Society, theory, and the French Revolution : studies in the revolutionary imaginary /

Singer's work is not a historical study per se but, rather, a philosophical interpretation of a historic event. Factual or quantitative data are nonexistent. In the manner of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's The Divine Milieu, the author has evolved a metaphysical language for his treatment of the French Revolution. The historian will find this book difficult, or, as the author has indicated, ``baffling.'' Singer is concerned with ``revolutionary imaginary significations'' or ``representations'' that are established in relationship to society. These representations are viewed mainly in a political context. Major themes such as the discovery of society, the construction of the state, the social contract, revolution and power, secularization, and representations are examined with particular emphasis on the works of Volney, Abbe Siey;