Les gens de lettres, le banquier et l'opinion : Diderot et la polémique sur la Compagnie des Indes

Georges Dulac : Men of letters, the banker and public opinion. Diderot and the debate over the "Compagnie des Indes". From July to October 1769 Diderot wrote for the Correspondance littéraire five articles on the dispute over the suspension of the Compagnie des Indes' charter, which for him was important and on which his opinion changed. He understod what was at stake in a way not always seen by Necker or by Morellet, whom he criticised for being the Minister's mouthpiece. For him the central issue was the role of the man of letters and of public opinion, which he should guide in politics. The philosophe' s reflection reveals the differences separating his conceptions from those of the government, the banker and Morellet, who was close to Turgot. Thus we see the importance Diderot accorded to his economic writing a year before the Apologie de Galiani, in which he returns to some of the issues discussed here.Dulac Georges. Les gens de lettres, le banquier et l'opinion : Diderot et la polémique sur la Compagnie des Indes. In: Dix-huitième Siècle, n°26, 1994. Economie et politique. pp. 177-199