Élie Halévy
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Élie Halévy (6 September 1870 – 21 August 1937) was a French
philosopher A philosopher is a person who practices or investigates philosophy. The term ''philosopher'' comes from the grc, φιλόσοφος, , translit=philosophos, meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek th ...
and
historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...
who wrote studies of the British
utilitarians In ethical philosophy, utilitarianism is a family of normative ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for all affected individuals. Although different varieties of utilitarianism admit different charact ...
, the book of essays '' Era of Tyrannies'', and a history of Britain from 1815 to 1914 that influenced British historiography.


Biography

Élie Halévy was born in
Étretat Étretat () is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of Northwestern France. It is a tourist and farming town situated about northeast of Le Havre, at the junction of the D 940, D 11 and D 139 roads. It is located on ...
,
Seine-Maritime Seine-Maritime () is a department of France in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the northern coast of France, at the mouth of the Seine, and includes the cities of Rouen and Le Havre. Until 1955 it was named Seine-Inféri ...
, where his mother had fled as the German army marched on
Paris Paris () is the capital and 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), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
. His father was the playwright
Ludovic Halévy Ludovic Halévy (1 January 1834 – 7 May 1908) was a French author and playwright, best known for his collaborations with Henri Meilhac on Georges Bizet's '' Carmen'' and on the works of Jacques Offenbach. Biography Ludovic Halévy was born in ...
, his brother was the historian
Daniel Halévy Daniel Halévy (12 December 1872 – 4 February 1962) was a French historian. Life The son of Ludovic Halévy, Daniel was born in and died in Paris. His family was of Jewish descent, but his parents were Protestant and he was brought up as a Pr ...
. His family was of Jewish descent, but his parents were Protestant and he was brought up as a Protestant. Halévy grew up surrounded by musicians, scholars, and politicians. After studying at the
École Normale Supérieure École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...
, he received his doctorate in philosophy in 1901 with the theses ''The Platonic Theory of Knowledge'' and ''The Origins of Philosophical Radicalism''. The latter formed the base of his first major study, ''The Formation of English Philosophical Radicalism'' (3 vols., 1901-1904). In an article of 1893, Halévy suggested that the great moral question of modern thought was how the abstract idea of duty could become a concrete aim of society. This question had first attracted him to the utilitarians, and he found at the core of their answer a fundamental contradiction. Utilitarianism, he said, was based on two principles: first, that the science of the legislator must bring together the naturally divergent interests of individuals in society; and, second, that social order comes about spontaneously through the harmony of individual interests. To Halévy, this exemplified two fundamental human attitudes toward the universe: the contemplation of the astronomer and the intervention of the engineer. In 1896,
Émile Boutmy Émile Boutmy (13 April 1835 – 25 January 1906) was a French political scientist and sociologist who was a native of Paris. He studied law in Paris, and from 1867 to 1870 gave lectures on the history and culture of civilizations as it pertaine ...
invited Halévy to lecture on English political ideas at the newly founded School of Political Science, known today as the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po). After 1900, he alternated this course with another, on the history of socialism. At the same time he helped found the ''
Revue de métaphysique et de morale The ''Revue de métaphysique et de morale'' is a French philosophy journal co-founded in 1893 by Léon Brunschvicg, Xavier Léon and Élie Halévy. The journal initially appeared six times a year, but since 1920 has been published quarterly. It ...
.'' Halévy remained at Sciences Po until his death in 1937. Halévy's teaching led him to undertake annual trips to England, during which he became the intimate friend of many of the most important scholars and political figures of the age. He thoroughly explored the
Jeremy Bentham Jeremy Bentham (; 15 February 1748 Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O.S._4_February_1747.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 4 February 1747">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.htm ...
manuscripts at Cambridge for his work on philosophical radicalism and over the years developed a deep and intensive knowledge of all the sources of 19th-century English history. In 1901 he began to work on the first volume of his masterpiece, the ''History of the English People in the Nineteenth Century'' (published from 1913 onwards). In this first volume, he described England in 1815 and sought to explain how England avoided violent social change. "If economic facts explain the course taken by the human race," he wrote, "the England of the nineteenth century was surely, above all other countries, destined to revolution, both politically and religiously." Neither the British constitution nor the Established Church was strong enough to hold the country together. He found the answer in religious nonconformity: "Methodism was the antidote to Jacobinism." He did not write his history in chronological sequence, nor did he live to complete it. The second and third volumes of this history (1923) carried the story up to 1841. Then Halévy, profoundly moved by
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, turned his attention to the period from 1895 to 1914. The two volumes on this period (published in 1926-1930) were written with considerable detachment, considering the immediacy of the problems he discussed. Together with
Célestin Bouglé Célestin Charles Alfred Bouglé (1 June 1870 – 25 January 1940) was a French philosopher known for his role as one of Émile Durkheim's collaborators and a member of the '' L'Année Sociologique''. Life Bouglé was born in Saint-Brieuc, C ...
he would republish a set of
Saint-Simonian Saint-Simonianism was a French political, religious and social movement of the first half of the 19th century, inspired by the ideas of Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon (1760–1825). Saint-Simon's ideas, expressed largely through a ...
lectures of the 1830, bundled in the 1924 work ''Doctrine de Saint-Simon''. In lectures of 1929, revised in 1936 (published in 1938; '' The Era of Tyrannies''), Halévy argued that the world war had increased national control over individual activities and opened the way for de facto socialism. In opposition to those who saw socialism as the last step in 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 November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
, he saw it as a new organization of constraint replacing those that the Revolution had destroyed. Wallas translates: In what proved to be his last work (which he did not live to complete), Halévy began to bridge the gap between 1841 and 1895 with a volume entitled ''The Age of Peel and Cobden (1841-1852)''. A liberal individualist to the last, Halévy died at
Sucy-en-Brie Sucy-en-Brie (, literally ''Sucy in Brie'') is a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. Population Transport Sucy-en-Brie is served by Sucy–Bonneuil station on Paris RER line A. Educ ...
on 21 August 1937. His publishers posthumously commissioned R. B. McCallum to contribute a supplementary essay to link this volume with the concluding ones, the whole appearing under the title ''Victorian Years'' in 1961.


