Maistre: Considerations On France May 2026

The central pillar of Maistre’s argument is that the Revolution was a "satanic" event, though one sanctioned by God. He views the Enlightenment as a period of intellectual pride where "philosophes" attempted to replace divine order with human reason. To Maistre, the Reign of Terror was the logical conclusion of this hubris.

For Maistre, a constitution cannot be "made" by a committee; it must be "grown" through history, tradition, and divine sanction. He believed that the more a constitution is written down, the weaker it is, as true political authority rests on the "unwritten" prejudices and religious sentiments that bind a people together. The "Miracle" of the Restoration Maistre: Considerations on France

A significant portion of the essay is dedicated to a critique of rationalist political theory. Maistre famously mocked the abstract "Rights of Man" championed by the National Assembly. He argued that "Man" as a universal concept does not exist: The central pillar of Maistre’s argument is that

"I have seen, in my time, Frenchmen, Italians, Russians... but as for Man, I declare I never met him in my life; if he exists, it is without my knowledge." For Maistre, a constitution cannot be "made" by