Spiros Tegos (University of Crete, IASH Fellow): Aristocratic manners and republican (in)civility before and after the French revolution: Adam Smith, Sophie de Grouchy, Germaine de Staël
It comes as no surprise that the origins of manners in the court and the compatibility of politeness with the republican ethos are widely discussed in early modern political science; the main issue debated being the extent to which peace and order in society were possible without manners operating as a social lubricant. During the European Enlightenment, courtly politeness was rarely defended but was acknowledged as important operator of social regulation in monarchies while the lack of a strong aristocratic element in republics explained the predominance of unrefined manners and their subsequent instability. In a post- French Revolution context, once courtly politeness has been openly rebutted and a meritocratic ethos apparently prevailed, the question remains: is it possible to radically disconnect manners from status?
Despite his sardonic critique of courtly manners in the Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759 [1790]), Adam Smith acknowledges that an aristocratic behaviour within proper social class bounds is tolerable for a moderate social hierarchy to be respected. By contrast, he was deeply concerned by the imitation of courtly manners in the context of the emerging middle class (the “middling sort”) manners of his time in Scotland, considering this imitation as an important operator of social servility and corruption of moral sentiments. Extending Adam Smith’s concerns, the enigma of a modern courtoisie without court haunts moderate French republicans such as Sophie de Grouchy and Mme de Staël. In their respective attempts to address the novel phenomenon of incivility associated with the dynamic of modern mass democracy in France, both authors develop a theory of republican civility compatible with modern citizenship.