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LARGE PRINT EDITION More at LargePrintLiberty.com
Etienne de La Boetie was born in Sarlat, in the Perigord region of
southwest France, in 1530, to an aristocratic family, and became a
dear friend of Michel de Montaigne. But he ought to be remembered
for this astonishingly important essay, one of the greatest in the
history of political thought. It will shake the way you think of
the state. His thesis and argument amount to the best answer to
Machiavelli ever penned as well as one of the seminal essays in
defense of liberty. La Boetie's task is to investigate the nature
of the state and its strange status as a tiny minority of the
population that adheres to different rules from everyone else and
claims the authority to rule everyone else, maintaining a monopoly
on law. It strikes him as obviously implausible that such an
institution has any staying power. It can be overthrown in an
instant if people withdraw their consent. He then investigates the
mystery as to why people do not withdraw, given what is obvious to
him that everyone would be better off without the state. This sends
him on a speculative journey to investigate the power of
propaganda, fear, and ideology in causing people to acquiesce in
their own subjection. Is it cowardice? Perhaps. Habit and
tradition. Perhaps. Perhaps it is ideological illusion and
intellectual confusion.
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger
Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain
imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed
pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we
have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting,
preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger
Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and
hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!
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