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Political moderation is the touchstone of democracy, which could not function without compromise and bargaining, yet it is one of the most understudied concepts in political theory. How can we explain this striking paradox? Why do we often underestimate the virtue of moderation? Seeking to answer these questions, A Virtue for Courageous Minds examines moderation in modern French political thought and sheds light on the French Revolution and its legacy. Aurelian Craiutu begins with classical thinkers who extolled the virtues of a moderate approach to politics, such as Aristotle and Cicero. He then shows how Montesquieu inaugurated the modern rebirth of this tradition by laying the intellectual foundations for moderate government. Craiutu looks at important figures such as Jacques Necker, Madame de Staël, and Benjamin Constant, not only in the context of revolutionary France but throughout Europe. He traces how moderation evolves from an individual moral virtue into a set of institutional arrangements calculated to protect individual liberty, and he explores the deep affinity between political moderation and constitutional complexity. Craiutu demonstrates how moderation navigates between political extremes, and he challenges the common notion that moderation is an essentially conservative virtue, stressing instead its eclectic nature. Drawing on a broad range of writings in political theory, the history of political thought, philosophy, and law, A Virtue for Courageous Minds reveals how the virtue of political moderation can address the profound complexities of the world today.

Moderation --- Political science --- Golden mean --- Mean, Golden --- Administration --- Civil government --- Commonwealth, The --- Government --- Political theory --- Political thought --- Politics --- Science, Political --- Social sciences --- State, The --- Political aspects --- History. --- History --- France --- Bro-C'hall --- Fa-kuo --- Fa-lan-hsi --- Faguo --- Falanxi --- Falanxi Gongheguo --- Faransā --- Farānsah --- França --- Francia (Republic) --- Francija --- Francja --- Francland --- Francuska --- Franis --- Franḳraykh --- Frankreich --- Frankrig --- Frankrijk --- Frankrike --- Frankryk --- Fransa --- Fransa Respublikası --- Franse --- Franse Republiek --- Frant︠s︡ --- Frant︠s︡ Uls --- Frant︠s︡ii︠a︡ --- Frantsuzskai︠a︡ Rėspublika --- Frantsyi︠a︡ --- Franza --- French Republic --- Frencisc Cynewīse --- Frenska republika --- Furansu --- Furansu Kyōwakoku --- Gallia --- Gallia (Republic) --- Gallikē Dēmokratia --- Hyãsia --- Parancis --- Peurancih --- Phransiya --- Pransiya --- Pransya --- Prantsusmaa --- Pʻŭrangsŭ --- Ranska --- República Francesa --- Republica Franzesa --- Republika Francuska --- Republiḳah ha-Tsarfatit --- Republikang Pranses --- République française --- Tsarfat --- Tsorfat --- Γαλλική Δημοκρατία --- Γαλλία --- Франц --- Франц Улс --- Французская Рэспубліка --- Францыя --- Франция --- Френска република --- פראנקרייך --- צרפת --- רפובליקה הצרפתית --- فرانسه --- فرنسا --- フランス --- フランス共和国 --- 法国 --- 法蘭西 --- 法蘭西共和國 --- 프랑스 --- France (Provisional government, 1944-1946) --- Politics and government --- Philosophy --- Aristotle. --- Benjamin Constant. --- Charter of 1814. --- Constituent Assembly. --- David Hume. --- Directory. --- French Revolution. --- French constitution. --- French political thought. --- Germaine de Stal. --- Jacques Necker. --- Jean-Jacques Rousseau. --- Jean-Joseph Mounier. --- Michel de Montaigne. --- Montesquieu. --- Napoleon Bonaparte. --- Niccol Machiavelli. --- Old Regime. --- Pierre Victor Malouet. --- Plato. --- Stanislas de Clermont-Tonnerre. --- The Spirit of the Laws. --- Trophim-Grard Lally-Tollendal. --- animated moderation. --- bicameralism. --- center. --- commerce. --- complex sovereignty. --- constitutionalism. --- democracy. --- equality. --- extreme center. --- faith. --- fanaticism. --- immoderate government. --- immoderation. --- liberty. --- limited sovereignty. --- middle way. --- mixed government. --- moderate government. --- moderation. --- monarchiens. --- moral virtue. --- neutral power. --- pluralism. --- political liberty. --- political moderation. --- political reform. --- political theory. --- political virtue. --- politics. --- pouvoir modrateur. --- radical moderates. --- radicalism. --- representative government. --- separation of powers. --- skepticism. --- social order. --- trimming. --- virtue.