Dear colleagues,
My apologies if you have already received this request for help. I am
embarrassed that after a week's reading and searching I cannot find the
origin of the French revolutionary slogan 'liberty, equality, and
fraternity'. Who first coined the term, when and where? The nearest I have
got is a hint that French troops used it as an ideological justification for
their attempts to extend the libertarian aspirations of the French revolution.
I can find much about freedom and equality but NOTHING I have read, including
Scama and Hobsbawn, says anything about 'fraternity' and I have not been
successful either on the web. If anyone can set me on the right tracks I
would be most grateful.
I'm trying to write something on the contemporary concept 'solidarity' which
is much stressed in recent papal teaching (Paul VI and JPII). I am interested
in the secular roots of the concept and I assume there are close links, if
not identity, between the concepts of 'fraternity' and 'solidarity'. If such
an assumption is challenged, I would be grateful for any correction!
Many thanks for any help you are able to give or any suggestions which are
relevant.
Best wishes, peace and joy!
Mike Hornsby-Smith
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