Talk:Henri de Boulainvilliers

message: : "Abregé ou courte Exposition de l'Opinion de Spinoza touchant la Divinité, l'Esprit Humain et les Fondements de la Morale"
: "Extrait du Traité Théologo-Politique de Spinosa et la Réfutation de quelques-uns de ses Sentiments"
: "Essay de Métaphysique dans les principes de B... de Sp..."
: "Exposition du système de Benoît Spinosa et sa Défense contre les Objections de M.Régis"
: "Examen de la Réfutation faite par M. Régis de l'Opinion de Spinosa sur l'Existence et la Nature de Dieu"
Those are the texts of Henry de Boulainviller on Spinoza published by Renée Simon in "Henry de Boulainviller: Oeuvres Philosophiques" La Haye: Martinus Nijhoff, 1973. In none of these Spinoza's conatus is identified with the "right of conquest" or the right of the strongest nor do they mark any extravagant nor indeed any "admiration of the feudal system" at all. On pg 10 of the cited reference Renée Simon attributes "Analyse du Traité théologi-politique de Spinosa" (1767) --fort probablement-- to the pen of Voltaire.
There seems to be something about Wikipedia that attracts contributors to discover "one of the first theory of races". Historical events such as the Inquisition over the "Limpieza de sangre" in 15th century Spain hardly seem to contribute to the debate.
"A prodigious change happened to the world on that occasion" de Boulainviller wrote of the fall of the Roman Empire "each province of the empire became the conquest of some particular nation  up to then ignored. Such was the beginning of a different kind of nobility that perpetuated among us and in the kingdoms formed from the dismemberment of the roman empire. An odious nobility, if you want, because its origin let itself be known and felt by a terrible violence that desolated the earth and enslaved a free people living in peace and unprovoking. Nevertheless one has to also recognise that having defended themselves badly they justly underwent the law of the victor and there is realy no more real nobility than the one aquired by the right of conquest, like there is no greater distinction between men than that born from the submission of the vanquished."( from: "Mémoire sur la Noblesse" manuscript Angoulême no 23, page 512 as quothed by Renée Simon in :"Henry de Boulainviller -Historien, Politique, Philosophe, Astrologue (1658-1722)" Paris: Boivin & Cie, s.d.;pg 71)
Such was de Boulainviller's description of what became known as a natural law of goverment. As such his theory seems to have much in common with Hobbes. Renée Simon relevates a significant reference to the English Puritans in de Boulainviller's text.(in op.cit.pg 105). Compare:" Thomas Hobbes and the Revolution in Political Thought." in Christopher Hill: "Puritanism and Revolution: Studies in Interpretation of the English Revolution of the 17th century" London: Mercury Books, 1962. But the devil is in the details. While writing as a true critical historian from what was available sourcewise de Boulainviller indeed refered to the conquest of Gaul by the Franks. His "racial theory" however seems to have been read into this with no justice whatsoever to this on many counts truely remarkable philosopher. (Lunarian 12:05, 13 June 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: de Boulainviller

message: "He was at great pains to prove the pretensions of his own family to ancient nobility..." The relation between the "de Boulainviller" and the " House of Croÿ " was no matter of pretension as the familycrest showed.The Duc de Saint-Simon who was one of the most acid critics of the Court of Louis XIV had the greatest respect for Henry de Boulainviller (a rare honour) because of the way he was unpretensious about this. As far as de Boulainviller was concerned , he could not conceive of any other way of transmission of this relation as through the "bloodline". Yet this was a personal matter. One should read his "la Vie de Mahomed avec des reflexions sur la religion mahométane et les coutumes des Musulmans" (1731 /2002,for the english translation) to appreciate his vision of humanity in comparative cultural studies. A very long way from "racialism" indeed. (Lunarian 12:58, 13 June 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: At Pains

message: Apparantly the source for the misunderstanding about de Boulainviller is Théophile Simar :"Etude critique sur la doctrine des races au XVIIIe siècle et son expansion au XIXe siècle" Académie Royale de Belgique -Classe des Lettres et des Sciences morales et politiques- Mémoires, Deuxième série, T;XVI,fasc.4 et dernier; Bruxelles 1922.
Apart from the fact that Simar's knowledge of de Boullainviller was extremely scarce it does not follow from his study that de Boulainviller's remarks were to be taken as a racial theory. Simar stresses the point by noting that de B. defends a theory of classes (in cursivo, pg 24) exactly as he noted the same (in cursivo, pg 20) for François Hotman whose "Franco-Gallia" (Genéve, 1579), with the same thesis of de B. but a different political conclusion, preceded de B. by that many decades. Thus not only did de Boulainviller not invent a "discourse on the Nordic races", even the source of his political discourse did not originate with him. One should leave the stretches of the imagination often called upon by Téophile Simar (...avec un peu d'adresse... pg 35) to his proper account, not emmulate them.
In preceding pages Théophile Simar had drawn the attention to the significance of Tacitus "Germania" in reference to M.E.Picot's
"Le Pangermanisme au XVIe sciècle" the detail of which lay beyond the scope of his own paper. Students of history may already be aware of the pages relating to the "Germania", and Conrad Celtes
edition of it in 1500, by the brilliant Simon Schama in "Landscape and Memory" London: HarperCollins, 1995. They do have a bearing on the invention of the "discourse on the nordic races" but they do not involve Henry de Boulainviller.
Neither does Richard H.Popkin in "Medicine, Racism, Anti-Semitism: A Dimension of Enlightenment Culture" in "The Languages of Psyche:Mind and Body in Enlightenment Thought" Clark Library Lectures 1985-1986 G.S.Rosseau ed. Berkeley: University of California Press 1990 take de Boulainviller for reference.(pages that will make the aficionado of first racial theories water from the mouth)
The conclusion may be that many wikiarticles on racism suffer from a flagrant misconception if not ignorance of relevant sources. miscegenation, state racism for example are a case in point. If not ignorance then intelectual dishonesty.(Lunarian 11:47, 15 June 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Back To The Source

message: Please see Talk:Henry III of France#Why the anglicized "Henry"? — SMcCandlish ☏ ¢ 😼  07:13, 21 February 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Henri versus Henry