Réforme politique et éducation: un dialogue Godwin-Helvétius sur perfectibilité

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article analyzes the relation between Godwin (1756–1836), Republican and author of Politcal Justice (1793), and French philosophers, particularly Helvétius. Both Godwin and Helvétius were in favour of a political understanding of the theory of knowledge as opposed to an intellectual treatment of policy. They continually questioned the links between policy, history of the human understanding, and moral science from the perspective of the question of education. After the September Massacres (1792), Godwin's thought changed radically and began to revolve around the notion of perfectibility. The final disagreement marked a distinction between French reformers, who advocated state control, and English writers, influenced by dissent and reformation, who held the idea of perfectibility.