French moralists

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The French moralists include philosophical writers of the late 16th, 17th and 18th centuries who publish in French and whose texts are part of European moral studies . In terms of form and content, this current or genre of text is u. a. can be characterized by essayistic style and the tendency to want to analyze human behavior . Accordingly, the word component “morality” does not refer to ethical aspects.

Concept history

The term French moralists was coined by Amaury Duval (1760–1838), who in 1820 began to publish a number of different works under the title Collection de Moralistes Français .

Representative

Among the French moralists are u. a. counted: Michel de Montaigne , Pierre Charron , Blaise Pascal , François de La Rochefoucauld , Jean de La Bruyère , Luc de Clapiers, Marquis de Vauvenargues , Charles Pinot Duclos , Antoine de Rivarol , Nicolas Chamfort , Montesquieu , Ferdinando Galiani , Prince of Ligne , Joseph Joubert , Théodore Simon Jouffroy .

The wit and irony of the moralists were well received in the Paris salons. They influenced later authors such as u. a. Voltaire , Georg Christoph Lichtenberg , Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , Arthur Schopenhauer , Friedrich Nietzsche , Oscar Wilde and Jules Renard .

literature

See the selected bibliography in the main article Moralistics
Text collections
  • Fritz Schalk , Ed. And Translator: The French Moralists.
    • Volume 1: La Rochefoucauld, Vauvenargues, Montesquieu, Chamfort, Rivarol. Dieterich Collection , April 22, reworked. Wiesbaden undated & Leipzig 1962
    • Volume 2: Galiani, Prince of Ligne, Joubert. ibid. No. 45.
  • ders. as ed. and transl.
    • Volume 1: La Rochefoucauld, Vauvenargues, Montesquieu, Chamfort. dtv , 1984 a. ö. ISBN 3423060263
    • Volume 2: Galiani, Rivarol, Joubert, Jouffroy. ibid. 1984, ISBN 3423060271
  • ders .: The French moralists. La Rochefoucauld, Vauvenargues, Montesquieu, Chamfort. Diogenes-Taschenbuch , 22791. Series: detebe-Klassiker. ISBN 3257227914

Individual evidence

  1. Cf. Margot Kruse: The French Moralists of the 17th Century, in: Contributions to French Moralistics, Berlin 2003, pp. 1–27, p. 1
  2. Collection de Moralistes Français, Paris 1820-22, 6 vols., Announced as 14 vols.
  3. the previous 3rd edition was also published in both places in 1949; the 1st & 2nd editions 1938 & 1946 still with a preface by Karl Vossler
  4. The 2nd edition: Part 1 & 2 in one volume = Dieterich, Leipzig 1980 = 5th edition of the total edition; also edition by Schünemann, Bremen 1962/1963 in 2 volumes and additionally with Jouffroy (like dtv, 1984) = differently bound in 1 volume ONLY for Switzerland by Verlag Schibli-Doppler, Birsfelden , undated (1976); this dating after Albert Raffelt, see web link in Pensées
  5. Volume 2 did not appear here