Description

Fourier enjoys the honor of being the first thinker to push Rousseau to the logical conclusion of a complete condemnation of Civilization. Not only did he blame it for what we call Capitalism, he also saw it as the source of the evil of Work as "alienation'' (to use Marx's term). The fact that we must labor at what we do not love in order to "make a living'' defines the essence of Civilization's primal error.

Fourier ascribed his big revelation to a rigorous application of Newton's law of attraction, not just as a cosmic force but also as a social force. Fourier realized that Passion, far from being the cause of "sin, '' might actually serve to enable the emergence of a human society (he called it Harmony) in which everyone does exactly as they please; as a result, everything will be done well (passionately) and everyone will be happy. And if everyone is ecstatic and joyful, how could there exist any disorder or violence?

The present text is excerpted from Le Nouveau monde amoureux, Fourier's magnum opus on "the New Word of Love, '' which was too hot to publish during his lifetime. Food and sex are his answers to all problems. And if Fourier exalted erotic pleasure, he went even farther in his obsession with food ."