Understanding of political and moral thought of Benjamin Constant in his historical and intellectual context

Benjamin Constant (1767-1830) was a Swiss-French philosopher in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. As well as one of the France's leading writers, Constant was also a journalist and an active politician. The importance of Constant stems from the fact that he was the first thinker in France who used the term 'liberal' to describe his political stance. Constant constructed his ideas mainly on liberty, more specifically individual liberty, and opposition to despotism and absolute authority. Although he experienced the Age of Enlightenment, he got inspired by romanticism and therefore he did not only eulogize pure reason, but also he embraced the importance of sentiments. In this context, this thesis was a descriptive study which is mainly based on literature review and Constant's own works. It was aimed to analyze Constant's political and moral philosophy in his intellectual and historical context from a liberal perspective. It was focused on his intellectual biography and his thoughts on the concepts of liberty, sovereignty, constitutional order, commerce, romanticism and religion. It was reached the conclusion that Constant's ideas were a composition of republican, conservative and liberal values and because he modified or reconstructed his ideas in accordance with social structure and conditions of the period, he was a pragmatic liberal. Finally, there were no sufficient studies on Constant in Turkey. Therefore, it is thought that this thesis contributed to the literature of political theory by introducing Constant's philosophy in details. Keywords: Benjamin Constant, Liberalism, France, Liberty