Action, Rationalism and Social Change

Leroux, Robert

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-04687-3_4

Robert Leroux²

65 Accesses

Abstract

The sociology of action occupies a central place in the sociological tradition. In France, Raymond Boudon , who was one of the leading champions of that tradition, attempted for many years to define and specify it. For him, the sociology of action called into play two essential principles: The first holds that any social phenomenon always results from attitudes, beliefs, “and generally from individual behavior.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Chapter: USD 29.95; Price excludes VAT (USA)

eBook: USD 49.99; Price excludes VAT (USA)

Hardcover Book: USD 64.99; Price excludes VAT (USA)

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

1.
R. Boudon, “Action”, in R. Boudon (ed.), Traité de sociologie, Paris, PUF, 1992, p. 22.
2.
A.-A. Cournot, An Essay on the Foundation of Our Knowledge, New York, The Liberal Arts Press, Inc., 1956 [1851], p. 452.
3.
Cournot, quoted by B. Saint-Sernin , “Complétude et incomplétude de l’action”, in B. Saint-Sernin, E. Picavet , R. Fillieule , and P. Demeulenaere (eds.), Les modèles de l’action, Paris, PUF, 1998, p. 168.
4.
A.-A. Cournot, An Essay on the Foundation of Our Knowledge, New York, The Liberal Arts Press, Inc., 1956 [1851], p. 452.
5.
Cf. B. Saint-Sernin , Cournot, le réalisme, Paris, Vrin, 1998, p. 168.
6.
C. Ménard, La formation d’une rationalité économique: A. A. Cournot, Paris, Flammarion, 1978, p. 207. In this sense, the same holds for Cournot’s economic psychology. To characterize it, as Maurice Roche-Agussol tells us, “we must first recall his opposition to individualist theories: economic acts are shaped essentially in a collective way. They express the attitude of a social group that has achieved sufficient density […]. It would be pointless to seek, in the individual study of man, an explanation of social facts and, in particular, of the most complete and best characterized fact of all: the economic fact” (M. Roche-Agussol, “La psychologie économique chez Cournot”, Revue d’histoire économique et sociale, 8, 1920, pp. 179–180).
7.
A.-A. Cournot, Matérialisme, vitalisme, rationalisme : étude sur l’emploi des données de la science en philosophie, Paris, Vrin, Œuvres complètes, t. V (edited by C. Salomon-Bayet ), 1979 [1875], p. 111.
8.
A.-A. Cournot, An Essay on the Foundation of Our Knowledge, New York, The Liberal Arts Press, Inc., 1956 [1851], p. 453.
9.
See for example Weber’s discussion of the works of Meyer . Cf. M. Weber, Essais sur la théorie de la science, Paris, Plon, 1965, p. 205.
10.
A.-A. Cournot, Considérations sur la marche des idées et des événements dans les Temps modernes, Paris, Vrin, Œuvres complètes, t. IV (edited by A. Robinet ), 1973 [1872], pp. 156–157.
11.
Cf. T. Martin , “Histoire et théorie du hasard à l’âge classique selon Cournot”, Revue de synthèse, 2–4, 2001, pp. 455–471.
12.
A.-A. Cournot, Matérialisme, vitalisme, rationalisme: étude sur l’emploi des données de la science en philosophie, Paris, Vrin, Œuvres complètes, t. V (edited by C. Salomon-Bayet ), 1979 [1875], pp. 133–134.
13.
A.-A. Cournot, Traité de l’enchaînement des idées fondamentales dans les sciences et dans l’histoire, Paris, Vrin, Œuvres complètes, t. III (edited by N. Bruyère), 1982 [1861], p. 200.
14.
Ibid., pp. 185–186. René Roy points out that “Cournot resorts frequently to laws drawn from the physical world, such as the principle of least action, the expression of which in the economic world is hedonistic physics, by virtue of which individuals strive to obtain maximum satisfaction through minimum efforts” (R. Roy, “Cournot et l’école mathématique”, Econometrica, 1, 1933, p. 15).
15.
Like Comte , Cournot sees an analogy between social evolution and the evolution of the individual. René Prévost puts it this way: “Childhood is the period during which the individual is slave to bodily needs. Next, in full possession of his physical and mental powers, the individual seeks to realize in his social activity the dreams of his youth. Finally, activity diminishes, strength declines except among those in the habit of physical training. The old man can give wise counsel” (R. Prévost, “Cournot, historien de la civilisation”, in A. Cournot, Études pour le centenaire de sa mort, Paris, Economica, 1978, pp. 41–42).
