Rougier attacked the French Revolution’s rationalism as leading logically to socialism.

Evidence

Rougier’s real foe, however, was not so much rationalism as a philosophical system than as a political doctrine. He contended that the spirit and ideas of the French Revolution, originating in classical rationalism, had ended up “par une sorte de logique immanente” in egalitarian socialism. For Rougier, political principles merely represented useful conventions suggested by experience. Any philosophical attempt to naturalize or rationalize these axioms must employ a metaphysical discourse that is ultimately unsubstantiated. To some extent, Rougier followed the same epistemological path as Hayek and Popper. Inspired by conventionalism, his criticism of a priori truths convinced him that the determinants of knowledge rested with the scientists themselves and the discrete but rigorous methodological rules they adopted. — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 63

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Popper/Hayek epistemology debates and the socialist-calculus controversy literature; also grounds the intellectual lineage feeding the Mont Pelerin project. — connects to: French planners sought a rationalized capitalism rather than socialism or old liberalism. — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 296; The French Revolution prefigured later totalitarian society-building projects

Broader Connections

• The French Revolution prefigured later totalitarian society-building projects #expands (0.82)
• French planners sought a rationalized capitalism rather than socialism or old liberalism. #qualifies (0.78) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 296