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Portrait of Diderot by Louis-Michel van Loo, 1767

Denis Diderot (October 5, 1713 – July 31, 1784) was a French philosopher and writer. He was a prominent figure in the Enlightenment, and editor-in-chief of the famous Encyclopédie. Image File history File links Portal. ... Denis Diderot Portrait by Louis-Michel van Loo. ... Denis Diderot Portrait by Louis-Michel van Loo. ... Portrait of Denis Diderot, painted 1767 Louis-Michel van Loo (1707-03-02 – 1771-03-20) was a French painter. ... For other uses, see 5th October (Serbia). ... Year 1713 (MDCCXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar). ... is the 212th day of the year (213th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1784 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... A philosopher is a person who thinks deeply regarding people, society, the world, and/or the universe. ... The Age of Enlightenment refers to the 18th century in European philosophy, and is often thought of as part of a larger period which includes the Age of Reason. ... This article is about the 18th-century French encyclopaedia. ...

Diderot also contributed to literature, notably with Jacques le fataliste et son maître (Jacques the Fatalist and His Master), which emulated Laurence Sterne in challenging conventions regarding novels, their structure and content, while also examining philosophical ideas about free will. Diderot is also known as the author of the essay, "Regrets on Parting with My Old Dressing Gown," upon which many an article and sermon about consumer desire has been based. Jacques le fataliste et son maître (English title: Jacques the Fatalist and his Master) is a book written by Denis Diderot from the late 1760s to 1778 and published in 1796. ... Jacques le fataliste et son maître (English title: Jacques the Fatalist and his Master) is a book written by Denis Diderot from the late 1760s to 1778 and published in 1796. ... Laurence Sterne Laurence Sterne (November 24, 1713 – March 18, 1768) was an Irish-born English novelist and an Anglican clergyman. ... This article is about the literary concept. ... For other uses, see Philosophy (disambiguation). ... Free-Will is a Japanese independent record label founded in 1986. ...

Biography

Diderot was born in the eastern French city of Langres and commenced his formal education in the Jesuit School. In 1732, he earned a master of arts degree in philosophy. He abandoned the idea of entering the clergy and decided instead to study law. His study of the law, however, was short-lived. In 1734, Diderot decided instead to become a writer. Because of his refusal to enter one of the learned professions, he was disowned by his father, and for the next ten years he lived a rather bohemian existence. Categories: France geography stubs | Communes of Haute-Marne ... The Lycée Louis-le-Grand, in Paris is one of the most famous lycées providing preparatory classes for grandes écoles. ...

Denis Diderot, Hundred Greatest Men, The. New York: D. Appleton & Company, 1885.

In 1743, he further alienated his father by marrying Antoinette Champion, a devout Roman Catholic. The match was considered inappropriate because of Champion's low social status, poor education, fatherless status, lack of a dowry, and at thirty-two she was four years his senior. The marriage produced one surviving child, a girl. She was named Angelique after Diderot's mother and his dead sister. The death of his sister, a nun, from overwork in the convent may have affected Diderot's opinion of religion. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 534 × 600 pixelsFull resolution‎ (537 × 603 pixels, file size: 92 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 534 × 600 pixelsFull resolution‎ (537 × 603 pixels, file size: 92 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File historyClick on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time. ... The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ...

He had affairs with the writer Madame Puisieux and with Sophie Volland, to whom he was constant for the rest of her life. His letters to her are among the most graphic of all the pictures that we have of the daily life of the philosophic circle in Paris.

Though his work was broad and rigorous, it did not bring him riches. He secured none of the posts that were occasionally given to needy men of letters; he could not even obtain that bare official recognition of merit which was implied by being chosen a member of the Académie française. When the time came for him to provide a dowry for his daughter, he saw no alternative than to sell his library. When Catherine II of Russia heard of his straits, she commissioned an agent in Paris to buy the library, and then requested that the philosopher retain the books in Paris until she required them, and act as her librarian with a yearly salary. In 1773 and 1774, Diderot spent some months at the empress's court at St Petersburg. The Académie française In the French educational system an académie LAcadémie française, or the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. ... A dowry (also known as trousseau) is a gift of money or valuables given by the family of the bride to the family of the groom at the time of their marriage. ... Catherine the Great redirects here. ... Saint Petersburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг, English transliteration: Sankt-Peterburg), colloquially known as Питер (transliterated Piter), formerly known as Leningrad (Ленингра́д, 1924–1991) and...

