REFLECTIONS ON THE RENEWED SIGNIFICANCE OF HUGUENOT THOUGHT

7 raditional Huguenot values might be usefully employed in llie planning o f political objectives for the future. In rejecting the views which have rendered wan a mere object, a new form of spiritual humanism is advocated. In contrast to the merely “structural'' and the “communicative” a Joim o f philosophy which allows for an essentialist participation should be encouraged. The present situation in South Africa, within the framework o f post-colonial Africa, is discussed, and certain parallels drawn between the Afrikaners and the. bourgeoisie in Prance folloiring the Revolution o f1 789. It is pointed out that the Afrikaner “bourgeois” people can be regarded as being perhaps the only remaining bourgeois people still in a progressive period o f their civilization. 7 his makes them a powerful force. The question now to be considered is to what extent the labouring classes could be draivn into the mainstream and it is not impossible that this could be achieved without upheaval if old Huguenot values were to be respected. Certain writers like Ellul, Brun, and A ron suggest creatively ways in which, in contrast to the Saussurean principle o f the arbitrariness o f the linguistic sign, forms o f unity may be attained. The arbitrariness of the linguistic sign and its consequences should be avoided at all levels. It is therefore suggested that the original Huguenot values could help contemporary scholars and politicians lo plan ahead in a deductive rather than an inductive n a y for a more ju s t and credible future. What has to be sought, as had been the ease with (Calvin too, is the deduction of Cod rather than the inductions o f man. O ld H u g u e n o t va lues m ay jusl he w h a t is now n eeded to recons ider poli tical s t a n d p o in t s in o r d e r to p la n usefully for a w o r th y future . S p ir i tu a l g u id a n c e is necessary to co u n te r a c t old form alism s a n d c lann ish barr iers , as well as all red u c t io ns o f h u m a n beings to s truc tu res . Linguistics has m a d e of m a n an object , a shee r p a r t ic ipan t in a d ia g ra m , leav ing out th e essentials o [substance. a n d essence. A new form o f sp ir i tua l h u m a n ism is now needed. It m a y be th a t those w h o wish to look a h e a d for good a n d b e t t e r days should find e n l ig h te n m e n t in th e s tu d y o f th e works, p h ilosoph ica l a n d sp ir i tua l , w h ich hav e s p r u n g from th e H u g u e n o t t r a d i t io n a n d the like in this co u n t ry a n d in o th e r s w h e n c e these o r ig in a l va lues hav e e m ig ra ted ; F ran ce , d ra m a t ic a l ly , rem a in s a h o tb e d o f intensive thinking. I'lie c o n te m p o ra r y a p p r o a c h to F re n c h S tu d ies in th e rest o f t h e w orld often


REFLECTIONS ON THE RENEWED SIGNIFICANCE OF HUGUENOT THOUGHT
C H A R L E S P. M A R IE * , l) epl. o

f French Studies, P I ' for C H E A B S T R A C T
7 raditional Huguenot values might be usefully employed in llie planning o f political objectives for the future.In rejecting the views which have rendered wan a mere object, a new form of spiritual humanism is advocated.In contrast to the merely "structural'' and the "communicative" a Joim o f philosophy which allows for an essentialist participation should be encouraged.The present situation in South Africa, w ithin the framework o f post-colonial Africa, is discussed, and certain parallels drawn between the Afrikaners and the.bourgeoisie in Prance folloiring the Revolution o f 1 789.It is pointed out that the A frikaner "bourgeois" people can be regarded as being perhaps the only remaining bourgeois people still in a progressive period o f their civilization.7 his makes them a powerful force.The question now to be considered is to what extent the labouring classes could be draivn into the mainstream -and it is not impossible that this could be achieved without upheaval if old Huguenot values were to be respected.Certain writers like Ellul, Brun, and A ron suggest creatively ways in which, in contrast to the Saussurean principle o f the arbitrariness o f the linguistic sign, forms o f unity may be attained.The arbitrariness of the linguistic sign and its consequences should be avoided at all levels.It is therefore suggested that the original Huguenot values could help contemporary scholars and politicians lo plan ahead in a deductive rather than an inductive n a y for a more ju s t and credible future.W hat has to be sought, as had been the ease with (Calvin too, is the deduction o f Cod rather than the inductions o f man.
O ld H uguenot values may jusl he w hat is now needed to reconsider political standpoints in order to plan usefully for a worthy future.Spiritual guidance is necessary to counteract old formalisms and clannish barriers, as well as all reductions of h u m an beings to structures.Linguistics has m ade of m an an object, a sheer part icipant in a diagram , leaving out the essentials o[substance.and essence.A new form of spiritual hum anism is now needed.
It m ay be that those w ho wish to look ahead for good and better days should find enlightenm ent in the study of the works, philosophical and spiritual, which have sp rung from the H uguenot tradition and the like in this country and in others w hence these original values have em igrated; France, dram atically, rem ains a hotbed of intensive thinking.

