Life and Thought
Maurice Barbier is a French thinker and writer in the field of political philosophy, known especially for his works on the state, modern politics and the fundamental concepts of political thought. His book Political Modernity is one of his major works, examining the transformation of political concepts in the modern era.
Maurice Barbier (born 1937) is a French political scientist and writer whose research has focused on the history of political thought and the analysis of concepts such as the state, political modernity, laïcité and the relationship between religion and politics. He taught for many years as a lecturer in political science at the University of Nancy-II and directed the Institute for Preparation for Public Administration.
In his works Barbier sought to examine the relationship between Western traditions of political thought and the transformations of the modern world. His most important book, Political Modernity (PUF, 2000), defines political modernity essentially as the separation of the state from civil society and of the public sphere from the private domain. According to him, this separation resulted from a long historical process that led from the ancient state to the modern state and appeared almost simultaneously at the end of the eighteenth century in the United States and France.
Among his other major works are Religion and Politics in Modern Thought, The Political Thought of Karl Marx, Laïcité and The Political Evil: Critiques of Power and the State. Barbier’s thought belongs to the framework of contemporary French political philosophy and is devoted primarily to the historical and conceptual analysis of political institutions and ideas.