Paper's abstract

Pierre & Dominique Terré Caye, Neutral at the ordeal of power. The metaphysical conditions of laïcité
Laïcité may be defined as the neutrality of the State towards society and beliefs. This neutrality is not limited to merely organising a pacific coexistence between the various communities. It means that the State refuses to refer its power to whatever fundamental authority and so frees itself from its theologico-political foundation. By asserting laïcité, the State establishes its power on emptiness and so expresses its highest sovereignty. The double evolution of our civilisation, at the same time paradoxical and related, towards both globalisation and communautarism, rekindles the processes of deneutralisation, natural to every society, and rethinks the delicate balance at the basis of a secular State. Authors deal here with these recurring processes of neutralisation, as well as with the conditions necessary to reinstate laïcité, to which a certain form of religious spirit, far from being an hindrance may highly contribute.


Key Words : neutrality of the State, sovereignty, communautarism
t.48, 2004 : p. 27-41