Étienne-Gabriel Morelly

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Title page of the Code de la Nature, ou le véritable Esprit de ses Loix (1755)

Étienne-Gabriel Morelly (* 1717 in Vitry-le-François ; † 1778 ) was a French philosopher .

Live and act

Morelly can be seen as the "forgotten philosopher" of the Enlightenment . Only a few of his writings have survived, including the Code de la Nature , published in 1755. Very little is known of his life either. It was also long suspected that Morelly was actually none other than Denis Diderot .

The Code de la Nature can be described as an early socialist work, in which private property is described as the source of all evil. For example, Article 1 of the penal law stated there: “Anyone who [...] even tries to smuggle in [...] the despicable private property again is [...] regarded as an enemy of humanity. [...] His name will be struck off the citizens' lists forever. "

Works (in selection)

  • Essai sur l'esprit humain, ou Principes naturels de l'éducation . C.-J.-B. Delespine, Paris 1743 ( digitized from Gallica ).
  • Essai sur le coeur humain, ou Principes naturels de l'éducation . C.-J.-B. Delespine, Paris 1745 ( digitized from Gallica ).
  • Physique de la beauté, ou Pouvoir naturel de ses charmes . Aux dépens de la compagnie, Amsterdam, and G. Fricx, Brussels 1748 ( digitized from Gallica ).
  • Naufrage des isles flottantes, ou Basiliade du célèbre Pilpai. Poëme herroïque, traduit de l'Indien . Two volumes. Par une société de libraires, Messine 1753 (digital copies of the first and second volumes in Gallica ).
  • Code de la nature, ou le véritable esprit de ses loix, de tout tems négligé ou méconnu . Chez le vrai sage, Par-tout [d. i. self-published, Paris] 1755 ( digitized from taieb.net ; digitized from Gallica ).
    • Code de la nature, par Morelly. Réimpression complete, augmentée des fragments importants de la Basiliade, avec l'analyse raisonnée du système social de Morelly de [François] Villegardelle. Paul Masgana, Paris 1841 ( digitized by Gallica ).
  • Le Prince, les délices des cœurs, ou Traité des qualités d'un grand roi et sistème général d'un sage gouvernement . Two volumes. Aux dépens de la Compagnie, Amsterdam 1751 ( digital version of the first volume at Gallica ; digital version of the first volume at the Bavarian State Library ; digital version of the second volume in the Internet Archive ).
  • Lettres de Louis XIV aux princes de l'Europe, à ses généraux, ses ministres, etc., recueillies par M. Rose, secrétaire du cabinet. Avec des remarques historiques . Paris, Frankfurt, Liège and Bassompierre 1755.
  • L'Hymen vengé en cinq chants, suivi de la traduction libre en vers françois de Médée, tragédie de Sénèque, et de quelques pièces fugitives . London and Paris 1778.

literature

  • Richard Nelson Coe : Morelly. A rationalist on the way to socialism. Translated from the English manuscript by Rolf Geißler. Rütten & Loening, East Berlin 1961 (with bibliography, pp. 349–358).
  • Jean Touchard: Histoire des idées politiques . Volume 2. Ed. PUF, Paris 1958.

Web links

Wikisource: Étienne-Gabriel Morelly  - Sources and full texts (French)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The small encyclopedia , Encyclios-Verlag, Zurich, 1950, volume 2, page 198
  2. ↑ Helmut Swoboda (editor): The dream of the best state. Texts from utopias from Plato to Morris. Third edition. dtv Verlagsgesellschaft , Munich 1987, p. 241.
  3. ↑ Cf. Thilo Ramm: The great socialists as legal and social philosophers . Fischer, Stuttgart 1955, pp. 80-94.
personal data
SURNAME Morelly, Etienne-Gabriel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH 1717
PLACE OF BIRTH Vitry-le-François
DATE OF DEATH 1778