FILOSOFIA, POLITICA E MORALE NEL PENSIERO DI PIERRE PAUL ROYER-COLLARD (1763-1845)

This work presents an analysis of the philosophical and the political thought of Pierre Paul Royer-Collard (1763-1845), a politician and intellectual who lived during the French Restoration and the July’s Monarchy. I have traced an intellectual biography of the author, to show the influence of his different experiences as a public man (deputy, professor, State counsellor) on the construction and the development of his thought. His philosophical and political ideas have been considered from the intellectual context of their creation, and analysed in all their parts and purposes. His theory of perception has been accurately traced, as well as his idea of common sense, his critiques to the philosophy of the idéologues and the place of his thought in the French spiritualism. All the elements of his political thought have been analysed: his idea of the institutions (King, government, Chambers), the electoral system, the intermediate powers, the Church, the education system, his idea of representative government, of democracy, of legitimacy, and of the relationship between politic and society. The legacy of the French Revolution and the political thought of Royer-Collard has also been considered. A comparative analysis, with the thought of Guizot and the French Doctrinaires to find the proper place of his political ideas in the context of the French Liberalism of the Doctrinaires, has also been done. The moral inspiration of his conceptual system, which is bound between his philosophy and his political ideas, has been accurately analysed.