Morelly. Un auteur mèconnu, qui doit être lu = Morelly. A little-known author who must be read

Abstract

This article aims to refocus attention on the figure and thought of Morelly, an 18th-century author who remained largely obscure, yet played a central role in the development of modern social and political thought. In the Code de la nature (1755), Morelly developed a theory of society based on a conception of human nature based on equality, self-love, and mutual dependence. He identified private property as the source of inequality and moral corruption and proposed a social model based on the abolition of private property, the right to work and subsistence, and the obligation to work according to ability. The article places Morelly's thought within the scientific and philosophical context of the Enlightenment, demonstrating the influence of Newtonianism and Lockean empiricism in his attempt to establish a science of morality and society. Morelly's influence on Babeuf and 19th-century socialism is also highlighted. The Code de la nature emerges as a work that, in addition to representing an Enlightenment utopia, anticipates central themes and problems of modern political thought.