, a French minister of state, was born at Paris, May 10, 1727, of
, a French minister of
state, was born at Paris, May 10, 1727, of a very ancient
Norman family. His father was, for a long time, provost
of the corporation of merchants. He was intended for
the church, and went through the requisite preparatory
studies; but whether he disliked the catholic religion, or
objected to any peculiar doctrines, is not certain. It is
generally supposed that the latter was the case, and the
intimacy and correspondence he had with Voltaire, Diderot, D'Alembert, &c. afford very probable ground for believing him entirely of their opinion in matters of religion.
He looked, however, to the political department, as that
which was best adapted to his acquisitions, and the rer
sources which he found in his ingenuity and invention. For
this purpose he studied the sciences suited to his destination, and mixed experimental philosophy with mathematics, and history with political disquisition. He embraced the profession of the law, and at once displayed his
views by fixing on the office of master of the requests, who
is the executive officer of government, in operations of
commerce and finance. His panegyrist, M. Condorcet,
tells us, that a master of requests is rarely without a considerable share of influence respecting some one of the
provinces, or the whole state; so that it seldom happens
that his liberality or his prejudices, his virtues or his vices,
do not, in the course of his life, produce great good or
great mischief. About this period Turgot wrote some articles for the Encyclopedic, of which the principal were,
Etymology, Existence, Expansibility, Fair, and Foundation. He had prepared several o.thers; but these five only
were inserted. All these his biographer praises with more
zeal than judgment; the article on Expansibility being very
exceptionable, and that on Existence being little more than
an ingenious commentary on the first principles of Des Cartes, and by no means deserving to be called the “only
improvement in the science of the human mind since the
days of Locke.
”