler, Stuttgart 2003 ISBN 3-476-01953-5 , pp. 228-231
  • Margarete Stokowski : "Foreword", In: Charles Fourier : Freedom in love. An essay. Nautilus , Hamburg 2017, ISBN 978-3-96054-055-7

Web links

Commons : Charles Fourier  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Charles Fourier  - sources and full texts (French)
Wikisource: Charles Fourier  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Annette Schaefgen: Fourier, Charles. In: Wolfgang Benz (Hrsg.): Handbuch des Antisemitismus . Vol. 2: People . De Gruyter Saur, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-598-44159-2 , p. 243 (accessed via De Gruyter Online).
  2. ^ Dietrich- E. Franz: Saint-Simon, Fourier, Owen. 19th century social utopias . Pahl-Rugenstein, Cologne 1988, ISBN 3-7609-1094-7 , pp. 61 .
  3. ↑ full text
  4. ↑ Wolfgang Benz (Ed.): Handbook of Antisemitism. Hostility to Jews in the past and present. tape 2/1 . De Gruyter, Saur, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-598-24072-0 , pp. 243 .
  5. ↑ Lisa Moses Leff: Fourier, Charles. In: Richard S. Levy (Ed.): Antisemitism. A Historical Encyclopedia of Prejudice and Persecution. ABC-Clio, Berkeley 2005, Vol. 1, p. 238; Annette Schaefgen: Fourier, Charles. In: Wolfgang Benz (Hrsg.): Handbuch des Antisemitismus . Vol. 2: People . De Gruyter Saur, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-598-44159-2 , p. 243 (accessed via De Gruyter Online).
  6. ↑ Jonathan Beecher: Charles Fourier. The Visionary and His World . University of California Press, Berkeley / Los Angeles / London 1990, pp. 199, 203 f.
  7. ^ Paul Morris: Judaism and Capitalism. In: Richard H. Roberts (Ed.): Religion and the Transformations of Capitalism. Comparative approaches. Routledge, London / New York 1995, p. 90.
  8. ↑ Lisa Moses Leff: Fourier, Charles. In: Richard S. Levy (Ed.): Antisemitism. A Historical Encyclopedia of Prejudice and Persecution . ABC-Clio, Berkeley 2005, Vol. 1, p. 238.
  9. ↑ Charles Fourier - Freedom in Love - at Edition Nautilus. Retrieved January 28, 2018 .
  10. ↑ The German National Library offers the table of contents of the documents it contains on its server
personal data
SURNAME Fourier, Charles
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French social theorist
DATE OF BIRTH April 7, 1772
PLACE OF BIRTH Besançon
DATE OF DEATH October 10, 1837
Place of death Paris