Inverting "Doux Commerce": The Paradox of Rhetoric Surrounding European Jewish Commerce

This paper investigates the inherent contradictions in the "Doux Commerce" thesis as articulated by Montesquieu, which argues that commerce civilizes and morally enriches its participants, using the historical experiences of the French Jewish community as a case study. Despite the Enlightenment’s promotion of commerce as a path to societal gentility and tolerance, French Jews remained targets of economic and social marginalization, which persisted into the 19th century. The analysis centers on the rhetorical dissonance exhibited by philosophers such as Voltaire, who extolled the virtues of commerce for its ability to unify diverse religious and cultural groups, yet simultaneously endorsed and propagated anti-Semitic stereotypes. By examining the economic activities and contributions of Jewish merchants alongside their continued denigration and exclusion from the supposed ethical benefits of commerce, this study highlights the selective application of Enlightenment ideals. This paper demonstrates that the "Doux Commerce" thesis, while promoting an ethical economic framework, failed to dismantle entrenched prejudices, instead often reinforcing them.