Publications


In French

Most o
these are online free
* (1896). ''La Théorie platonicienne des sciences''. Paris: Félix Alcan. * (1901-1904). ''La Formation du radicalisme philosophique''. Paris: Félix Alcan. ** (1901). ''La Jeunesse de Bentham 1776-1789''. ** (1901). ''L'Évolution de la doctrine utilitaire de 1789 à 1815''. ** (1904). ''Le Radicalisme philosophique''. * (1903). ''Thomas Hodgskin (1787-1869)''. Paris: Librairie Georges Bellais. * (1913-1946). ''Histoire du peuple anglais au XIXe siècle''. ** (1913). ''L'Angleterre en 1815''.archive.org
/ref> ** (1923). ''Du lendemain de Waterloo à la veille du Reform Bill''. ** (1923). ''De la Crise du Reform Bill à l'Avènement de Sir Robert Peel: 1830-1841''. ** (1946). ''Le Milieu du siècle: 1841-1852'' (posth.) * (1926). ''Épilogue 1. Les impérialistes au pouvoir: 1895-1914''. * (1932). ''Épilogue 2. Vers la démocratie sociale et vers la guerre: 1895-1914''. * (1938). ''L'Ère des tyrannies'', préf. de Célestin Bouglé. (posth.) * (1948). ''Histoire du socialisme européen''. Paris: Gallimard (posth.)


