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What is the meaning of the distinction between Left and Right in western political thought?
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U-Card- 010155961 Pol 106-What is the meaning of the distinction between Left and Right in western political thought? "The words droite and gauche (right and left) are the two most frequently used words in the French political vocabulary but they defy objective definition in every sense". When Pierce uses these terms in relation to French politics it is because they were "invented" in the assemblies after the French Revolution of 1789 and from that point on left and right have been central to political discourse. Since the French Revolution bequeathed these words based on the seating arrangements of the assemblies when the people of the 'third estate' sat on the left hand side of the king, because the nobility were seated on the right, the position of honour, the custom evolved so that the radical and egalitarian sat on the left. Left was used as a pejorative term at the time but has...
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