Once constitution meant force, history became cyclic and returned to origins
Evidence
This philosophy of history as philosophy of cyclical time becomes possible from the eighteenth century onward, or in other words, once the two notions of a constitution and a relationship of force become established. With Boulainvilliers, we seeāI think for the first timeā the idea of a cyclical history appearing within an articulated historical discourse. Empires, says Boulainvilliers, rise and fall into decadence depending on how the light of the sun shines upon their territory. The revolution of the sun, and the revolution of history: as you can see, the two things are now linked. So we have a pair, a link among three things: constitution, revolution, and cyclical history. ā Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 5642
Categorization
Category: Definitional Content
- XREF: Boulainvilliersā cyclical history feeds directly into the later Islamophobia readingsā treatment of civilizational rise-and-fall narratives that justify exclusion.
Related
- Boulainvilliers first linked cyclical history to constitution and revolution. (similarity 0.92)
- Boulainvilliers introduced cyclical history into articulated historical discourse for the first time. (similarity 0.88)
- Sieyes introduces a rectilinear, State-oriented history replacing the cyclical revolution-return model (similarity 0.78)