François-Xavier-Joseph Droz (; 31 December 1773 – 9 November 1850) was a reactionary French writer on

ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concer ...

, political science and political economy.

Biography

He was born at

Besançon Besançon (, , , ; archaic german: Bisanz; la, Vesontio) is the prefecture of the department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzer ...

, where his family had supplied many notable members of the legal profession. Droz's own legal studies led him to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

in 1792; he arrived the day after the dethronement of King

Louis XVI of France Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...

, and was present during the massacres of September. On the declaration of war he joined the volunteer battalion of the

Doubs Doubs (, ; ; frp, Dubs) is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in Eastern France. Named after the river Doubs, it had a population of 543,974 in 2019.Army of the Rhine An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

. Discharged on health grounds, he obtained a much more congenial post in the newly founded école centrale of Besançon; and in 1799 he made his first appearance as an author by an ''Essai sur l'art oratoire'' (Paris, Fructidor, An VII.), in which he acknowledges his indebtedness more especially to

Hugh Blair Hugh Blair FRSE (7 April 1718 – 27 December 1800) was a Scottish minister of religion, author and rhetorician, considered one of the first great theorists of written discourse. As a minister of the Church of Scotland, and occupant of the ...

. Moving to Paris in 1803, he became friendly not only with the like-minded Ducis, but also with the sceptical

Cabanis Cabanis is the surname of: *George Cabanis (1815-1892), American politician *Jean Cabanis (1816–1906), German ornithologist *José Cabanis José Cabanis (2 March 1922 – 6 October 2000) was a French novelist, essayist, historian and magistrate ...

; and it was on this philosopher's advice that, in order to catch the public ear, he produced the romance of ''Lina'', which Sainte-Beuve has characterized as a mingled echo of ''Florian'' and ''Werther''. Like several other literary men of the time, he obtained a post in the revenue office known as the ''Droits runis''; but from 1814 he devoted himself exclusively to literature and became a contributor to various journals. Already favorably known by his ''Essai sur l'art d'être heureux'' (Paris, 1806), his ''Éloge de Montaigne'' (1812), and his ''Essai sur le beau dans les arts'' (1815), he not only gained the

Montyon Prize The Montyon Prize (french: Prix Montyon) is a series of prizes awarded annually by the French Academy of Sciences and the Académie française. They are endowed by the French benefactor Baron de Montyon. History Prior to the start of the French R ...

in 1823 by his work ''De la philosophie morale ou des différents systèmes sur la science de la vie'', but also in 1824 obtained admission to the Académie française. He died in Paris.

Thought

The main doctrine that this treatise seeks to inculcate is that society will never be in a proper state until men have been educated to think of their duties and not of their rights. It was followed in 1825 by ''Application de la morale à la politique'', and in 1829 by ''L'économie politique ou principes de la science des richesses'', a methodical and clearly written treatise, which was edited by

Michel Chevalier Michel Chevalier (; 13 January 1806 – 18 November 1879) was a French engineer, statesman, economist and free market liberal. Biography Born in Limoges, Haute-Vienne, Chevalier studied at the ''École Polytechnique'', obtaining an engineerin ...

in 1854. His next and greatest work was a ''Histoire du règne de Louis XVI'' in three volumes (Paris, 1839 1842). As he advanced in life, Droz became more and more decidedly religious, and the last work of his prolific pen was ''Pensées sur le christianisme'' (1842). In the words of Sainte-Beuve, "he was born and he remained all his life of the race of the good and the just."

Legacy

Joseph Droz is quoted by Peter Kropotkin in his history of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

, when people were allowed to tour the oubliettes of the royalty, and, according to Joseph Droz, people were horrified at what they saw, and that even given this, "that in the Bastille there were even worse things to be seen."

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Droz, Joseph 1773 births 1850 deaths Writers from Besançon Members of the Académie Française