The Writing Workshop of François Quesnay and the Making of Physiocracy
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4298543 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Christine Théré (0009-0001-7057-3379), Loïc Charles (0000-0001-9698-3707) |
| Year | 2008 |
| Volume | 40 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 1-42 |
| Publication date | 2008-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | History of Political Economy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0018-2702 • E-ISSN: 1527-1919 |
| Publisher | Duke University Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1215/00182702-2007-045 |
| OpenAlex | W2034086737 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 11 |
| References cited | 11 |
Using archival materials, we investigate the scientific practices of François Quesnay and the individuals who worked with him in relation to their social background. Our contention is that, before 1764, the group of authors who shared Quesnay's commitment to an agrarian economic theory are best described as the "writing workshop" of François Quesnay rather than as the "physiocratic" school. Quesnay organized and supervised the work of these individuals, who assisted him in a manner clearly reminiscent of that of workshops of artists from late medieval and early modern Europe. On the one hand, Quesnay tightly controlled the work of those (the Marquis de Mirabeau, Pattullo, Du Pont de Nemours) who published economic writings, correcting and even rewriting whole parts of their texts. On the other hand, he commanded other writers/individuals to collect data and execute and verify calculations, most notably for his tableaux économiques. In other words, the production of political and economic writings was structured by a detailed division of labor organized by Quesnay, who acted as the master of a writing workshop. After the death of Madame de Pompadour, Quesnay's prominent patroness, in 1764, the situation changed. Quesnay's aura of power at court disappeared and with it, his writing workshop. The center of gravity of physiocracy moved from Versailles to Paris, and the workshop was gradually replaced by the physiocratic school
Agrarian society · Agriculture · Economics · Neoclassical economics · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Relation (database · Sociology · Classics · Computer Science · Economic Theory and Institutions · European Political History Analysis · Historical Economic and Social Studies · History · Law
Economistes and the Reinvention of Empire
Turgot
Le Trosne’s Discours sur l’état actuel de la magistrature and Quesnay’s reaction to it
Arnault Skornicki, L’économiste, la cour et la patrie
Physiocracy in the eighteenth-century America. Economic theory and political weapons
Nicolas Malebranche and the Physiocrats' Corporeal Critique of Commerce in 1760s France
L'optimum gouvernemental des physiocrates
The Economist as Surveyor
All Production Is Reproduction
From Versailles to Paris
Performing Physiocracy
The cultural origins of the French Revolution
The visual history of the Tableau Économique
Le Mouvement Physiocratique en France de 1756 a 1770.
The Encyclopedists as Individuals
Diderot et L'Encyclopedie
TheTableau Économiqueas Rational Recreation
The Republic of Letters
Nobles médecins et médecins de cour au XVIIIe siècle
| Unique citing works | 11 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,69 |
| Citation span | 2010 - 2024 (15) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 11 |