16.
A.-A. Cournot, Matérialisme, vitalisme, rationalisme: étude sur l’emploi des données de la science en philosophie, Paris, Vrin, Œuvres complètes, t. V (edited by C. Salomon-Bayet ), 1979 [1875], p. 134.
17.
A.-A. Cournot, Traité de l’enchaînement des idées fondamentales dans les sciences et dans l’histoire, Paris, Vrin, Œuvres complètes, t. III (edited by N. Bruyère), 1982 [1861], p. 388. In La Division du travail social, Durkheim has the same to say about primitive societies. Their laws are repressive: “Primitive peoples punish for the sake of punishing, they make the guilty suffer solely for the sake of suffering and without expecting any advantage from that suffering” (page 52); “Religion permeates all of social life, but this is because social life is governed almost exclusively by common beliefs and principles that derive a particular intensity from unanimous adherence” (p. 154); “The individual has no real individuality, he is assimilated as are his peers within the same collective type” (p. 205).
18.
A.-A. Cournot, Traité de l’enchaînement des idées fondamentales dans les sciences et dans l’histoire, Paris, Vrin, Œuvres complètes, t. III (edited by N. Bruyère), 1982 [1861], p. 475.
19.
A.-A. Cournot, Matérialisme, vitalisme, rationalisme: étude sur l’emploi des données de la science en philosophie, Paris, Vrin, Œuvres complètes, t. V (edited by C. Salomon-Bayet ), 1979 [1875], p. 134.
20.
A.-A. Cournot, Traité, pp. 484–485.
21.
Ibid., p. 486.
22.
J. Paumen , “Les deux sociologies de Cournot”, Revue de l’Institut de sociologie, 2–3, 1950, p. 32.
23.
Voltaire , quoted by Cournot, An Essay on the Foundation of Our Knowledge, New York, The Liberal Arts Press, Inc., 1956 [1851], p. 457.
24.
L. Amélia, “La fin de l’histoire; le point de vue de Cournot”, Diogène, 79, 1972, pp. 27–59. Some of Cournot’s thoughts, however, tend to convey an air of prophecy. Thus, in the Souvenirs, recalling the years when he was a tutor in the household of Maréchal Gouvion-Saint-Cyr, he fancied that “the time of great wars, and especially of long wars, was passed, that we were no longer in a time where military arts as such could have much importance, or where the destinies of States depended on a skillful ruse, on a bold maneuver, on a happy choice of position, and that we should now expect from great events no more than the training of the masses or the rise of a higher genius, combining on a much vaster scale his ruses and his maneuvers” (Souvenirs, p. 100).
25.
A.-A. Cournot, Souvenirs, Paris, Hachette, 1913, p. 251.
26.
See K. Popper, The Poverty of Historicism, London, Routledge, 1957.
27.
A.-A. Cournot, Souvenirs, Paris, Hachette, 1913, p. 257.
28.
A.-A. Cournot, Traité de l’enchaînement des idées fondamentales dans les sciences et dans l’histoire, Paris, Vrin, Œuvres complètes, t. III (edited by N. Bruyère), 1982 [1861], p. 419.
29.
See A. Darlu , “Quelques vues de Cournot sur la politique”, Revue de métaphysique et de morale, 13, 1905, p. 420.
30.
A.-A. Cournot, Considérations sur la marche des idées et des événements dans les Temps modernes, Paris, Vrin, Œuvres complètes, t. IV (edited by A. Robinet ), 1973 [1872], p. 523.
31.
Ibid., p. 524.
32.
A.-A. Cournot, Traité de l’enchaînement des idées fondamentales dans les sciences et dans l’histoire, Paris, Vrin, Œuvres complètes, t. III (edited by N. Bruyère), 1982 [1861], p. 421.
33.
Ibid., pp. 425–426.
34.
C. Renouvier, “La thèse de M. Cournot sur la Révolution française”, Critique philosophique, 2, 1873, pp. 72–80.
35.
H. Sée, Science et philosophie de l’histoire, Paris, Félix Alcan, 1933, pp. 87–113.
36.
A. Darlu , “Quelques vues de Cournot sur la politique”, Revue de métaphysique et de morale, 13, 1905, pp. 413–428.
37.
R. Ruyer, L’humanité de l’avenir d’après Cournot, Paris, Félix Alcan, 1930, pp. 37–46.