M a r ie
consists of looking at Enlightenment with a bow to the French Revolution, Positivism, G auchism and the recent forms of Structuralism .A ccrtain appropriation in post-Saussurcan studies of meanings hy forms has prohahly not been sufficiently signalled hy the scholars to the general public and it is unknow n in practice that various currents of French thought have a ttem p ted to and succeeded in defeating the philosophies of Sartre, Lacan, Althusser, Barthes, M ichel Foucault and the like.These, basically speaking, depended upon subjective Freudian or M arxist theories.
N am es like Picrre-H cnri Simon, M aurice Clavcl, Jacq u es Ellul, Ionesco, Pierre F m m an u cl, Jean-M arie Bcnoist, Denis de R ongem ont, Jean Brun, A ndré C h a rm so n 1, ctc. should be known in this country and their works translated and m ad e available to the m edia as well as studied in the universities.T h e C atholic an d Protestant cults have in F rance grow n closer and closer since V atican II an d a porpcr spiritual clim ate is readily available in F re n c h sp e a k in g co u n trie s, w h ich keenly c o u n te rb a la n c e s any im p erialism based u p o n M arx ist studies o r th e only too frequent p ra g m a tic a l a p p ro a ch .Indeed, ancient dcd u ctiv e th in k in g m ust he appraised anew, " dem ythologized" , if need be, in an essentinli.itm an n er2.
T h ere is a post-Hcrgsonian an d post-Bachelardian school of thought which disregards the otherwise too well-known im pact of H erbert M arcuse, of G eorg Lukács, of Lucicn G oltlm ann or indeed of G cncttc and Todorov.V alues must be found behind words and placed in a creative context of vital impulse.W ords arc therefore m ade to represent and to carry the m eaning which shaped them , they must no longer be encouraged to die away or to be c o m p u te riz e d for th e sole p u rp o se o f " stru c tu ra l" co n su m p tio n or " com m unication" , which, come to think of it, is the same thing.
T h e old values cherished by the H uguenots were constituted of a com bination of generative thinking, of creative action and of reflexive sensitivity.T hey expected a mission to be granted to them with an open view, to a larger grasp on a world which would, through m editation, be revealed to them , not as they w anted it -t his is a sign of subjectivity -but as they were predestined to have it.M an y m isinterpretations accurrcd when oidy 'p artial' perception was seized upon (subjectivity, again), but the source for hope, reflection and an adjuvant for an honest leap forward, came each tim e the interest of one individual becam e second to the advancem ent of freedom and truth.Freedom was not seen as an existentialist engagem ent but as an essenIialist, in a way which might never even have been form ulated at the tim e and which is that ofpure percept inn, which a com bined

