Political Philosophies, Ideologies, and the Quest for Meaning

Abstract

The concept of ‘ideology’ originated during the late eighteenth century as a protest against religious superstition and monarchical authority. At the time of the French Revolution, Destutt de Tracy (1754–1836) attacked the divine right of the king to rule and challenged orthodox religious traditions associated with the Roman Catholic Church. Committed to Enlightenment principles, the philosopher de Tracy viewed ideology as a ‘science of ideas’ based on the objective knowledge gained from the physical senses, not from abstract metaphysics or principles of religious faith and sacred political authority. Through reason, logic, education, and empirical investigation, social scientists could not only understand political reality but also control and change the social environment. According to de Tracy, intellectuals must play a critical role in forging sociopolitical change. Because government authorities often distort reality, conceal information, and communicate falsehoods, social scientists had the responsibility to unmask these distortions and illusions. When Napoleon Bonaparte gained power at the start of the nineteenth century and later faced political defeats, he denounced Destutt de Tracy and his philosophical group as idéologues who spread false doctrines that undermined state authority.