He died of emphysema in Paris on July 31, 1784, and was buried in the city's Eglise Saint-Roch. His heirs sent his vast library to Catherine II, who had it deposited at the Russian National Library. This article is about the capital of France. ... is the 212th day of the year (213th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1784 was a leap year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Visit of Alexander I to the library in 1812. ...

Early works

Diderot's earliest works included a translation of Stanyan's History of Greece (1743); with two colleagues, François-Vincent Toussaint and Marc-Antoine Eidous, he produced a translation of Robert James's Medical Dictionary^[1] (1746–1748) and about the same date he published a free rendering of Shaftesbury's Inquiry Concerning Virtue and Merit (1745), with some original notes of his own. In 1746, he wrote his first original work: the Pensées philosophiques ^[2], and he presently added to this a short complementary essay on the sufficiency of natural religion. He composed a volume of bawdy stories, Les bijoux indiscrets (1748); in later years he repented of this work. In 1747, he wrote the Promenade du sceptique, an allegory pointing first at the extravagances of Catholicism; second, at the vanity of the pleasures of that world which is the rival of the church; and third, at the desperate and unfathomable uncertainty of the philosophy which professes to be so high above both church and world. François-Vincent Toussaint (1715-1772) is most famous for his book Les MÅ“urs (The Manners) published in 1748 and immediately prosecuted and burned by the French court of justice. ... Marc-Antoine Eidous was a French writer, translator and Encyclopedist born in Marseilles around 1724, and who died in 1790. ... Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury (February 26, 1671 – February 4, 1713), was an English politician, philosopher and writer. ... Natural religion might have the following meanings: A synonym for natural theology; religion based on reason and ordinary experience (this usage is primarily found in the 18th century and before — see, for example, David Humes Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion). ... Les bijoux indiscrets (English title: The Indiscreet Jewels) was Denis Diderots first novel, published anonymously in 1748 It is an allegory that portrays Louis XV as the sultan Mangogul of the Congo who owns a magic ring that makes womens genitals (jewels) talk. ... Allegory of Music by Filippino Lippi. ... Catholic Church redirects here. ...

Diderot's next piece introduced him to the world as an original thinker, his famous Lettre sur les aveugles (1749). The immediate object of this short work was to show the dependence of men's ideas on their five senses. It considers the case of the intellect deprived of the aid of one of the senses; and in a second piece, published afterwards, Diderot considered the case of a similar deprivation in the deaf and mute. The Lettre sur les sourds et muets, however, is substantially a digressive examination of some points in aesthetics. The philosophic significance of the two essays is in the advance they make towards the principle of relativism. But what interested the militant philosophers of that day was an episodic application of the principle of relativism to the concept of God. What makes the Lettre sur les aveugles interesting is its presentation, in a distinct though undigested form, of the theory of variation and natural selection. It is worth noticing, too, as an illustration of the comprehensive freedom with which Diderot felt his way round any subject that he approached, that in this theoretic essay he suggests the possibility of teaching the blind to read through the sense of touch. Senses are the physiological methods of perception. ... Intelligence is a general mental capability that involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend ideas and language, and learn. ... The word deaf can have very different meanings depending on the background of the person speaking or the context in which the word is used. ... Speech disorders or speech impediments, as they are also called, are a type of communication disorders where normal speech is disrupted. ... The Parthenons facade showing an interpretation of golden rectangles in its proportions. ... For the physics theory with a similar name, see Theory of Relativity. ... This article discusses the term God in the context of monotheism and henotheism. ... In music, variation is a formal technique where material is altered during repetition; reiteration with changes. ... For other uses, see Natural selection (disambiguation). ...

His speculation in the Lettre sur les aveugles was too hardy for the authorities, and he was thrown into the prison of Vincennes. Here he remained for three months; then he was released, to enter upon the gigantic undertaking of his life. This article is about the city in France. ...

Encyclopédie

Main article: Encyclopédie

The bookseller and printer André Le Breton had applied to Diderot with a project for the publication of a translation into French of Ephraim Chambers' Cyclopaedia, or Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, undertaken in the first instance by the Englishman John Mills, and the German, Gottfried Sellius. Diderot accepted the proposal, but in his busy and pregnant intelligence the scheme became transformed. Instead of a mere reproduction of the Cyclopaedia, he persuaded Le Breton to enter upon a new work, which should collect under one roof all the active writers, all the new ideas, all the new knowledge, that were then moving the cultivated class of the Republic of Letters to its depths, but still were comparatively ineffectual by reason of their dispersion. Download high resolution version (600x898, 121 KB)Info: Cover of the Encyclopédie. ... This article is about the 18th-century French encyclopaedia. ... André François le Breton was a French publisher. ... Ephraim Chambers (c1680 - 15 May 1740), was an English writer and encyclopedist, who is primarily known for producing the Cyclopaedia, or Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences. ... Table of Trigonometry, 1728 Cyclopaedia Cyclopaedia, or, A Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (folio, 2 vols. ... John Mills was an encyclopedist for the Encyclopédie. ... This does not cite any references or sources. ...

