Cette thèse interroge l’unité de l’économie politique classique en montrant qu’à partir d'une conception de l’autonomie de l’économie, plusieurs articulations de la théorie des prix et d’une «science du législateur» sont possibles. Adam Smith se démarque de François Quesnay et David Ricardo sur ce point. Alors que ces auteurs sont souvent lus à travers le seul prisme de la théorie des prix et donc inclus dans un même projet, nous verrons notamment que Dugald Stewart joua un rôle de premier plan dans le développement d’une lignée qui fût bâtie en excluant Smith. A l’aune des conceptions de l’autonomie de chacun, nous montrons dans une première partie que les concepts de la théorie des prix, notamment la règle de répartition et le processus de circulation, traduisent l’encastrement de l’économie dans une totalité sociale. Or, si Quesnay, Stewart et Ricardo ont chacun pu contribuer à la théorie classique, les analyses de Smith ne respectent pas ses critères de cohérence logique et semblent mener dans l’impasse. Il s’agit en réalité de la marque d’un projet alternatif, mis à jour dans la seconde partie. Quesnay, Stewart et Ricardo présupposent que l’économie est sujette à un ordre qu’il convient de réaliser par la concurrence, mais se distinguent quant aux institutions nécessaires pour ce faire. En revanche, Smith suppose que le législateur n’est pas contraint par des mécanismes économiques. En effet, l’économie n'est pour lui que la modalité d'un lien social général, nécessitant un arbitrage entre rapports sociaux agonistiques. / This thesis aims at questioning the homogeneity of classical political economy by showing that alternative links between price theory and the science of a legislator may be endorsed, depending on what conception of the autonomy of the economic domain is retained. In this respect, Adam Smith departs from François Quesnay and David Ricardo. While these authors are often compared on the sole ground of price theory, and thereby subsumed under a common framework, Dugald Stewart played a prominent role in the development of a trend in the history of ideas which actually excluded Smith from the start. In the light of the author’ understanding of the autonomy of the economy, the first part of this thesis shows that key concepts of classical price theory, among which the rule of distribtuion orthe circulation of commodities, reflect the fact that the economy is embedded in society considered as a whole. Yet, while Quesnay, Stewart and Ricardo did contribute to classical theory in this respect, Smith's analyses do not fit its logical requirements and seem to represent a deadlock.These are however the sign of an alternative project, dealt within the second part of the thesis. Quesnay, Stewart and Ricardo presuppose that the economy is subject to an overall order which ought to be realised thanks to market competition, although they disagree as to what formof institution is best suited to do so. On the contrary, Smith presupposes that the legislator is not impeded by any economic mechanism, since the economy are only a dimension of social interactions, whereby conflicting interests need to be counterbalanced.

This thesis reassesses the nature and importance of the Scottish Episcopal Church in Edinburgh and more widely. Based on a microstudy of one chapel community over a twenty-four year period, it addresses a series of questions of religion, identity, gender, culture and civic society in late Enlightenment Edinburgh, Scotland, and Britain, combining ecclesiastical, social and economic history. The study examines the congregation of Charlotte Episcopal Chapel, Rose Street, Edinburgh, from its foundation by English clergyman Daniel Sandford in 1794 to its move to the new Gothic chapel of St John's in 1818. Initially an independent chapel, Daniel Sandford's congregation joined the Scottish Episcopal Church in 1805 and the following year he was made Bishop of Edinburgh, although he contined to combine this role with that of rector to the chapel until his death in 1830. Methodologically, the thesis combines a detailed reassessment of Daniel Sandford's thought and ministry (Chapter Two) with a prosopographical study of 431 individuals connected with the congregation as officials or in the in the chapel registers (Chapter Three). Biography of the leader and prosopography of the community are brought to illuminate and enrich one another to understand the wealth and business networks of the congregation (Chapter Four) and their attitudes to politics, piety and gender (Chapter Five). The thesis argues that Daniel Sandford's Evangelical Episcopalianism was both original in Scotland, and one of the most successful in appealing to educated and influential members of Edinburgh society. The congregation, drawn largely from the newly-built West End of Edinburgh, were bourgeois and British in their composition. The core membership of privileged Scots, rooted in land and law, led, but were also challenged by and forced to adapt to a broad social spread who brought new wealth and influence into the West End through India and the consumer boom. The discussion opens up many avenues for further research including the connections between Scottish Episcopalianism and romanticism, the importance of India and social mobility within the consumer economy in the development of Edinburgh, and Scottish female intellectual culture and its engagement with religion and enlightenment. Understanding the role of enlightened, evangelical Episcopalianism, which is the contribution of this study, will form an important context for these enquiries.