R e f l e c t i o n s o n H u g u e n o t t h o u g h t
study of the thoughts of Calvin anti Bergson will possibly help to emphasize.
Is the impressive philosophy of Louis Lavelle4 on totality known in South Africa?Are the Omega point of T eilhard dc C h ard in 5 and I he C alvinian view on w atching out for revelation* grasped?It is indeed im portant to he allowed access to translations of these works and to ponder them.D ream the world out and it becomes true.Perhaps it is what is needed now for a renewed and reformed vision of tom orrow 's world with peace and progress.
W ith tlie French Revolution a new era draw ned for the bourgeoisie of Europe, and whereas some of their m em bers had been able to work closely for generations with the aristocracy, 1709 marks the rejection of the upper classes by their m ore progressive challengers in an attem pt to enforce Republicanism .It was only with the C o m m u n e in 1070 and then later in the course of (he 20th C entury that (he new political force of the labour classes appeared which is still endeavouring a rejection of the Bourgeois elhos: they generally see this as progress.
W hen decolonization look place in the late 50's, both E ngland and France renounced power, readily or reluctantly, according to the degree of proximity.Indeed, time-hallowed factors had helped to establish special links with one or m ore vassal countries.T h e N orthern Irish problem has not yet been resolved anti it took a difficult political crisis anrl a w ar to complete the independence of Algeria with all the setbacks it m eant for the I'ierh-tioir.s(the actual French settlers) and (heir accepted European values.This com m unity was surprisingly rapidly reintegrated in the homeland.From there on, it was generally accepted (hat colonization was a bad thing and that it should not be allowed to survive.O n e did not seem to realize that it was the first time in M a n 's history that (he conquistadors had decided to restore political freedom anrl indeed independence upon previously enslaved lands.W orld opinion, (even w hen aid to the T hird W orld appeared essential to help m aintain some standard in newly-freed countries which would otherwise have regressed even further back had (hey not been aided) held (hat every people should have a right to organize themselves the way they pleased.
It is not generally understood in Europe, for example, that South Africa had som ething of a 'French R evolution' around 1948 and that it m ade it difficult to the new rulers to foresee a subsequent upheaval; nor could be foreseen the necessity for the Blacks to accede to power.In this analysis7 which is only tentative and in no way final, the English ruling classes will be equated to W hat is not understood in E urope is that the Afrikaners are still experiencing an indeed very active progression and that there is 110 sign as yet of the degeneracy which, from the turn of the C en tu ry has struck the E uropean Bourgeoisie.T h e vast m ajority of Blacks have not yet reached the degree ol self-governing ability that would m ake their independence or indeed their access to pow er profitable lo them.T h e D utch com m unities of S outh Africa, 011 the contrary, have m ade a considerable success of their accession to independence and as a new country show the best examples of a successful decolonization -from the English, (hat is.
'I'll is notw ithstanding, Black C om m unities in the rest of Africa have acceded lo pow er with qualified success or failure and it is u n d erstan d ab le that the A frikaner C o m m u n ity should feel reluctant to see their advancem ent ham p ered by Black terrorism , which is only one of the m ajor approaches now lit ilized by the labouring classes lo m ake I heir way lo power.Afrikaans rule has indeed achieved, in o u r m odern limes, success com parable to the best of E uropean bourgeois achievem ents7; not surprisingly so, either, since I hey, themselves, were of dynam ic original slock and that only Colon izat ion had forced them lo play the unsatisfactory part of the poor Whiles of Amcrica.
A contrasting situation has therefore been attained.T h e Afrikaners are, perhaps, in ethos, the only rem aining bourgeois people of their time to be still in a progressive period of their civilisation.T h e rest of I he W orld does not seem to understand I hat, unfortunately.T h e W orld as a whole has reached a dilfcrenl standard of values, which some may even rightly consider a form of decline with regard to earlier achievements.W estern