His enthusiasm infected the publishers; they collected a sufficient capital for a vaster enterprise than they had at first planned; Jean le Rond d'Alembert was persuaded to become Diderot's colleague; the requisite permission was procured from the government; in 1750 an elaborate prospectus announced the project to a delighted public; and in 1751 the first volume was given to the world. The last of the letterpress was issued in 1765, but it was 1772 before the subscribers received the final volumes of the Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. Jean le Rond dAlembert, pastel by Maurice Quentin de La Tour Jean le Rond dAlembert (November 16, 1717 – October 29, 1783) was a French mathematician, mechanician, physicist and philosopher. ...

Plagued by controversy from the beginning, the project was suspended by the courts in 1752. Just as the second volume was completed, accusations arose regarding seditious content concerning the editors entries on religion and natural law. Diderot was detained and his house was searched for manuscripts for subsequent articles. But the search proved fruitless as the manuscripts could not be found. They were being hidden in the house of an unlikely confederate-Chretien de Lamoignon Malesherbes, the very official who ordered the search. Although Malesherbes was a staunch absolutist-loyal to the monarchy, he was sympathetic to the literary project. Along with his support, and that of other well placed, influential confederates, the project resumed. Diderot returned to his efforts only to be constantly embroiled in controversy.

These twenty years were to Diderot not merely a time of incessant drudgery, but of harassing persecution and of injury from the desertion of friends. The ecclesiastical party detested the Encyclopédie, in which they saw a rising stronghold for their philosophic enemies. By 1757 they could endure it no longer. The subscribers had grown from 2,000 to 4,000, a measure of the growth of the work in popular influence and power. The Encyclopédie threatened the governing social classes of France (aristocracy) because it took for granted the justice of religious tolerance, freedom of thought, and the value of science and industry. It asserted the democratic doctrine that the main concern of the nation's government ought to be the nation's common people. This article should be transwikied to wiktionary Ecclesiastical means pertaining to the Church (especially Christianity) as an organized body of believers and clergy, with a stress on its juridical and institutional structure. ... Social class refers to the hierarchical distinctions between individuals or groups in societies or cultures. ... Aristocrat redirects here. ... Freedom of religion is the individuals right or freedom to hold whatever religious beliefs he or she wishes, or none at all. ... Freedom of thought (also called freedom of conscience and freedom of ideas) is the freedom of an individual to hold or consider a fact, viewpoint, or thought, regardless of anyone elses view. ... A magnet levitating above a high-temperature superconductor demonstrates the Meissner effect. ... Democracy is a form of government under which the power to alter the laws and structures of government lies, ultimately, with the citizenry. ...

It was believed that the Encyclopédie was the work of an organized band of conspirators against society, and that the dangerous ideas they held were made truly formidable by their open publication. In 1759, the Encyclopédie was formally suppressed. The decree, however, did not stop the work, which went on, but its difficulties increased by the necessity of being clandestine.

D'Alembert withdrew from the enterprise and other powerful colleagues, including Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune, declined to contribute further to a book which had acquired a bad reputation. Diderot was left to bring the task to an end as best he could. He wrote several hundred articles, some very slight, but many of them laborious, comprehensive and long. He damaged his eyesight in correcting proofs and in editing the manuscripts of less competent contributors. He spent his days at workshops, mastering manufacturing processes, and his nights in reproducing on paper what he had learned during the day. He was incessantly harassed by threats of police raids. Jean le Rond dAlembert, pastel by Maurice Quentin de La Tour Jean le Rond dAlembert (November 16, 1717 – October 29, 1783) was a French mathematician, mechanician, physicist and philosopher. ... Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune, often referred to as Turgot (10 May 1727 – 18 March 1781), was a French economist and statesman. ... Proofreading means reading a proof copy of a text in order to detect and correct any errors. ... A manuscript (Latin manu scriptus, written by hand), strictly speaking, is any written document that is put down by hand, in contrast to being printed or reproduced some other way. ...

At the last moment, when his immense work was drawing to an end, he encountered a crowning mortification: he discovered that the bookseller, fearing the government's displeasure, had struck out from the proof sheets, after they had left Diderot's hands, all passages that he considered too dangerous. The monument to which Diderot had given the labor of twenty long and oppressive years was irreparably mutilated and defaced.

