Destutt de tracy. Philosophie du langage et science de l'homme
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Abstract EN:
Though the work of destutt de tracy, like that of all ideologists, has been given too little attention, its paramount importance in philosophy in the transitionary period between the xviiith and xixth centuries cannot be denied. Indebted as it was to the philosophy of the enlightenment -of which it was both a completion and a fulfilment- it was given a new impetus by the "science of ideas". Conceived during the french revolution, it attempts to lay the foundations of all sciences then in existence as well as those yet to come into being, particularly those likely to generate a veritable "social art". These foundations are to be found in rational and experimental metaphysics, themselves firmly rooted in physio- logy. The "ideological" (in the modern sense of the word) content of the components of this "science of mankind", and the illusory purposefulness that is given to them cannot entirely obscure the very pertinent and rigorous philosophical proble- matic that is deployed in tracy's system, mainly in elements of ideology and in his commentary on montesquieu's esprit des lois. His philosophy consists in a compre- hensive investigation of the possibilities for individuals of liberating themselves from all the constraints that their ignorance of the laws of human nature and their subservience to pernicious institutions impose on them. Language plays a prominent part in this striving for liberation through knowledge. For the achievement of
Abstract FR:
Meconnue comme celle de tous les ideologues, l'oeuvre de destutt de tracy occupe une place essentielle dans la philosophie a la charniere des xviiie et xixe siecles. Heritiere de la pensee des lumieres dont elle marque a la fois le terme et l'accomplissement, la "science des idees" lui imprime une nouvelle direction. Concue sous la revolution, elle se donne pour tache de fonder dans une metaphysique rationnelle et experimentale, enracinee dans la physiologie, toutes les sciences existantes et a venir, particulierement celles dont depend l'avenement d'un veritable "art social". Le contenu "ideologique" (au sens moderne) des composantes de cette "science de l'homme" et la finalite illusoire qui leur est assignee ne peuvent entierement masquer la problematique philosophique pertinente et rigoureuse qui se deploie dans le systeme de tracy, essentiellement dans les elements d'ideologie et dans le commentaire sur l'esprit des lois de montesquieu. Elle consiste en une recherche exhaustive des conditions de possibilite de liberation des individus a l'egard des contraintes que l'ignorance des lois de leur nature et la soumission a des institutions pernicieuses font peser sur eux. Dans cet itineraire de liberation par la connaissance, le langage assume un role determinant. Car si la voie du bonheur et de la liberte est une saine legislation, c'est le langage, source des conventions, qui est legislateur : toute l'histoire de l'homme est dans celle des progres de son langage. La philosophie du langage est donc la necessaire introduction aux sciences morales et politiques. Consideree en elle-meme, elle est