The birth of political economy, proprietary ideology and the French Revolution

This article discusses and extends several elements of intellectual history put forward by Thomas Piketty in the first part of Capital and Ideology related to the shift from a trifunctional society (nobility, clergy, third estate) to a proprietary society in 18th century France. The paper highlights the dichotomy between two conflicting approaches of political economy at its birth (transcendence vs contingence), which refers to the great debate among supporters and opponents of the naturalization of ownership, markets, inequalities and science. It is also an attempt to explain the success of the proprietary logic, which is at the same time that of Physiocracy, during the French Revolution.