Other works

Monument to Denis Diderot in Paris

Although the Encyclopédie was Diderot's monumental work, he was the author of many pieces that sowed nearly every field of intellectual interest with new and fruitful ideas. He wrote sentimental plays, Le Fils naturel (1757) and Le Père de famille (1758), accompanying them with essays on theatrical theory and practice, including especially Les Entretiens sur Le Fils naturel (Conversations on Le Fils naturel), in which he announced the principles of a new drama—the serious, domestic, bourgeois drama of real life, in opposition to the stilted conventions of the classical French stage. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 450 × 600 pixels Full resolution (600 × 800 pixel, file size: 73 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Monument to Denis Diderot in Paris File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 450 × 600 pixels Full resolution (600 × 800 pixel, file size: 73 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Monument to Denis Diderot in Paris File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not... For other uses, see Play (disambiguation). ... Le Fils naturel (English: The Natural Son) is a 1757 play by Denis Diderot. ... For other uses, see Drama (disambiguation). ... Bourgeois at the end of the thirteenth century. ...

His art criticism was also highly influential. His Essais sur la peinture were described by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who thought it worth translating, as "a magnificent work, which speaks even more helpfully to the poet than to the painter, though to the painter too it is as a blazing torch." Art criticism is the study and evaluation of art. ... “Goethe” redirects here. ...

Diderot's most intimate friend was the philologist Friedrich Melchior Grimm who were brought together by their friend in common at that time Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Grimm wrote newsletters to various high personages in Germany, reporting what was going on in the world of art and literature in Paris, then the intellectual capital of Europe. Diderot helped Grimm between 1759 and 1779, by writing an account of the annual exhibitions of paintings in the Paris Salon. These reports are highly readable pieces of art criticism. According to Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, they initiated the French into a new way of laughing, and introduced people to the mystery and purport of colour by ideas. "Before Diderot," Anne Louise Germaine de Staël wrote, "I had never seen anything in pictures except dull and lifeless colours; it was his imagination that gave them relief and life, and it is almost a new sense for which I am indebted to his genius." Philology is the study of ancient texts and languages. ... Friedrich Melchior, baron von Grimm (December 26, 1723 - December 19, 1807), French author, the son of a German pastor, was born at Ratisbon. ... Rousseau redirects here. ... For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ... Honoré Daumier satirized the bourgeoises scandalized by the Salons Venuses, 1864 The Paris Salon (French: Salon de Paris) is the official art exhibition of the Académie des beaux-arts in Paris, France. ... Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve. ... Madame de Staël Anne Louise Germaine de Staël (April 22, 1766 – July 14, 1817) was a French-speaking Swiss author living in Paris and abroad who determined literary tastes of Europe at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. ...

Jean-Baptiste Greuze was Diderot's favorite contemporary artist. Greuze's most characteristic pictures were the rendering in colour of the same sentiments of domestic virtue and the pathos of common life, which Diderot had attempted to represent upon the stage. For Diderot was above all things interested in the life of individuals, not the abstract life of the race, but the incidents of individual character, the fortunes of a particular family, the relations of real and concrete motives in this or that special case. He delighted with the enthusiasm of a born casuist in curious puzzles of right and wrong, and in devising a conflict between the generalities of ethics and the conditions of an ingeniously contrived practical dilemma. Diderot's interest expressed itself in didactic and sympathetic form. Jean-Baptiste Greuze (21 August 1725 – 4 March 1805) was a French painter. ... Look up Pathos in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Casuistry (argument by cases) is an attempt to determine the correct response to a moral problem, often a moral dilemma, by drawing conclusions based on parallels with agreed responses to pure cases, also called paradigms. ... For other uses, see Ethics (disambiguation). ... The Didactic is facts based as opposed to the Dialectic which is feelings based. ...

