In a series of
dialogues, three characters, called the Count, the Senator and the Chevalier, meet in
Saint Petersburg and explore a range of subjects related to
theodicy,
punishment and
epistemology. The book argues that the continuous blood sacrifice of men is a constant and fundamental law in all of human life and society.
The Executioner Isaiah Berlin called
The Executioner, which appears in the first dialogue, "the most famous passage in the whole of Maistre’s works". It attempts to explain the foundations of society by comparing
executioners to the conventionally more honoured soldiers, maintaining that all society needs the final form of
sovereignty that is provided by the executioner and which stops men ripping each other to pieces. ==Reception==