Quick Facts
Biography
Julien Freund, born in Henridorff on the 8th of January 1921, died in Colmar, on the tenth of September 1993, is a French philosopher and sociologist. Freund was called an "unsatisfied liberal-conservative" by Pierre-André Taguieff, for introducing France to the ideas of Max Weber. His work as a sociologist and political theorist is a continuation of Carl Schmitt's. Freund was like many people born in this region fluent in German, and he therefore published many of his works in both languages. His works have been translated into nearly 20 languages.
Biography
Born in Henridorff (Moselle) on the eighth of January 1921, to a peasant mother and a socialist working class father, Freund was the eldest of six siblings. When his father died he had to end his studies, becoming a teacher at the age of 17, and secretary to the council in his hometown.
His brother Antoine, conscripted "malgré-nous" into the Wehrmacht, was injured in the battle of Orel in Russia and then deserted, which should have caused the deportation of his family who were aiding the resistance in Lorraine. However they were able to destroy the documents relating to their deportation held by the Gestapo.
The resistance
During World War II, Freund was a member of the resistance. A member of the Libération group founded by Jean Cavaillès, taken hostage by the Germans in July 1940, he then escapes to the free zone, and in January 1941, begins fighting for the Libération movement of Emmanuel d’Astier de la Vigerie, then in combat groups run by Henri Frenay, all the while getting his degree in philosophy.
Arrested in June 1942 in Clermont-Ferrand, then again in September in Lyon, he was accused alongside Emmanuel Mounier in the trial of Combat. Incarcerated in the central prison of Elysses, then in the fortress of Sisteron, he escapes on the 8th of June 1944. Returning to Strasbourg in November 1944, he becomes a journalist and political activist.
Academic career
He was a young teacher in Hommarting (Moselle). He then became professor of philosophy in successively collège Mangin de Sarrebourg (1946–49), lycée Fabert de Metz (1949–53) and lycée Fustel de Coulanges de Strasbourg (1953–60). From 1960 to 1965, he was a head of research at CNRS. In 1965, the year of his thesis at Sorbonne, he is elected professor of sociology at the university of Strasboug, where he founde the departement of social sciences. He then taught from 1973 to 1975 at the College of Europe in Bruges, then in 1975 at université de Montréal.
Works
Believing in democracy (however he may have preferred a mesocracy), Freund believes the political system needs to have its powers limited, and that growing 'democratistion' corrodes the limits on government, and allows it to become ever more invasive. Politics cannot solve any cultural problems, nor impose concepts of value on society, nor should it be involved in religious affairs. However religion also cannot impose upon the principles of democracy. He also draws attention to the corruption of language and the use of ruse in a democracy: "La démocratie se décompose quand elle dilapide la sincérité en démagogie et en flatterie".
Mesocracy: the idea of mesocracy is first used by Freund in 1978, to defend against the galvanising aspect of democracy, which thus self-defeating. Mesocracy from its Greek roots, is a form of limiting power with a counter-power. Counter powers must limit power, which presupposes a constitution, and thus ensuring "liberté" liberty, and freedom. In a mesocracy there is a natural separation of power, which prevents any uniform power. Freund maintain that politics must have a monopoly on violence in order to prevent civil war.