Naturel, rationnel, utile : penser l’optimisation avec quelques utopies des Lumières
Abstract
Optimum is a theoretical locus where the three concepts of the natural, the rational and the useful converge in the 18th century. This article shows that different utopian discourses of the French Enlightenment are characterized by the distinct ways in which they articulate these concepts. This is exemplified by the utopias of Morelly and Grivel, which show that these different articulations explain the tensions that are at play in Enlightenment thought, especially concerning the question of “progress”. Since progress is that by what the optimum is realized in the course of history, and utopia a so-called prefiguration of this realisation and an enunciation of the means of this actualization, it is evidently through the problem of its necessary, contingent or impossible character, of the role played by human agency, that the question of the best of possible worlds is thought over. This article ultimately shows that the utopian discourse of the Enlightenment is not as optimistic as it is often thought to be.
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