La Mettrie, Diderot y los enemigos del interés público

Abstract

In the entry “Droit naturel” of the Encyclopedie, Diderot posits that it is rightful to annihilate the enemies of society. We might construe this statement to be aimed at, among others, La Mettrie; particularly his Discours sur le bonheur, which Diderot would explicitly criticize a few years later. The aim of this paper is to prove that La Mettrie’s position towards those individuals who do not submit their will to social duties is closer to that of Diderot than he could have imagined. Moreover, the work draws on certain tensions that threaten the consistency of Discours.