La Politique naturelle

Conversely, the little man "can do nothing without the help of other men who, for years, will make him grow in different circles of life, the largest of which, but which remains concrete, accessible, alive, is that the nation" as summarized by Jean-Christophe Buisson.

On leaving its native envelope, the young bee, guided by instinct, takes flight and without hesitation undertakes the harvest necessary for the community.

He is not only useless to his family; he is both a burden and a hindrance to his natural community: for he brings to it, from his birth, the seeds of indiscipline and revolt.All Maurrassian anthropology is based on these common sense observations, placing the individual back in concrete reality: that of a social cell (the family) and of a temporality (man is not born adult, independent, and free).

This is what Maurras sums up as "protective inequality" in opposition to Rousseauist ideas that men are born "free and equal in rights".

[3] The philosopher Philippe Nemo observes the simultaneous presence of rationalism and anti-rationalism in the thought of Maurras, as in those of Nietzsche or Bergson.

[4] Maurras recognizes the role of intuition, of feeling, of arbitrariness which excludes discussion and decides for sure, and in this he opposes the tradition of the Enlightenment.

However, he feels that reason must come later to confirm what sentiment has discovered; that, moreover, science can give solid arguments in favor of natural politics, which instinct must first grasp; that finally, on the tactical level, it is important not to abandon intelligence to the rationalist-republican camp.Through natural politics, Maurras refutes the main liberal and democratic dogmas: individualism, egalitarism, contractualism.

[3] According to Maurras, the existence of a general identity of the human race does not prevent each man from having his own character (which implies a certain freedom).

For Maurras, the Counter-Revolution must take place: [...] in the name of reason and nature, in accordance with the old laws of the universe, for the salvation of order, for the duration and progress of a threatened civilization.