Étienne-Gabriel Morelly - Wikipedia Étienne-Gabriel Morelly From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search This article possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. (August 2008) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Frontispiece of "Code de la Nature, ou le véritable Esprit de ses Loix." (1755) Étienne-Gabriel Morelly (French: [mɔʁɛli]; 1717, Vitry-le-François – 1778) was a French utopian thinker and novelist. An otherwise "obscure tax official",[1] Morelly wrote two books on education and a critique of Montesquieu. As well he is thought to be (perhaps erroneously) the author of The Code of Nature, which was published anonymously in France in 1755. This book, a basis of thought for later socialist and Communist thinkers, criticized the society of his day, promoted a social order without avarice and proposed a constitution intended to lead to an egalitarian society without property, marriage, church or police.[2] Contents 1 Outline 2 Morelly's position 3 Life 4 Works 5 See also 6 References 7 External links Outline[edit] According to The Code of Nature, "...where no property exists, none of its pernicious consequences could exist...." As Morelly believed that almost all social and moral ills were a consequence of private property, his proposed constitution eliminates most private property. Because of this latter characteristic of his utopia, Morelly is often seen as a significant forerunner of later socialist and communist thinkers. François-Noël Babeuf, Charles Fourier, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Louis Blanc, Friedrich Engels, and Karl Marx all discussed Morelly's ideas in their own writing. Morelly's position[edit] Among the "sacred and fundamental laws" Morelly proposed was "Nothing in society will belong to anyone, either as a personal possession or as capital goods, except the things for which the person has immediate use, for either his needs, his pleasures, or his daily work." He was opposed to the possession of property beyond what an individual needed and, especially, to private property used to employ others. How, then, would workers gain access to tools and equipment beyond personal possession if their job required it? According to Morelly, "...all these durable products will be gathered together in public stores in order to be distributed to all the citizens, daily or at some other specified interval ..." He also proposed banning of trade between individuals: "In accordance with the sacred laws, nothing will be sold or exchanged between citizens. Someone who needs, for example greens, vegetables or fruits, will go to the public square, which is where these items will have been brought by the man who cultivate them, and take what he needs for one day only." Life[edit] Morelly is often identified as an obscure tutor about whom almost nothing is known except that he lived in a small town in northwestern France, Vitry-le-François. Works[edit] Essai sur l'esprit humain, 1743 Essai sur le coeur humain, 1745 Le Prince, les délices des coeurs, ou traité des qualités d'un grand roi et système d'un sage gouvernement [The Prince, the delights of the heart, or, A treatise on the qualities of a great king and system of wise government], 1751 Naufrage des isles flottantes, ou Basiliade du célèbre Pilpai, 1753 Code de la nature, ou le véritable esprit de ses lois, 1755 See also[edit] From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs References[edit] ^ Michael Sonenscher, Sans-Culottes: An Eighteenth-Century Emblem in the French Revolution, Princeton University Press, 2008, p.229 ^ The Cambridge History of Eighteenth-Century Political Thought, ed. Mark Goldie and Robert Wokler, Cambridge University Press, 2006, p.762 External links[edit] Excerpts from The Code of Nature Authority control BIBSYS: 9349 BNF: cb121363235 (data) GND: 118736868 ISNI: 0000 0000 8189 3912 LCCN: n85305086 LNB: 000113671 NKC: mzk2010587016 NLG: 137392 NLP: A10607559 NTA: 283048972 PLWABN: 9810678369205606 SELIBR: 347607 SUDOC: 029816807 VIAF: 120700248 WorldCat Identities: lccn-n85305086 Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Étienne-Gabriel_Morelly&oldid=940759800" Categories: 1717 births 1778 deaths 18th-century French philosophers People from Vitry-le-François Proto-socialists Utopists Enlightenment philosophers Age of Enlightenment Hidden categories: Articles that may contain original research from August 2008 All articles that may contain original research Wikipedia articles with BIBSYS identifiers Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with LNB identifiers Wikipedia articles with NKC identifiers Wikipedia articles with NLG identifiers Wikipedia articles with NLP identifiers Wikipedia articles with NTA identifiers Wikipedia articles with PLWABN identifiers Wikipedia articles with SELIBR identifiers Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Download as PDF Printable version In other projects Wikimedia Commons Languages Azərbaycanca Čeština Deutsch Español Esperanto Français Հայերեն Bahasa Indonesia Italiano Magyar Polski Português Русский Slovenčina Suomi Svenska Українська Edit links This page was last edited on 14 February 2020, at 12:47 (UTC). 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