However, in two of his most remarkable pieces, this interest is not sympathetic, but ironic. Jacques le fataliste (written in 1773, but not published until 1796) is similar to Tristram Shandy and The Sentimental Journey. His dialogue Le Neveu de Rameau (Rameau's Nephew) is a "farce-tragedy" reminiscent of the Satires of Horace. A favorite classical author of Diderot's, Horace's words Vertumnis, quotquot sunt, natus iniquis are quoted at the top of the Nephew. Diderot's intention in writing the dialogue is disputed; whether it is merely a satire on contemporary manners, or a reduction of the theory of self-interest to an absurdity, or the application of irony to the ethics of ordinary convention, or a mere setting for a discussion about music, or a vigorous dramatic sketch of a parasite and a human original. Whatever its intent, it is a remarkable conversation, representing an era of that held the art of conversation in the highest regard. The writing and publication history of the Nephew is likewise a bit mysterious. Diderot never saw the work through to publication during his lifetime, but there is every indication it was of continual interest to him. Though the original draft was written in 1761, he made additions to it year after year until his death twenty-three years later. Goethe's translation (1805) was the first introduction of Le Neveu de Rameau to the European public. After executing it, he gave back the original French manuscript to Friedrich Schiller, from whom he had it. No authentic French copy of it appeared until the writer had been dead forty years (1823). The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (or, more briefly, Tristram Shandy) is a novel by Laurence Sterne. ... Jean-Philippe Rameau, by Jacques André Joseph Aved, 1728 Jean-Philippe Rameau (French IPA: ) (September 25, 1683 - September 12, 1764) was one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the Baroque era. ... In the Oxford Latin Course book, Quintus is based on the famous poet, Horace. ... 1867 edition of Punch, a ground-breaking British magazine of popular humour, including a good deal of satire of the contemporary social and political scene. ... Self-interest can refer to any of the following concepts: Egoism Selfishness Ethical egoism Psychological egoism Individualism Objectivist ethics Hedonism Epicureanism Enlightened self-interest This is a disambiguation page: a list of articles associated with the same title. ... Ironic redirects here. ... For other uses, see Music (disambiguation). ... Friedrich Schiller “Schiller” redirects here. ...

Diderot's miscellaneous pieces range from a graceful trifle like the Regrets sur ma vieille robe de chambre up to Le Rêve de d'Alembert, where he plunges into the depths of the controversy as to the ultimate constitution of matter and the meaning of life. Diderot was not a coherent and systematic thinker, but rather "a philosopher in whom all the contradictions of the time struggle with one another" (Rosenkranz). He did not develop a system of materialism, but he contributed many of the most declamatory books of the Système de la nature of his friend Paul Henri Thiry, baron d'Holbach, styled by some "the very Bible of atheism". This article is about matter in physics and chemistry. ... Philosophical theories about the meaning of life // In that they attempt to answer the question What is valuable in life?, theories of value are theories of the meaning of life. ... Johann Karl Friedrich Rosenkranz (September 25, 1805 - July 14, 1879), German philosopher, was born at Magdeburg. ... In philosophy, materialism is that form of physicalism which holds that the only thing that can truly be said to exist is matter; that fundamentally, all things are composed of material and all phenomena are the result of material interactions; that matter is the only substance. ... Baron dHolbach Paul Henry Thiry, baron dHolbach (1723 1 - 1789 2) was an homme de lettres, philosophe and encyclopédiste. ... Baron dHolbach Paul-Henri Thiry, baron dHolbach (1723 – 1789) was a German-French author, philosopher and encyclopedist. ... “Atheist” redirects here. ...

Headline text

Quotations

• "And his hands would plait the priest's entrails, for want of a rope, to strangle kings."
• "I have been, and still am, angry at being mediocre."
• Enlightenment thinkers, as Diderot wrote, intended "to change the common way of thinking"
• "Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest."
• "Only passions, great passions can elevate the soul to great things."
• "The arbitrary rule of a just and enlightened prince is always bad. His virtues are the most dangerous and the surest form of seduction: they lull a people imperceptibly into the habit of loving, respecting, and serving his successor, whoever that successor may be, no matter how wicked or stupid."
• "There are little testicles at the bottom of our most sublime feelings and our purest tenderness." ("Il y a un peu de testicule au fond de nos sentiments les plus sublimes et de notre tendresse la plus épurée") Letter to Damilaville 3 November 1760

See also

• Atheism
• Contributions to liberal theory
• Encyclopedia
• Encyclopedist
• Liberalism
• University of Paris VII: Denis Diderot

“Atheist” redirects here. ... Contributions to liberal theory is a partial list of individual contributions on a worldwide scale. ... Cyclopedia redirects here. ... The term encyclopedist is usually used for a group of French philosophers who collaborated in the 18th century in the production of the Encyclopédie, under the direction of Denis Diderot. ... Liberalism is an ideology, philosophical view, and political tradition which holds that liberty is the primary political value. ...