R e f le c t io n s o n H u g u e n o t t h o u g h t
Kurope, for example, anil South Africa, live a dillcrenl degree ofevolnlion within I lie same la|)se oftim c and it is likely that the state of bourgeoisie shall reach higher peaks with the latter country which is still in progression thanks to the kind ol ethos which it advocates.In a context of bourgeois values, South Africa appears to be a resurgence, at the same time ahead of and behind bet t i me, w hich might continue to make of her, if certain ( ondil ions are respected, a very strong civilisation indeed.
Phase three of her developm ent has not yet been entered, though.T he question is relevant to the integration of the labouring classes.C an South Africa learn from past trial and error recorded in the rest of the world?' There, bo I li t he labouring classes and t he black acceded to power despite the obvious failure of a nu m b er of regimes.Tlic alternative put to South Africa by the rest of the world is, for the time being, " Adapt or bew are of ostracism" ; the rest of the world exerts pressures lor alignm ent to their own norms for dem ocracy.This is today the price to pay for keeping an independent bourgeois society which might soon possess some of the highest standards in the m odern world.It is not impossible that il ancient Huguenot values are respected this might be achieved without any turmoil.It may, however, necessitate turning a blind eye to nationalistic, static and sterile values with a move tow ards a certain form of integration.Some people may ofcourse think that such a target is impossible, that il is better to keep the black populat ions aside and that one ought indeed to give t hem a chance to develop their own political objectives elsewhere.

As w ith th e H u g u e n o ts of th e D ispersion" c o n te m p o ra ry F ren ch metaphysical writers consider wil h great insight bol h I he faults ol pragm atic
and Marxist thinkers who attem pted alter K ant, alter Sadc, after Nicts/.che, to edit out ihc names of G od and M an, leaving the em pty spatial notion of structure with which sheer nom enclature replaces the identity of meaning.Those who are known as the New Philosophers9 are perhaps the Iasi bridging body between the nihilist view and an agonizing form of H um anism .W ith Jea n -M a rie Bcnoist, they claim that M arx is dead, but cannot deliver I liemselves from I he spell of M ay 1 i)(ifi: hence the tribute they pay to the K an tian Schools.
Deeper, and more apt to serve the needs of Soul h Africa loday, are t h inkers like Jacques Kllul10, Je a n brim and R aym ond A ro n " whose analyses of contem porary currents in French thought arc related to acknowledged H u m a n is t a n d C h r is ti a n p re c e p ts w h ic h th ey h a v e le a r n t to " demyI hologize" , as indeed M ilton and Calvin had in I heir days.A similar M a r io interest conkl h r lound in (he slinly of poets, w hom because (hey have consciously rejected (lie tem ptations of Surrealism, are aw are of the deeper sidcol 'transparence' 12. Willi Patrice dc la T o m du P in 13, Pierre Kmmam icl or indeed Leopold ScdarS enghor, the poetical works of a certain intelligentsia, philosophical hy nature, are Ibrmidablc obstacle to M aterialism in a world which tends u n d er M arxist inlluence to be divided into the equivocal mylli ol (lie si niggle of the classes.I'he essrnhahst view 14, however, introduces a third dim ension, which is an absolute, not seen as arb itrary or fascist, but 011 the whole as 'total' or 'com plete' whereas any division of the world into parts c a n o nly lead to neg ativ ism a n d fight.In th e light o f " ab so lu te consciousness" which is an ideal outcom e lor " pure perception" -a concept which it is greatly interesting to study after Bergson or in the Christ ian I radii ion -one will probably quite readily disregard any longlived subjective or partisan addiction.Indeed at the more advanced levels o f post -Saussurcan Linguistics, 1 hrough pragm atic and M arxist interest, Social Scientists lend to provide sheer interpretations w ithin structural frameworks that give contextual life to ihc sig n ifian t w h e re as w h a t is n eed ed is a " d c m y th o lo g i/.a tio n " of a tran sc en d e n tal n a tu re w hich finds a chronological slarl w ithin th e meaningful signijie20, unlike with Barthes o r Lacan.This results in the revelation o f a n exegesis, an d the W ord finds its forms in a language which it coins u n d er the flux of Revelation.T his unity is alien to the Saussurcan principle of the arbitrariness of the linguistic sign as il is known after the age ol positivism.T h e French School of Sirucluralism has developed the idea llial w hat was true for Linguistics was also true lor all the fields o f the Social Sciences.If one dares to quest ion the necessity for the arbitrariness o f the R e f le c t io n s o n I l n g u e n o t t h o u g h t linguistic sign, one also suggests the possible oneness of a kind between the sig n ifu and th e signifiant as il is shown in a relationship by which the W ord of G od is revealed in the flesh. At a political level it also m eans a quest for unity, and the people of a nation (signifiantx) cannot confcr upon the rulers l ights which they themselves do not possess.W ithin Christianity G od only can be the origin of Revelation.
T h e principle of p opular sovereignty often evoked by those people who have not turned quite M arxist yet, is not any m ore convincing than (his other arbitrariness, that of'thc prince.'['lie law of m an is not that of C od unless the W ord of G od is indeed revealed to man.A H uguenot thinker of the Dispersion, Pierre J u ric u 21, was already adam ant about this in the Seventeenth C entury.He spoke of the com ing of sin and of the division of goods.He explained that since the Fall, G od had not established by a general law the power of masters over slaves, and that of sovereigns over subjects.Both people and prince must refer to an absolute and political wisdom as a tributary to commonscnsc in the light of the revelation of the W ord (... often far aw ay from all rational h u m an quibbles or structural disguises afferent to dialectics and contem porary pseudo-M arxist and Pragm atic principles in hum an com m unication: these, however hidden as they m ay be to some, are of a perverse nature).
At all levels one ought to bew are of the consequence of the arbitrariness of the linguistic sign, a principle which postulates the death of M an alter that ol God.T h e French poet Valery was quite right when he suggested as early as 191 It: " W e now know that our civilisations arc m ortal" .It may be that the original H uguenot values, through such a deal, could help contem porary scholars and politicians to plan ahead in a deductive rather than an inductive way for a m ore just and credible future.W hat of course must be sought after, as was the ease wit h Calvin, is the deduction of God rather than the inductions of men.

