The Haitian Revolution was the first in a modern state to implement human rights universally and unconditionally. Going beyond the selective emancipation of white adult male property owners, the Haitian Revolution is of vital importance, the author argues, in thinking today about the urgent problems of social justice, human rights, imperialism, torture, and, above all, human freedom. He explores the invention of universal emancipation both in the context of the Age of Enlightenment (Spinoza, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel) and in relation to certain key figures (Ranciere, Laclau, Habermas) and trends (such as the turn to ethics, human rights, and universalism) in contemporary political philosophy.

Saint-Domingue and the singularization of Enlightenment -- The idea of 1804 -- Penser la Révolution Haïtienne -- Beyond Jacobinism : hegemony and universalism in the Haitian Revolution -- Toussaint Louverture, the moun andeyo, and the transcendental conditions of political autonomy.