38.
M. Capek, “La causalité de la contingence dans la pensée de Cournot”, in J. Brun and A. Robinet (dir.), A. Cournot, Études pour le centenaire de sa mort (1877–1977), Paris, Economica, 1978, pp. 168–193.
39.
A.-A. Cournot, Considérations sur la marche des idées et des événements dans les Temps modernes, Paris, Vrin, Œuvres complètes, t. IV (edited by A. Robinet), 1973 [1872], p. 6.
40.
Ibid., p. 547.
41.
A.-A. Cournot, Souvenirs, Paris, Hachette, 1913, p. 33.
42.
J. Paumen , “Les deux sociologies de Cournot”, Revue de l’Institut de sociologie, 2–3, 1950, p. 20.
43.
Thus: “The book that I now publish is not a history of the Revolution. That history has been too brilliantly written for me to think of writing it afresh. This is a mere essay on the Revolution” (A. de Tocqueville , The Old Regime and the Revolution [1856], Online Library of Liberty).
44.
A.-A. Cournot, Considérations sur la marche des idées et des événements dans les Temps modernes, Paris, Vrin, Œuvres complètes, t. IV (edited by A. Robinet ), 1973 [1872], p. 462.
45.
Ibid., pp. 462–463.
46.
Ibid., p. 548.
47.
Ibid., p. 517.
48.
Ibid., p. 519.
49.
Cournot did not hesitate to add this detail: “As to the so-called Revolution of 1688, it had better be called a coup d’état than a revolution, according to the ideas that these words evoke today in our country. It was a coup d’état staged by the English aristocracy to save the established religion and the ancient constitution of the country” (Considérations sur la marche des idées et des événements dans les Temps modernes, Paris, Vrin, Œuvres complètes, t. IV (edited by A. Robinet ), 1973 [1872], p. 250).
50.
J. Paumen , “Les deux sociologies de Cournot”, Revue de l’institut de sociologie, 2–3, 1950, p. 41.
51.
A.-A. Cournot, Considérations sur la marche des idées et des événements dans les Temps modernes, Paris, Vrin, Œuvres complètes, t. IV (edited by A. Robinet ), 1973 [1872], p. 472. Some years earlier Tocqueville put forward similar arguments: The Revolution “was, least of all, a casual accident. True, it took the world by surprise, yet it was the mere natural result of very long labors, the sudden and violent termination of a task which had successively engaged ten generations of men. Had it never taken place, the old social edifice would nonetheless have fallen, though it would have given way piecemeal instead of breaking down with a crash. The Revolution accomplished suddenly, by a convulsive and sudden effort, without transition, precautions or pity, what would have been gradually accomplished by time had it never occurred. That was its achievement” (A. de Tocqueville , The Old Regime and the Revolution [1856], Online Library of Liberty).
52.
Cournot was severe in condemning the excesses of the revolutionary fever which, according to him, had the temporary effect of wiping out the past. “The scaffold of 21 January, the savage immolation of an entire royal family consummated, in the eyes of the common people, the destruction of the old royalty and, so to speak, extirpated it from the memory of a people who had always revered their historic memories less than other peoples.” In the face of this terrorism practiced by the state, Cournot’s position is clear and, in a way, it anticipates the works of François Furet : “I suppose that we will not be accused of seeking to justify for reasons of State the crime of 21 January, the tortures of the Temple and the Conciergerie, Simon and Fouquier-Tinville. The cause of the men of 10 August is not in our eyes a good cause. And then we must say that people have assumed their share of responsibility in these odious or terrible acts more through fear, through anger than through an accurate and clear-headed appreciation of their destructive scope. Let history be their judge, for that is what they wanted: we do not pretend to be history’s prosecutor” (A.