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French Revolution, philosophical background and influence of

DOI
10.4324/9780415249126-DC118-1
Published
2003
DOI: 10.4324/9780415249126-DC118-1
Version: v1,  Published online: 2003
Retrieved March 28, 2024, from https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/thematic/french-revolution-philosophical-background-and-influence-of/v-1

Article Summary

The French Revolution is clearly defined as a benchmark event of the modern era. It remains the revolution by which all others are measured. Any discussion of political and social ideology, sovereignty, or nationality hark back to forces unleashed by the French Revolution. Nineteenth-century Europe, not France alone, was haunted by memories of the Revolution. As the century advanced, however, the new ideologies of liberalism, conservatism and socialism coalesced and developed their own identities independent of the Revolution. The triumph of the Bolsheviks in Russia generated a renewed interest in the concept of revolution that lasted throughout the Cold War. At the dawn of the twenty-first century the French Revolution remains a subject of relentless analysis, yet at the same time its philosophical heritage has increasingly been called into question.

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Citing this article:
Millhorn, Jim. French Revolution, philosophical background and influence of, 2003, doi:10.4324/9780415249126-DC118-1. Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Taylor and Francis, https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/thematic/french-revolution-philosophical-background-and-influence-of/v-1.
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