Works in English translation

Most o
these are online free
* (1928). ''The Growth of Philosophic Radicalism''. New York: The Macmillan Company ondon: Faber & Faber, 1952; Clifton, N. J.: Kelley, 1972 * (1930). ''The World Crisis of 1914-1918: An Interpretation''. Oxford: Clarendon. * (1932, 1949–52). ''History of the English People in the Nineteenth Century''. Translated by E. I. Watkin. London: Ernest Benn, Ltd
online
** (1949). ''England in 1815''. ** (1949). ''The Liberal Awakening (1815-1830)''. ** (1950). ''The Triumph of Reform (1830-1841)''. ** (1951). ''Victorian Years (1841-1895)''. ** (1951). ''Imperialism and the Rise of Labour (1895-1905)''. ** (1952). ''The Rule of Democracy (1905-1914)''. * (1956). ''Thomas Hodgskin''. London: Ernest Benn, Ltd. * (1965). ''The Era of Tyrannies. Essays on Socialism and War.'' Translated by
R. K. Webb Robert Kiefer Webb (November 23, 1922 – February 15, 2012) was an American historian.Sandra Herbert,In Memoriam: Robert K. Webb (1922–2012), ''Perspectives on History'' (1 November 2012). Webb was educated at Oberlin College, taking his ...
. Notes by
Fritz Stern Fritz Richard Stern (February 2, 1926 – May 18, 2016) was a German-born American historian of German history, Jewish history and historiography. He was a University Professor and a provost at New York's Columbia University. His work focused ...
. New York: Doubleday ondon: Allen Lane, 1967


Selected articles

*Halévy, Élie (1921)
"Chartism,"
''The Quarterly Review'', Vol. 236, No. 468, pp. 62–75. *Halévy, Élie (1922). "Where England Stands at Present," ''The Living Age'', Vol. 314, No. 4078, September 2, pp. 569–574. *


See also

*
Historiography of the United Kingdom The historiography of the United Kingdom includes the historical and archival research and writing on the history of the United Kingdom, Great Britain, England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. For studies of the overseas empire see historiography ...


References


Further reading

* Bone, Christopher (1973). "Elie Halevy: Philosopher as Historian," ''Journal of British Studies'', Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 151–168. * Boyd, Kelly, ed. ''Encyclopedia of historians and historical writing. Vol. 1'' (Taylor & Francis, 1999) 508-9. * Bresciani, Marco. "From 'East to West', the «world crisis» of 1905-1920: a re-reading of Elie Halévy." ''First World War Studies'' 9.3 (2018): 275-295. * Chase, Myrna. ''Elie Halévy, an Intellectual Biography'' (Columbia University Press, 1980). * Frobert, Ludovic (2007). "Elie Halévy's First Lectures on the History of European Socialism," ''Journal of the History of Ideas'', Vol. 68, No. 2, pp. 329–353. * Jones, Hugh Stuart (2002). "The Era of Tyrannies: Élie Halévy and Friedrich von Hayek on Socialism," ''European Journal of Political Theory'' 1, pp. 53–69. * Smith, Catherine Haugh (1942). "Élie Halévy," in Bernadotte Everly Schmitt, (ed.) ''Some Historians of Modern Britain: Essays in Historiography''. University of Chicago Press. * Vergara, Francisco (1998)
A critique of Élie Halévy:Refutation of an important distortion of British moral philosophy
Philosophy (Journal of the Royal Institute of Philosophy), London, January 1998. *


External links

*
Works by Élie Halévy
at
JSTOR JSTOR (; short for ''Journal Storage'') is a digital library founded in 1995 in New York City. Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, it now encompasses books and other primary sources as well as current issues of j ...

Élie Halévy, 1870-1937

Drawing of Élie Halévy, by William Rothenstein
{{DEFAULTSORT:Halevy, Elie 1870 births 1937 deaths People from Seine-Maritime Lycée Condorcet alumni École Normale Supérieure alumni French essayists 20th-century French historians 20th-century French philosophers Consequentialists Utilitarians French people of Jewish descent French socialists French male essayists French Protestants