The Napoleonic Aristocracy: The Origins of Meritocracy in the Grandes Écoles

• In Event: Epistemic Authority, Ancient and Modern

Brief Overview

This paper reads Napeoleon’s educational project as at once a continuation of Montesquieu’s reformist project and the pioneer of a distinctively modern understanding of meritocracy in order to assess academic talent's claim to epistemic authority.

Author

• Luke Foster, University of Notre Dame