BTW Quesnay's reading of Confucius was, shall we say, curious - and  
Confucius is ill-understood if one thinks of him in "rationalist" terms.  
Confucius' prime concern was that of creating a stable society, and his  
influence succeeded in "freezing" Chinese society into place for some  
hundreds of years - e.g. is it "rational" to advocate and believe in  
unquestioning loyalty to the State, as Confucius did?  
  
The deification of rationality in Quesnay's time needs to be seen in the  
light of the "need" of the elite of that time to escape the stifling  
influence of the Roman Catholic Church and its symbiotic relationship  
with European royalty/nobility/aristocracy.  Was it not Diderot who  
said, "Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the  
entrails of the last priest"?  
  
Probably intended or released as hyperbole, the sentiment became reality  
during the French Revolution - which surely stands as a constant  
reminder of the limitations and dangers of mere Englightenment  
rationalism.  
  
Prabhu Guptara