I
'lie contem porary ap p ro ach to French Studies in the rest o fth e world often KorrR, 48(1) 1983

M a r ie
the pre-revolulionary French Aristocracy.T h e Afrikaans power I lull look over hy 1940 had m any of the characteristics of the constructive die-hard Bourgeoisie which had carried out tlie French Revolution of 1789.I 'lie w o rk in g classes w h ich g ra d u a lly m a d e th e ir w ay u p to political consciousness through the Industrial Revolution experienced in England during the 19t h C entury and more closely in France with the II Ird Republic (1871-1940), can be broadly equated with the Black working classes as they arc presently known in South Africa.It m ay be that racial distinctions have been singled out lo contain the possible push upw ards of the Black and C oloured com m unities.In reality the Black populations ofSouth-A lrica arc by and large the working classes who are at present experiencing an outburst of M arxist pro p ag an d a -be it socialist or comm unist -in oilier parts of the 'free' World.
I11 a field w here the Social Sciences will include metaphysics, literature in ils creative sense, an d allied philosophies, the nam es of T eilhard,.Jean G renier, F erdinand A lquic19an d Lavcllc will strike right chord and one could d o well to read Denis de K o u g cm o n t's Venser avec Us mains or loncsco's Notes el (Jnnlre-Notes ,s.'I'he corpus of nam es suggested here to he pondered upon, if a P osl-G raduatc C en tre lor the S tudy of C o n tem p o rary French T hought were to be created in South Africa, would o f course necessitate a greater n u m b er of nam es an d amongst them one could certainly place a first gcncralion of writers like A ntonin A rtaud, Paul C lau d e l,Je an G irau d u iix 17, G abriel M arcel, R oger Caillois"', Jean Anouilh, o r indeed Sam uel lleckctt, Francois M auriac an d even C harles d c G au lle 19, 110I the polil ician, but the poet an d thinker.All those w ith cosmic or religious believes would help slay the materialist slogan of the arbitrariness ol the linguistic sign.