Charles Dunoyer
Encyclopedia
Carennac
Carennac is a commune in the Lot department in south-western France.Carennac belongs to the historical region of Quercy.A village lies in the fertile valley of the Dordogne River, nestled under the barren, parched plateau locally named 'le Causse'...
, Quercy
Quercy
Quercy is a former province of France located in the country's southwest, bounded on the north by Limousin, on the west by Périgord and Agenais, on the south by Gascony and Languedoc, and on the east by Rouergue and Auvergne....
(now in Lot
Lot (département)
Lot is a department in the southwest of France named after the Lot River.- History :Lot is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was created from part of the province of Languedoc. In 1808, some of the original southeastern cantons were...
) - 4 December 1862, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
) was a French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
economist
Economist
An economist is a professional in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy...
.
Dunoyer gave one of the earliest theories of economic cycle, building on the theory of periodic crises of Jean Charles Léonard de Sismondi
Jean Charles Léonard de Sismondi
Jean Charles Léonard de Sismondi , whose real name was Simonde, was a writer born at Geneva. He is best known for his works on French and Italian history, and his economic ideas.-Early life:...
, and introducing the notion of the economy periodically cycling between two phases.
Biography
Together with Charles ComteCharles Comte
Charles Comte was a French lawyer, journalist and political writer. In 1814 he founded, with Charles Dunoyer, Le Censeur, the liberal journal. In 1820, he was found guilty of attacks against the King and went into exile in Switzerland where as professor of natural law, he taught at the...
, in 1814, Dunoyer founded the journal Le Censeur
Le Censeur
Le Censeur was a French journal of institutional and legal reform, described sometimes as a Journal Industrialiste, founded in 1814 by Charles Dunoyer and Charles Comte as a platform for their liberal, radical, anti-Bourbon and anti-Bonapartist views...
, a platform for liberal ideas. Dunoyer would also publish a variety of books on political economy, among them De la Liberté du travail (1845, On the freedom of labour).
Dunoyer was a member of the Académie des Sciences morales et politiques of the Institut de France
Institut de France
The Institut de France is a French learned society, grouping five académies, the most famous of which is the Académie française.The institute, located in Paris, manages approximately 1,000 foundations, as well as museums and chateaux open for visit. It also awards prizes and subsidies, which...
. He was also a member of the Conseil d'État of the Second Republic
French Second Republic
The French Second Republic was the republican government of France between the 1848 Revolution and the coup by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte which initiated the Second Empire. It officially adopted the motto Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité...
. While many know of the less than amiable relationship between Auguste Comte
Auguste Comte
Isidore Auguste Marie François Xavier Comte , better known as Auguste Comte , was a French philosopher, a founder of the discipline of sociology and of the doctrine of positivism...
and Saint-Simon
Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon
Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon, often referred to as Henri de Saint-Simon was a French early socialist theorist whose thought influenced the foundations of various 19th century philosophies; perhaps most notably Marxism, positivism and the discipline of sociology...
, there is much less knowledge of the more amiable twenty five year long relationship between Auguste Comte and Charles Dunoyer. The latter relationship is discussed most fully by libertarian
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
Leonard Liggio
Leonard Liggio
Leonard Liggio is a classical liberal author, research professor of law at George Mason University, and executive vice president of the Atlas Economic Research Foundation in Fairfax, Virginia, USA.-Present positions:...
in "Charles Dunoyer and French Classical Liberalism". In his dissertation in "book form" online, economist David Hart cites Liggio as the person who motivated him to focus on Charles Dunoyer, and his partner Charles Comte. Auguste Comte
Auguste Comte
Isidore Auguste Marie François Xavier Comte , better known as Auguste Comte , was a French philosopher, a founder of the discipline of sociology and of the doctrine of positivism...
's intellectual biographer, Mary Pickering also cites a review of Liggio's article when she too mentions this relationship. Dunoyer is also mentioned in the entry on slavery by the Comtist, John Kells Ingram
John Kells Ingram
John Kells Ingram was an economist, Irish patriot and poet.-Academic contributions:Ingram was remarkable for his versatility....
in both the ninth, or scholar's edition, of the Encyclopædia Britannica
Encyclopædia Britannica
The Encyclopædia Britannica , published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia that is available in print, as a DVD, and on the Internet. It is written and continuously updated by about 100 full-time editors and more than 4,000 expert...
and the later
eleventh edition as well.
Further reading
- David M. Hart, The Radical Liberalism of Charles Comte and Charles Dunoyer
- Shirley M. Gruner, "Political Historiography in Restoration France", History and Theory, Vol. 8, No. 3 (1969), pp. 346–365.