Diderot face to Physiocracy [Diderot contre la physiocratie]

In his Apologie de l'abbe Galiani, Diderot attacks the Physiocrat view of the absolute property rights and puts forward the principle of general utility that legitimates the limitation of property rights. This article reads Diderot's critique within the framework of republican categories: being protected against the domination of another appears as the end of society and destitution as an extreme form of dependence on someone else against which the legitimate political authority has to struggle