Utopia im 18. Jahrhundert in Frankreich. Meslier und Morelly in sozialwissenschaftlicher Sicht - Utopia in XVIIIth century France. An anthropological approach of Meslier and Morelly

Utopia is here understood as an important part of the freedom of mind and thought. In dogmatic, especially religious systems of thought, utopia cannot flourish. In France, utopian thoughts in political philosophy, in literature and fine arts developed in the Renaissance period and became stronger in the pre-revolutionary period. The utopists hid behind a recognized well-known personality. Meslier as a catholic priest elaborated through his lifetime a (later so-called) atheistic manifesto. Three handwritten copies were available posthumous; one was published by Voltaire under the title “Extraits des sentiments de Jean Meslier” in 1762. Morelly’s “Code de la nature” of 1755 was attributed until the 19th Century to Diderot. Both utopists, Meslier and Morelly, show very different inclinations: Meslier could be qualified as humanist, though materialist in his thinking, because his philosophy sees nature in a holistic way and thus combines material and moral values. Morelly favours the idea of progressive development through an egalitarian government whereby he is convinced of the economic foundation of the society. These two utopists were later manipulated by their readers and adepts in different ways: some endeavoured to see them as early utopist socialists, some as egalitarians, some as deists. With regard to Morelly several authors stressed the horror vision of a planned state in which every individual is firmly placed and controlled. These two antagonistic visions of what society could look like had followers in the 18th and early 19th century in France and elsewhere