ABSTRACT OF PAPER
Title: From Versailles to Paris: Quesnay’s writing workshop and the Physiocratic school
Author:
In this paper, we will investigate the scientific practices of Quesnay and the individuals who worked with him on political economy in relation with their social background. Our contention is that the history of the group of individuals that adhered to Quesnay’s economic and political project should be broken into a sequence of two different episodes. In the 1750s, Quesnay, who was as Mme de Pompadour’s private physician immersed in court life, widely used his networks from Versailles and the social prestige attached to his position to recruit collaborators. After the death of Mme de Pompadour, Quesnay’s patron, in May 1764, this pattern was called into question. Quesnay’s aura of power at Versailles crumbled and with it, the writing workshop he had build in Versailles. It would be replaced by the physiocratic school situated in Paris with Mirabeau’s Hôtel as general headquarters. The physiocratic school was thus severed from the court and promoted another set of relationships between the collaborators of Quesnay (the économistes). The paper will be divided in two parts, the first part will investigate the relationships between Quesnay’s workshop and the social space of the Versailles Court. In the second part, we will discuss the links between the physiocratic school and the social space of enlightened Paris.
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