6,367 words
Introduction here, Chapter 5 Part 2 here
Translated by F. Roger Devlin
In the eighteenth century, in order to put a definitive end to the wars of religion, liberalism attempted to “pacify” society politically and ideologically. As Jean-Claude Michéa has correctly explained, “the idea then gradually become established that the only way to prevent the return of ideological civil wars was to rely upon an axiologically neutral State, i.e., a State that gets rid of any appeal to moral, religious, or philosophical values, and which therefore speaks only the language of ‘expertise.’”[1] In other words, the State must no longer claim to decide between the different systems of value to which individuals choose to appeal. It must no longer decide upon what Aristotle called...