Étienne de la Boétie

Pub­lisher’s Presentation

“In 1550, at the young age of eighteen, Étienne de la Boétie wrote his reply to Machiavelli’s The Prince. In it he sought to answer the question of why people submit to the tyranny of gov­ern­ments. This classic work of political reflection, Dis­course of Vol­untary Servitude, laid the ground work for the concept of civil dis­obe­dience, and as such, has exerted an important influence on the tra­di­tions of dis­si­dence from Thoreau and Ralph Emerson, to Tolstoy, to Gandhi. In his Dis­course de La Boétie delves deeply into the nature of tyranny and into the nature of State rule. He cuts to the heart of what is, or rather should be, the central problem of political phi­losophy: the mystery of civil obe­dience. Why do people, in all times and places, obey the com­mands of gov­ernment, which always con­sti­tutes a small minority of the society?”— Gene Sharp, Pol­itics of Non­vi­olent Action