Bibliography

• Essai sur le mérite et la vertu, written by Shaftesbury French translation and annotation by Diderot (1745)
• Pensées philosophiques, essay (1746)
• La promenade du sceptique (1747)
• Les bijoux indiscrets, novel (1748)
• Lettre sur les aveugles à l'usage de ceux qui voient (1749)
• L'Encyclopédie, (1750-1765)
• Lettre sur les sourds et muets (1751)
• Pensées sur l'interprétation de la nature, essai (1751)
• Le fils naturel (1757)
• Entretiens sur le Fils naturel (1757)
• Le père de famille (1758)
• Paradoxe sur le comédien (1758)
• Discours sur la poesie dramatique (1758)
• Salons, critique d'art (1759-1781)
• La Religieuse, Roman (1760)
• Le neveu de Rameau, dialogue (1761?)
• Lettre sur le commerce de la librairie (1763)
• Mystification ou l’histoire des portraits (1768)
• Entretien entre D'Alembert et Diderot (1769)
• Le rêve de D'Alembert, dialogue (1769)
• Suite de l'entretien entre D'Alembert et Diderot (1769)
• Paradoxe sur le comédien (1769?)
• Apologie de l'abbé Galiani (1770)
• Principes philosophiques sur la matière et le mouvement, essai (1770)
• Entretien d'un père avec ses enfants (1771)
• Jacques le fataliste et son maître, novel (1771-1778)
• Supplément au voyage de Bougainville (1772)
• Histoire philosophique et politique des deux Indes, in collaboration with Raynal (1772-1781)
• Voyage en Hollande (1773)
• Éléments de physiologie (1773-1774)
• Réfutation d'Helvétius (1774)
• Observations sur le Nakaz (1774)
• Essai sur les règnes de Claude et de Néron (1778)
• Lettre apologétique de l'abbé Raynal à Monsieur Grimm (1781)
• Aux insurgents d'Amérique (1782)
• Salons

Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury (February 26, 1671 – February 4, 1713), was an English politician, philosopher and writer. ... Les bijoux indiscrets (English title: The Indiscreet Jewels) was Denis Diderots first novel, published anonymously in 1748 It is an allegory that portrays Louis XV as the sultan Mangogul of the Congo who owns a magic ring that makes womens genitals (jewels) talk. ... This article is about the 18th-century French encyclopaedia. ... Le Père de famille (English: The Father of the family) is a 1758 play by Denis Diderot. ... La Religieuse is an 18th century French novel, by Denis Diderot. ... Le Neveu de Rameau ou La Satire seconde (Rameaus Nephew, or the Second Satire) is an imaginary philosophical conversation written by Denis Diderot. ... Jacques le fataliste et son maître (English title: Jacques the Fatalist and his Master) is a book written by Denis Diderot from the late 1760s to 1778 and published in 1796. ... Supplément au voyage de Bougainville, ou dialogue entre A et B sur linconvénient dattacher des idées morales à certaines actions physiques qui nen comportent pas. ... Guillaume Thomas François Raynal (April 12, 1713 – March 6, 1796) was a French writer. ... The title page of the Nakaz. ... Salon may refer to: a room in a house used for receiving guests. ...

References

• Furbank, P. N. Diderot: A Critical Biography. New York: A. A. Knopf, 1992. ISBN 0-679-41421-5.
• Havens, George R. The Age of Ideas. New York: Holt, 1955. ISBN 0-89197-651-5.
• Simon, Julia. Mass Enlightenment. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1995. ISBN 0-7914-2638-6.
• Hoyt, Nellie and Cassirer, Thomas.Encyclopedia, Selections:Diderot, D'Alembert, and a Society of Men of Letters. New York: Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc, 1965. LCCN 65-26535. ISBN 0-672-60479-5

Notes

1. ^ Mark Twain, "A Majestic Literary Fossil", originally from Harper's New Monthly Magazine, vol. 80, issue 477, p. 439-444, February 1890. Online at Harper's site. Accessed 24 September 2006.
2. ^ Bryan Magee. The Story of Philosophy. DK Publishing, Inc., New York: 1998. page 124

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

Encyclopædia Britannica, the eleventh edition The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) is perhaps the most famous edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Denis Diderot

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Denis Diderot

• Works by Denis Diderot at Project Gutenberg
• Diderot's listing at the Bibliotheque Nationale de France (in French)
• The Project Gutenberg eBook of Diderot by John Morley
• Short biography
• Denis Diderot Bibliography
• Le Neveu de Rameau - Diderot et Goethe

Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Wikiquote is one of a family of wiki-based projects run by the Wikimedia Foundation, running on MediaWiki software. ... Image File history File links Commons-logo. ... Project Gutenberg, abbreviated as PG, is a volunteer effort to digitize, archive and distribute cultural works. ... John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn (1838 - 1923), known for the first part of his life simply as John Morley, was an English statesman and writer. ... The Enlightenment (French: ; German: ; Italian: ; Portuguese: ) was an eighteenth century movement in European and American philosophy — some classifications also include 17th century philosophy (usually called the Age of Reason). ... Joseph II (full name: Joseph Benedikt August Johannes Anton Michel Adam; March 13, 1741 – February 20, 1790) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 to 1790 and ruler of the Habsburg lands from 1780 to 1790. ... Leopold II (born Peter Leopold Joseph) (May 5, 1747 – March 1, 1792) was the penultimate Holy Roman Emperor from 1790 to 1792 and Grand Duke of Tuscany. ... Not to be confused with Maria Theresa of Austria (1816-1867). ... The Kingdom of Denmark-Norway, consisting of Denmark and Norway, including Norways possessions Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands, is a term used for the two united kingdoms after their amalgamation as one state in 1536. ... This article is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Jens Schielderup Sneedorff (1724-1764), Danish author, professor of political science and royal teacher. ... Johann Friedrich Struensee By Jens Juel, 1771, Collection of Bomann Museum, Celle, Germany. ... {{unreferenced|article|date=March 2007]] Copper engraving depicting Eggert Ólafssons death. ... Hobbes redirects here. ... For other persons named John Locke, see John Locke (disambiguation). ... Sir Isaac Newton FRS (4 January 1643 – 31 March 1727) [ OS: 25 December 1642 – 20 March 1727][1] was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, and alchemist. ... For other persons named Samuel Johnson, see Samuel Johnson (disambiguation). ... For other persons of the same name, see Thomas Paine (disambiguation). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Edward Gibbon (1737–1794). ... Jeremy Bentham (IPA: ) (26 February [O.S. 15 February 15] 1748) – June 6, 1832) was an English jurist, philosopher, and legal and social reformer. ... Mary Wollstonecraft (circa 1797) by John Opie Mary Wollstonecraft (27 April 1759 – 10 September 1797) was a British writer, philosopher and feminist. ... Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury (February 26, 1671 – February 4, 1713), was an English politician, philosopher and writer. ... Pierre Bayle. ... For other uses of Fontenelle, see Fontenelle (disambiguation). ... Montesquieu redirects here. ... François Quesnay (June 4, 1694 - December 16, 1774) was a French economist of the Physiocratic school. ... For the singer of the same name, see Voltaire (musician). ... Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, by François-Hubert Drouais (1727-1775). ... Rousseau redirects here. ... Claude Adrien Helvétius (February 26, 1715 - December 26, 1771) was a French philosopher and litterateur. ... Jean le Rond dAlembert, pastel by Maurice Quentin de La Tour Jean le Rond dAlembert (November 16, 1717 – October 29, 1783) was a French mathematician, mechanician, physicist and philosopher. ... Baron dHolbach Paul-Henri Thiry, baron dHolbach (1723 – 1789) was a German-French author, philosopher and encyclopedist. ... Portrait of the Marquis de Sade by Charles-Amédée-Philippe van Loo (c. ... “Condorcet” redirects here. ... Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier (August 26, 1743 – May 8, 1794), the father of modern chemistry [1], was a French nobleman prominent in the histories of chemistry, finance, biology, and economics. ... Étienne Bonnot de Condillac. ... Olympe de Gouges (born Marie Gouze; December 31, 1745, – November 3, 1793) was a playwright and journalist whose feminist writings reached a large audience. ... Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani (Georgian: ) (November 4, 1658 in Tandzia, Georgia; † January 26, 1725 in Moskow) was a famous Georgian prince, writer, monk and religious zealot. ... David Bagrationi (Georgian: დავით ბაგრატიონი, Davit Bagrationi) also known as David the Regent (Georgian: დავით გამგებელი, Davit Gamgebeli) (1 July 1767, Tbilisi, Georgia, - 13 May 1819, St Petersburg, Russia), a Georgia prince (batonishvili), writer and scholar, was a regent of the Kingdom of Kartl-Kakheti, eastern Georgia, from December 28, 1800 to January 18... Solomon Dodashvili (May 17, 1805-August 20, 1836) was a famous Georgian scientist and public benefactor, founder of the Georgian scientific school of Logic, founder of the Georgian professional journalistic, philosopher, historian and linguist. ... Erhard Weigel (1625–1699) was a German mathematician, astronomer and philosopher. ... Leibniz redirects here. ... Frederick II (German: ; January 24, 1712 – August 17, 1786) was a King of Prussia (1740–1786) from the Hohenzollern dynasty. ... Kant redirects here. ... Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (22 January 1729 – 15 February 1781), writer, philosopher, publicist, and art critic, was one of the most outstanding German representatives of the Enlightenment era. ... Thomas Abbt (born 25 November 1738 in Ulm - died 3 November 1766 in Bückeburg) was a mathematician and German writer. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Adam Weishaupt Johann Adam Weishaupt (6 February 1748 in Ingolstadt - 18 November 1830 in Gotha) was a German who founded the Order of Illuminati. ... “Goethe” redirects here. ... Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (November 10, 1759 - May 9, 1805), usually known as Friedrich Schiller, was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and dramatist. ... Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss or Gauß ( ; Latin: ) (30 April 1777 – 23 February 1855) was a German mathematician and scientist who contributed significantly to many fields, including number theory, statistics, analysis, differential geometry, geodesy, electrostatics, astronomy, and optics. ... Moses Mendelssohn Moses Mendelssohns glasses, in the Berlin Jewish Museum Moses Mendelssohn (Dessau, September 6, 1729 – January 4, 1786 in Berlin) was a German Jewish philosopher to whose ideas the renaissance of European Jews, Haskalah, (the Jewish enlightenment) is indebted. ... Adamantios Korais (April 27, 1748 - April 6, 1833) was a graduate of the University of Montpellier in 1788 and he spent most of his life as an expatriate in Paris. ... Rigas Feraios Rigas Feraios or Rigas Velestinlis (Greek: Ρήγας Βελεστινλής-Φεραίος, born Αντώνιος Κυριαζής, Antonios Kyriazis; also known as Κωνσταντίνος Ρήγας, Konstantinos or Constantine Rhigas; Serbian: Рига од Фере, Riga od Fere; 1757—June 13, 1798) was a Greek revolutionary and poet, remembered as a Greek national hero, the forerunner and first victim of the uprising against the Ottoman Empire... Ferenc Kazinczy (October 27, 1759 - August 22, 1831) was a Hungarian author, the most indefatigable agent in the regeneration of the Magyar language and literature at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century. ... József Kármán (1769-1795), Hungarian author, was born at Losoncz on the 14th of March 1769, the son of a Calvinist pastor. ... János Batsányi by Friedrich Heinrich Füger, 1808 (Hungarian National Museum, Budapes) Batsányi János (May 11, 1763 - May 12, 1845) was a Hungarian poet, born in Tapolca. ... Mihály Fazekas (1766-1828) is a famous Hungarian writer from Debrecen. ... Edmund Burke (January 12, 1729[1] – July 9, 1797) was an Anglo-Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist, and philosopher, who served for many years in the British House of Commons as a member of the Whig party. ... Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (November 30, 1667 – October 19, 1745) was an Irish cleric, satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for Whigs then for Tories), and poet, famous for works like Gullivers Travels, A Modest Proposal, A Journal to Stella, The Drapiers Letters, The Battle of the Books, and... John Toland (November 30, 1670 - March 11, 1722) Very little is known about his true origins other than the fact that he was born in Ardagh on the Inishowen Peninsula, a predominantly Catholic and Irish speaking region, in north west Ulster. ... Giambattista Vico or Giovanni Battista Vico (June 23, 1668 – January 23, 1744) was an Italian philosopher, historian, and jurist. ... Cesare, Marquis of Beccaria-Bonesana (March 15, 1738 – November 28, 1794) was an Italian philosopher and politician best known for his treatise On Crimes and Punishments (1764), which condemned torture and the death penalty and was a founding work in the field of criminology. ... Detail of Pietro Verri monument in Milan. ... Alessandro Verri (November 9, 1741 - September 23, 1816) was an Italian author. ... Giuseppe Parini (Bosisio, now in Lecco province, May 23, 1729 - Milan, 1799) was an Italian satirist and poet. ... Carlo Goldoni Carlo Osvaldo Goldoni (25 February 1707 - 6 February 1793) was a celebrated Italian playwright, whom critics today rank among the European theatres greatest authors. ... Vittorio Alfieri painted by Davids pupil François-Xavier Fabre, in Florence 1793. ... Giuseppe MarcAntonio Baretti (April 24, 1719 - May 5, 1789) was an Italian critic. ... Hugo Grotius (Huig de Groot, or Hugo de Groot; Delft, 10 April 1583 – Rostock, 28 August 1645) worked as a jurist in the Dutch Republic and laid the foundations for international law, based on natural law. ... Baruch de Spinoza (‎, Portuguese: , Basque: , Latin: ) (November 24, 1632 – February 21, 1677) was a Dutch philosopher of Portuguese Jewish origin. ... Franciscus van den Enden (Antwerp ca. ... Reign From 1704 unti