Gabriel Bonnot de Mably (Grenoble, March 14,
1709 – April 2, 1785 in
Paris), sometimes known as Abbé de Mably, was a French philosopher and politician. He was
born in Grenoble of a legal family, and, like his younger brother, the well-known philosopher,
Étienne Bonnot de Condillac (September 30, 1715 – August 3, 1780), took holy
orders.
Background
He was one of the 18th century's most popular writers but largely passed into obscurity
in the 20th century. His works contributed to the later concepts of both communism and republicanism. His most known contribution is
Entretiens de Phocion, a dialogue first published in 1763,
which introduced themes of his mature thought.
Writings
Mably's writings contain a paradox: an admiration of the elitist Plato, combined with an enlightened Stoic belief in natural human equality. Mably went beyond the
Stoic concept that all men possess a divine spark, and beyond the liberal belief in
equality before the law, insisting on the equality of
needs. He believed that virtue was far more important than material wealth. His position toward human equality was uncompromising, his arguments against the unproductive and lazy
found sympathy with those individuals who resented the wealth and privilege of unworking nobility. He proposed the abolition of private property so that people's antisocial or egotistical instincts
would not overcome their inclinations to sympathy and altruism.
Mably also prepared an early draft of the Polish Constitution of May 3,
1791, claimed to be Europe's first modern codified constitution, much praised during the
French Revolution.
Mably's complete works were published in 15 volumes in 1794-1795, with an obituary/biography by Gabriel Brizard.
Further reading
- Johnson Kent Wright, A Classical Republican in Eighteenth-Century France: The Political Thought of Mably (Stanford
University Press, 1997).
- Mably's work is catalogued at the French National
Library
External links
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