Émile de Laveleye : economic crisis, Christianity and socialism

The 31 volumes of La Grande Encyclopédie were published between 1885 and 1902. As Claude Nicolet put it, this was the period in French history when, following a “dramatic and improbable evolution… the Republic [moved] from utopia to reality” (Nicolet 1982, p. 196). Although the chemist and Radical politician Marcelin Berthelot may not have actively directed it, L’Encyclopédie was cautioned by his moral authority