Émilie du Châtelet and La Mettrie

The scandalous French materialist Julien Offray de La Mettrie (1709-51) is often said to have had close links to Émilie du Châtelet. This chapter looks at the supposed evidence, showing first of all that certain remarks in his writings have mistakenly been taken to be references to du Châtelet. The main discussion concerns a ‘Lettre critique’ addressed to her, published under La Mettrie’s name as an introduction to a new edition of his Histoire naturelle de l’âme in 1747. The attribution to La Mettrie is here questioned on the basis of a detailed study of the content and argument of the letter and his use of du Châtelet’s writings in the work itself.