Étienne Noël Damilaville (21 November 1723 – 13 December 1768) was an 18th-century French man of letters, friend of

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his ...

Diderot Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the ''Encyclopédie'' along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a prominen ...

and

d'Alembert Jean-Baptiste le Rond d'Alembert (; ; 16 November 1717 – 29 October 1783) was a French mathematician, mechanician, physicist, philosopher, and music theorist. Until 1759 he was, together with Denis Diderot, a co-editor of the ''Encyclopédie ...

. He served in various military and administrative functions of the

Ancien Régime ''Ancien'' may refer to * the French word for "ancient, old" ** Société des anciens textes français * the French for "former, senior" ** Virelai ancien ** Ancien Régime ** Ancien Régime in France {{disambig ...

. He was a member of the bodyguard of King

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reache ...

, and then a senior civil servant in the tax office responsible for supervising the ''

Vingtième The ''vingtième'' (, ''twentieth'') was an income tax of the ''ancien régime'' in France. It was abolished during the French Revolution. First Proposition It was first proposed by the minister of finance, Jean-Baptiste de Machault, comte d'Arn ...

''. His official roles meant that his correspondence was unexamined by censors, enabling him to circulate letters between leading thinkers of the day, most particularly during the Sirven affair.

The Encyclopédie

Damilaville authored three articles in the Encyclopédie - ''Population'', ''Peace'' and ''The Vingtième''.

Vingtieme

Damilaville is believed to have coauthored an article in the Encyclopédie on the ''Vingtieme'' tax regime with

, his trusted associate. His treatise is largely a discussion on the nature of government, of civil society and of the economy. Like Montesquie, Damilaville makes a clear distinction between the state, as an aggregate of people in society, and government. The treatise uses this dichotomy between the state and government to rationalize the necessity of taxes; however, Damilaville also argues tax simplification or reform. What is important in his contention for tax simplification is the purpose of having or raising taxes on participants in society. According to Damilaville, tax burdens should not be understood through the vice of ratios of an individuals' income, rather in through the ratio of taxes that concern an individual's sustenance after their monies have been deducted.

Friendship with Voltaire

Voltaire regarded him as a very close friend, and wrote him at least 539 letters over eight years. They only actually met, for the first time, after they had been corresponding for five years, on 20 August 1765, when Damilaville visited Ferney. Opinion of Damilaville was not universally positive:

Melchior Grimm Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm (26 September 172319 December 1807) was a German-born French-language journalist, art critic, diplomat and contributor to the ''Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers'' ...

said of him:

References

Bibliography

* Emmanuel Boussuge et Françoise Launay, « L'ami D'Amilaville », ', 2014, n° 49
(p. 25–41)
* Emmanuel Boussuge et Françoise Launay, "Étienne Noël D'Amilaville (1723–1768)", ''Les collaborateurs de l'Encyclopédie, projet d'Edition Numérique Collaborative et Critique de l'Encyclopédie' (6 January 2015)

External links

*
Damilaville
on Wikisource
Généalogie des Damilaville

{{DEFAULTSORT:Damilaville, Etienne Noel 18th-century French philosophers Enlightenment philosophers Contributors to the Encyclopédie (1751–1772) Writers from Bordeaux 1723 births 1768 deaths Denis Diderot Voltaire Military personnel from Bordeaux