Étienne de La Boétie

Étienne de La Boétie

Full name	Étienne de La Boétie
Born	1 November 1530 Sarlat
Died	18 August 1563
Era	Renaissance philosophy
Region	Western Philosophers
Influenced Raoul Vaneigem, Rudolf Rocker, Murray Rothbard, Lew Rockwell

French literature

By category

French literary history

Medieval 16th century · 17th century 18th century · 19th century 20th century · Contemporary

French writers

Chronological list Writers by category Novelists · Playwrights Poets · Essayists Short story writers

Portals

France · Literature

v · d · e

Étienne de La Boétie (French: [etjɛn də la bɔeˈsi] ( listen); [bwaˈti] or [bɔeˈti] in local Périgord dialect;^[1] 1 November 1530, Sarlat-la-Canéda – 18 August 1563) was a French judge, writer, anarchist,^[2] and "a founder of modern political philosophy in France."^[3] He "has been best remembered as the great and close friend of the eminent essayist Michel de Montaigne, in one of history's most notable friendships."^[3]

Life

"La Boétie was born in Sarlat, in the Périgord region of southwest France, in 1530, to an aristocratic family. His father was a royal official of the Périgord region and his mother was the sister of the president of the Bordeaux Parlement (assembly of lawyers). Orphaned at an early age, he was brought up by his uncle and namesake, the curate of Bouilbonnas, and received his law degree from the University of Orléans in 1553. His great and precocious ability earned La Boétie a royal appointment to the Bordeaux Parlement the following year, despite his being under the minimum age. There he pursued a distinguished career as judge and diplomatic negotiator until his untimely death in 1563, at the age of thirty-two. La Boétie was also a distinguished poet and humanist, translating Xenophon and Plutarch, and being closely connected with the leading young Pleiade group of poets, including Pierre Ronsard, Jean Dorat, and Jean-Antoine de Baif."^[3]

He served with Montaigne in the Bordeaux parlement and is immortalized in Montaigne's essay on friendship.

Writings

La Boétie’s writings include a few sonnets, translations from the classics, and an essay attacking absolute monarchy and tyranny in general, Discours de la servitude volontaire ou le Contr'un (Discourse on Voluntary Servitude, or the Anti-Dictator).

The essay asserts that tyrants have power because the people give it to them. Liberty has been abandoned once by society, which afterward stayed corrupted and prefers the slavery of the courtesan to the freedom of one who refuses to dominate as he refuses to obey. Thus, La Boétie linked together obedience and domination, a relationship which would be later theorised by latter anarchist thinkers. By advocating a solution of simply refusing to support the tyrant, he became one of the earliest advocates of civil disobedience and nonviolent resistance. Lew Rockwell summarizes La Boétie’s political philosophy as follows:

To him, the great mystery of politics was obedience to rulers. Why in the world do people agree to be looted and otherwise oppressed by government overlords? It is not just fear, Boetie explains in “The Discourse on Voluntary Servitude,” for our consent is required. And that consent can be non-violently withdrawn.^[2]

It was once thought, following Montaigne's claims, that La Boétie wrote the essay in 1549 at the age of eighteen but recent authorities argue that it is "likely that the Discourse was written in 1552 or 1553, at the age of twenty-two, while La Boétie was at the university."^[4] Some Montaigne scholars have argued that the essay was in fact the work of Montaigne himself. The essay was circulated privately and not published until 1576 after La Boétie's death. He died at Germignan near Bordeaux in 1563. His last days are described in a long letter from Montaigne to his own father.

References

1. ^ Paul Bonnefon, Œuvres complètes d'Estienne de La Boétie (Bordeaux: C. Gounouilhou, and Paris: J. Rouam et Cie., 1892), pp. 385-6 (available online in pdf format at Gallica).
2. ^ ^{a b} Rockwell, Lew (2011-02-11) Étienne de la Boetie and Egypt, LewRockwell.com
3. ^ ^{a b c} Rothbard, Murray, Ending Tyranny Without Violence
4. ^ Ibid., p. 38 n. 2. "Having remained long in manuscript, the actual date of writing the Discourse of Voluntary Servitude remains a matter of dispute. It seems clear, however, and has been so accepted by recent authorities, that Montaigne's published story that La Boétie wrote the Discourse at the age of eighteen or even of sixteen was incorrect. Montaigne's statement, as we shall see further below, was probably part of his later campaign to guard his dead friend's reputation by dissociating him from the revolutionary Huguenots who were claiming La Boétie's pamphlet for their own. Extreme youth tended to cast the Discourse in the light of a work so youthful that the radical content was hardly to be taken seriously as the views of the author. Internal evidence as well as the erudition expressed in the work make it likely that the Discourse was written in 1552 or 1553, at the age of twenty-two, while La Boétie was at the university. See Bonnefon, op. cit., pp. 390-1; and Donald Frame, Montaigne: A Biography (New York: Harcourt Brace, & World, 1965), p. 71" (37-38 n. 2).

Bibliography

• Œuvres complètes, Editions William Blake & Co., 1991. ISBN 2-905810602
• Discours de la servitude volontaire, Editions Mille et une nuits, 1997. ISBN 2-910233944
• Discours de la servitude volontaire, Editions Flammarion, 1993. ISBN 2-080703943
• The Politics of Obedience: The Discourse of Voluntary Servitude, translated by Harry Kurz and with an introduction by Murray Rothbard, Montrèal/New York/London: Black Rose Books, 1997. ISBN 1-55164-089-0
• The Politics of Obedience: The Discourse of Voluntary Servitude, translated by Harry Kurz and with an introduction by Murray Rothbard, Free Life Editions, 1975. ISBN 0-914156-11-X

Secondary sources

• Keohane, Nannerl O. ‘The Radical Humanism of Étienne de la Boétie’, Journal of the History of Ideas. 38:119-130, 1977.
• Lablénie, Edmond. ‘L’Énigme de la “Servitude Volontaire”’, Revue du seizième siècle. 17:203-227, 1930. [French]
• Podoksik, Efraim. ‘Estienne de La Boëtie and the Politics of Obedience’, Bibliothèque d’Humanisme et Renaissance. LXV(1): 83-95, 2003.
• Rothbard, Murray. 'Ending Tyranny Without Violence', originally titled The Political Thought of Étienne de La Boétie

External links

• The Politics of Obedience: The Discourse of Voluntary Servitude, from The Ludwig von Mises Institute, Online Edition (PDF).
• (English) Discours de la servitude volontaire, translated and with an introduction about its reception.
• (French) Text on Wikisource.
• Poetry (in French).
• (Dutch) Vertoog over de Vrijwillige Slavernij (pdf)
• Etiennedelaboetie.net – Website dedicated to the works and life of Etienne de La Boétie
• Don't Vote Party – Perhaps some of Boétie's thoughts in action.
• Ending Tyranny Without Violence(The Political Thought of Étienne de La Boétie) by Murray N. Rothbard.

Persondata
Name	De La Boetie, Etienne
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1 November 1530
Place of birth
Date of death	18 August 1563
Place of death