-A. Cournot, Considérations sur la marche des idées et des événements dans les Temps modernes, Paris, Vrin, Œuvres complètes, t. IV (edited by A. Robinet ), 1973 [1872], p. 528). Cournot however deplores the fact that the Revolution placed individuals under its yoke: “Individuals acquired any real importance only if they helped the course of the Revolution, and they were broken on the wheel as soon as they tried to stop or slow its momentum. Nothing can stand up to the rising tide of democracy, to the passion to demolish and to level, until this phase of the Terror, unique in its kind as is the crisis itself, and followed by a reaction which the terrorists themselves have set in motion and which has brought them to the point where henceforth, according to the most recent apologists of the system, we must consider the cause of the Revolution as lost, while awaiting the future millennium” (A.-A. Cournot, Considérations sur la marche des idées et des événements dans les Temps modernes, Paris, Vrin, Œuvres complètes, t. IV (edited by A. Robinet ), 1973 [1872], p. 518).
53.
A.-A. Cournot, Matérialisme, vitalisme, rationalisme: étude sur l’emploi des données de la science en philosophie, Paris, Vrin, Œuvres complètes, t. V (edited by C. Salomon-Bayet ), 1979 [1875], p. 131.
54.
A.-A. Cournot, Souvenirs, Paris, Hachette, 1913, p. 23.
55.
A.-A. Cournot, Considérations sur la marche des idées et des événements dans les Temps modernes, Paris, Vrin, Œuvres complètes, t. IV (edited by A. Robinet ), 1973 [1872], p. 463.
56.
Cf. R. Nisbet , The Sociological Tradition, New York, Basic Books, 1967.
57.
A.-A. Cournot, Considérations sur la marche des idées et des événements dans les Temps modernes, Paris, Vrin, Œuvres complètes, t. IV (edited by A. Robinet ), 1973 [1872], p. 500.
58.
Ibid., p. 550.
59.
Ibid.
60.
See R. Leroux, History and Sociology in France: From Scientific History to the Durkheimian School, London, Routledge, 2018.
61.
On this point see the essays of R. Boudon , “Les formes élémentaires de la vie religieuse: une théorie toujours vivante”, L’Année sociologique, 49, 1999, pp. 149–198, taken up again in Études sur les sociologues classiques, II, Paris, PUF, 2000; “La rationalité du religieux selon Max Weber ”, L’Année sociologique, 51, 2001, pp. 9–50.
62.
R. Nisbet , The Sociological Tradition, New York, Basic Books, p. 277.
63.
G. Michaud, Études sur Cournot, Paris, Félix Alcan, 1927, p. 109.
64.
A.-A. Cournot, Traité de l’enchaînement des idées fondamentales dans les sciences et dans l’histoire, Paris, Vrin, Œuvres complètes, t. III (edited by N. Bruyère), 1982 [1861], p. 361. Durkheim would say virtually the same thing: “Religion is the most primitive of social phenomena […]. In principle, everything is religious” (É. Durkheim, La science sociale et l’action, PUF, 1989, p. 253).
65.
A.-A. Cournot, Traité de l’enchaînement des idées fondamentales dans les sciences et dans l’histoire, Paris, Vrin, Œuvres complètes, t. III (edited by N. Bruyère), 1982 [1861], p. 361.
66.
Ibid., p. 312.
67.
Ibid., p. 379.
68.
Ibid., p. 372.
69.
Ibid., p. 313.
70.
Ibid., p. 360.
71.
Ibid., pp. 364–365.
72.
Ibid., p. 186.
73.
Ibid., p. 367.
74.
Ibid., p. 376.
75.
É. Durkheim , Les Formes élémentaires de la vie religieuse, Paris, PUF, 1990 [1912], p. 613.
76.
A.-A. Cournot, Des institutions d’instruction publique en France, Paris, Vrin, Œuvres complètes, t. VII (edited by A. Kremer-Marietti), 1977 [1864], p. 72.
77.
A.-A. Cournot, Traité de l’enchaînement des idées fondamentales dans les sciences et dans l’histoire, Paris, Vrin, Œuvres complètes, t. III (edited by N. Bruyère), 1982 [1861], pp. 371–372.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
Robert Leroux

Authors

Robert Leroux
View author publications
You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Robert Leroux .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Leroux, R. (2019). Action, Rationalism and Social Change. In: Antoine-Augustin Cournot as a Sociologist. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04687-3_4

Download citation

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04687-3_4
Published: 09 January 2019
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-04686-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-04687-3
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics