Pierre Leroux and the Circulus
117
of nature lent support to the socialist cause. He explained that an individual plant, interested exclusively in its own survival, would soon
perish. Selfishness decreased the chances of survival. To imagine that
a plant selfishly drew water and minerals from the surrounding soil
and then repaid its debts to the earth when its leaves finally fell to the
ground was to betray a singular misunderstanding of the workings of
nature. In reality, continued Leroux, the fallen leaves fertilized the soil
for the wider benefit of other plants. The continuance of life on earth
rested on similar complex processes of sharing and exchanging. Malthus had correctly recognized the infinite fertility of living things but
he had not grasped the true character of natural law. Nature was debased and traduced when its processes were used in order to lend legitimacy to economic liberalism. It was quite wrong to draw an
analogy between nature and a banker who was interested in profit and
loss and expected to be repaid (p. 135). The operation of the circulus
worked against the exploitation of the weak by the powerful. It was
intrinsically anti-hierarchical in character.
From Leroux’s socialist perspective the earth was the
collective property of the living entities whose waste products
sustained life on the planet: “Nous sommes tous, suivant moi,
fabricateurs de terre, et je maintiens même que toute terre, et par
conséquent toute propriété, a été ainsi fabriquée, soit par les animaux,
soit par les hommes” (p. 193). Leroux wanted to link the individual’s
obligations with regard to his fellows to humankind’s general duty
towards the planet and he did this by interpreting excretion as a form
of restitution. He described the human body as “un admirable laboratoire” (p. 11).
22 The processes of digestion, assimilation and excretion
undertaken by the organs of the body accorded with the divine plan of
creation.
23 Nothing was wasted since what was perceived to be waste,
impure and unclean, was in fact essential for the continuance of life. It
followed from this that, in Leroux’s eyes, the death of a human being
from starvation was not an injustice that could be blamed on God. The
___________________________
22 For an illustration of how the functioning of the digestive system could be represented as a model for a well organised society see Paul Gaubert, Hygiène de la digestion avec quelques considérations nouvelles (Paris: Au Dépôt de la Librairie, Rue
Sainte-Anne), 1849, p. 121.
23 See the comments on Leroux’s theories made by Dominique Laporte in History of
Shit, trans. by N. Benabid and R. el-Khory (Cambridge MA: MIT Press, 1993), pp.
128-32.
117
of nature lent support to the socialist cause. He explained that an individual plant, interested exclusively in its own survival, would soon
perish. Selfishness decreased the chances of survival. To imagine that
a plant selfishly drew water and minerals from the surrounding soil
and then repaid its debts to the earth when its leaves finally fell to the
ground was to betray a singular misunderstanding of the workings of
nature. In reality, continued Leroux, the fallen leaves fertilized the soil
for the wider benefit of other plants. The continuance of life on earth
rested on similar complex processes of sharing and exchanging. Malthus had correctly recognized the infinite fertility of living things but
he had not grasped the true character of natural law. Nature was debased and traduced when its processes were used in order to lend legitimacy to economic liberalism. It was quite wrong to draw an
analogy between nature and a banker who was interested in profit and
loss and expected to be repaid (p. 135). The operation of the circulus
worked against the exploitation of the weak by the powerful. It was
intrinsically anti-hierarchical in character.
From Leroux’s socialist perspective the earth was the
collective property of the living entities whose waste products
sustained life on the planet: “Nous sommes tous, suivant moi,
fabricateurs de terre, et je maintiens même que toute terre, et par
conséquent toute propriété, a été ainsi fabriquée, soit par les animaux,
soit par les hommes” (p. 193). Leroux wanted to link the individual’s
obligations with regard to his fellows to humankind’s general duty
towards the planet and he did this by interpreting excretion as a form
of restitution. He described the human body as “un admirable laboratoire” (p. 11).
22 The processes of digestion, assimilation and excretion
undertaken by the organs of the body accorded with the divine plan of
creation.
23 Nothing was wasted since what was perceived to be waste,
impure and unclean, was in fact essential for the continuance of life. It
followed from this that, in Leroux’s eyes, the death of a human being
from starvation was not an injustice that could be blamed on God. The
___________________________
22 For an illustration of how the functioning of the digestive system could be represented as a model for a well organised society see Paul Gaubert, Hygiène de la digestion avec quelques considérations nouvelles (Paris: Au Dépôt de la Librairie, Rue
Sainte-Anne), 1849, p. 121.
23 See the comments on Leroux’s theories made by Dominique Laporte in History of
Shit, trans. by N. Benabid and R. el-Khory (Cambridge MA: MIT Press, 1993), pp.
128-32.