2 - Secular and purist origins of enlightened capitalism

Summary

Introduction

The first industrial revolution took off in Britain. This is one of the main reasons that, with some notable exceptions, enlightened capitalism on a larger scale first took shape on the British Isles before dispersing to the continent and to America. One such continental exception was the model saltworks manufacture La Saline Royale d’Arc-et-Senans in the French Jura, near the city of Besançon. Designed by Louis XV's famous court architect Claude-Nicolas Ledoux, La Saline Royale was constructed between 1775-1793. The Royal Saltworks started operating in 1778 and remained productive until 1895. Ledoux considered La Saline as an expression of his cité idéale, in which working, living, and hierarchical worker control were integrated equally. After a more ambitious first plan concerning the ideal city of Chaux, rejected by the king, Ledoux's definite design for La Saline consisted of an assembly of eleven independent, symmetrical buildings located on a semi-circle containing an inner square with four fountains. The most impressive building was the large director's house, which featured a front colonnade of six impressive columns overseeing and dominating the whole inner site as well as the equally monumental entrance of La Saline Royale. Ledoux's ideas about la cité idéale were strongly influenced by the Enlightenment. He was, for example, a contemporary of other influential French Enlightenment spirits, such as Diderot, Turgot, Malesherbes, Necker, and Condorcet. Like many others in this time period, he was also touched by a certain Anglomania related to the first English Industrial Revolution.

Though fully state sponsored, La Saline Royale can undoubtedly be considered as an early forerunner or illustrative example of later industrial capitalist workingman's paradises, including a number of enlightened company towns. According to Rabreau, it is both an allegory of the Enlightenment and an industrial monument.

Rabreau's statement refers to the fact that in addition to material aspects, spiritual aspects go hand in hand with the development of enlightened capitalism. Therefore, in the remaining part of this chapter, I will pay further attention to the secular origins of enlightened capitalism as well as to religious purist origins.