System against System The Opposition between Turgot and Necker

The object of the article is to show that the opposition between Turgot and Necker is expressed less in their respective economic discourses than in the divergence of the systems they develop to explain the organization and the economic functioning of society. More precisely, the difference between the Turgot system and that of Necker manifests itself mainly in three areas which will be addressed in turn. First, they base their analysis on the idea of inequality, to which, however, they offer radically different approaches. Then, if they agree in denouncing the spirit of system, they offer contradictory interpretations. Finally, they do not justify state action in the same terms because they mobilize different approaches to knowledge.