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SUMMARY:Is Democracy Conspiratorial?: Koselleck\, Furet\, and the Debate o
 n the French Revolution - Samuel Moyn\, James Bryce Professor of European 
 Legal History (Columbia University)
DTSTART:20140610T160000Z
DTEND:20140610T180000Z
UID:TALK50504@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Vickie Freer
DESCRIPTION:Since the time of the abbé Barruel\, the French Revolution - 
 the source of democratic claims eventually the world over - has been unmas
 ked as the outcome of a dark conspiracy. This talk will examine some of th
 e contemporary legacies of this claim about the secret agenda of democrati
 c self-rule\, with a focus on some famous main twentieth-century commentat
 ors like Reinhart Koselleck and François Furet who were insufficiently cr
 itical of the old allegation even in renovating our sense of where the Rev
 olution fits in modern politics. Dwelling on some of the intellectual orig
 ins of Furet's "Interpreting the French Revolution\," in which the conspir
 acy claim figured\, the talk will distinguish that strand of the book from
  other and more valuable impulses\, which had other sources\, notably the 
 view that democracy is the rule of no one\, so that it is very hard to jus
 tify or even securely locate its legitimate authorities at any given time.
  \n\nThe event will be followed by a wine reception. \n\nSamuel Moyn is Ja
 mes Bryce Professor of European Legal History at Columbia University\, whe
 re he has been teaching since 2001. He is author of "The Last Utopia: Huma
 n Rights in History" (2010) and a new collection of essays entitled "Human
  Rights and the Uses of History" (2014). From July 1\, 2014\, he will take
  up a new position as professor of law and history at Harvard University.\
 n
LOCATION:CRASSH Alison Richard Building\, 7 West Road\, Cambridge\, CB3 9D
 T
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