Exemple historique et débat contre l’euro dans l’espace discursif français

Abstract

This article examines examples borrowed from quite different periods and events mobilized in 2002 by French opponents to the European single currency, in order to see how the historical example works in a polemical context. Thus the historical examples of the "Bridge on the River Kwai" and the "Holy Roman Empire" constitute similar arguments against the euro, while making another use of the analogical mechanism – narrowing or opening up its interpretative potential. The reference to the biblical reference of the "Golden Calf" as a memorial cliché shows that although not based on a real fact, it displays an analogical mechanism very close to the historical examples analyzed here. The last part of the article illustrates the use of the same examples in the contemporary debate on the alleged German hegemony in the heart of the European Union. The reappearance of these memorial phrases testifies to the interdiscursive scope and effectiveness of this type of argument.

Keywords

• argumentation
• Bridge on the River Kwai
• euro
• Golden Calf
• historical example
• Holy Roman Empire