The Gangster Philosopher: Francois de la Rochefoucauld
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What is a philosopher?
I want you to think of a philosopher, a generic philosopher, okay? Picture what a philosopher looks like in your mind. What does he look like? How does he act? He's probably old, balding, or at least a little gray, maybe a bit stooped. Perhaps he's a bit more professorial, bearded with glasses and a long nose. And in your mind, what's he doing, this philosopher? He's sitting at a desk, right? Either reading or writing. Perhaps if you imagined a Greek philosopher, maybe he's sitting on a rock speaking with a crowd of other philosophers. But when we think of philosophy and wisdom and learning, this is what we think of, bald heads and quiet contemplation.
What adventures did Francois de la Rochefoucauld have?
Which is why I want to talk about someone you've never heard of, Francois de la Rochefoucauld, a famous French writer and philosopher who lived in the 1600s. And that's because Rochefoucauld was not only a man of letters, but a man of action as well. This is someone who wrote one of the great works of the Western canon, but also literally kidnapped the Queen of France and smuggled her out of the country. His writing and his wit made him the star of the literary salons of Paris, but he also killed people as a cavalryman and was himself both shot and stabbed in battle. And I think his dual nature is demonstrated quite well by comparing a history that he wrote with what actually happened. He wrote a history of a civil war in which he was involved. And the history is, you know, what you would expect. Serious, solemn, dry, stately.
What were the political intrigues during Rochefoucauld's time?
One biographer of Rochefoucauld writes that, "...no one would suspect that the historian who affects the gravity of Tacitus was acting all through the events he describes with the levity of a full-blooded and unscrupulous schoolboy." The most amazing instance of this is his grotesque attempt to have his enemy, Cardinal de Retz, murdered at the Palais de Justice. In the course of a sort of romping fray, he caught Retz's head between the flaps of a folding door and shouted to his friend calling me to come and stab him from behind, but he himself was shoved away and the Cardinal released. La Rochefoucauld admits the escapade without any sign of embarrassment, merely observing that Retz would have done as much by him if he had only had the chance.
Okay, so this philosopher is at least in his early years a sort of brawling gangster who tries to carry out mob hits on his enemies. This is a man who in his lifetime tried multiple times to overthrow the government of France and nearly succeeded. He carried on multiple affairs with extremely high-ranking women. He was an experienced cavalryman. He's constantly smuggling people in and out of France in these intricate plots that resemble a heist movie. He just lived this wild, interesting, colorful life and used that rich life as the basis for his later career as a philosopher and man of letters. He was a great soldier, schemer, and courtier, but also a truly great writer, and it is his writing that forms the greatest part of his legacy today. His book Maxims is a series of 504 short aphorisms about people, the way we are, what we do, and why we do it all.
What is the significance of the Fronde?
It's one of the great works in the French language and served as a major inspiration to many other philosophers, most notably Friedrich Nietzsche, who used it as a source extensively. So today we are talking about the life of Francois de La Rochefoucauld, both what we can learn from his wild and interesting life, and what we can learn from the philosophy that was born from it. Welcome to How to Take Over the World.
I'm going to show you how great I am. This was our tiny tower. I just want to say from the bottom of my heart, I'd like to take this chance to apologize to To absolutely nobody!
Hello, and welcome to How to Take Over the World. This is Ben Wilson. I don't have a long introduction for you today. I'll just say that this episode is based on the excellent work, the Delphi Complete Works of Francois de la Rochefoucauld, which includes translations of all Rochefoucauld's works, including his memoirs, as well as a few 19th century biographies of the man.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is a philosopher?
0:04–0:40
2
What adventures did Francois de la Rochefoucauld have?
0:40–1:22
3
What were the political intrigues during Rochefoucauld's time?
1:22–2:44
4
What is the significance of the Fronde?
2:44–5:24
5
What are Rochefoucauld's literary contributions?
5:24–6:22
6
How did Rochefoucauld view friendship and virtue?
6:22–7:04
7
What insights can we gain from Rochefoucauld's life?
7:04–10:16
8
What are the final reflections on Rochefoucauld's philosophy?
10:16–37:44