Unity and controversies of French liberalism

Abstract

The author analyzes the French liberalism from the historical context of its emergence and the institutional challenges it faced. How to reconcile the emancipation of society (and, sometimes, of the individual) with the state’s legitimacy was at the center of controversy between liberal currents: Coppet group, Guizot and the Doctrinaires, and Lamennais’ Catholic-Liberal synthesis. The division among them is based on the question of the individual. The author studies especially the differences between Guizot and Constant, differences that indicate a conflict of philosophy of power and interpretation of history.