Metempsychosis and Social Reform: the Individual and the Collective in
Romantic Socialism
forthcoming in French Historical Studies, Summer 2004
Lynn L. Sharp
ABSTRACT
The relationship between the individual and the collective arose as a strong tension in romantic
socialism. Popular ideas of palingenesis and metempsychosis structured theories of social change
and reform, emphasizing solidarity without discounting the importance of the individual as a
moral actor. The thought of Pierre-Simon Ballanche, Pierre Leroux, and Jean Reynaud played an
influential role in spreading belief in metempsychosis. Each thinker envisioned differently the role
of the individual and the collective in social change and whether equality could be achieved on this
world, or only in the next. Exploration of the tensions inherent in these theories helps explain the
inability of romantic socialism to respond to the crises of 1848, despite its popularity. Yet these
ideas may also be read as contributing to the French vision of citizenship as social and
transformative.
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Copyright 2003, Lynn L. Sharp
revised: 27 August 2003