Physiocracy: Liberalism and Despotism
Abstract
This paper offers an account of Physiocracy’s ideal of legal despotism. It does so by pursuing three argumentative lines. First, it offers a definition of liberalism to then distinguish two traditions in modern liberalism. Subsequently, it argues that Physiocracy is an heir to modern natural law and constitutes a crucial step in mutating the juridical conception of natural law into an economic understanding. Next, it examines the concept of legal despotism. For this purpose, it elucidates the meaning of absolutism in early modern political thought and the significance of the concept of despotism by comparing it with the Aristotelean formulation. To conclude, it examines the new way the law of nature limits political authority and how Physiocratic despotism is structurally compatible with the liberal understanding of political authority.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Tomás Lima Pimenta
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