Denis Diderot: Difference between revisions

Denis Diderot
Denis Diderot
Born	5 October 1713; Langres, Champagne, France
Died	31 July 1784 (aged 70); Paris, France
School tradition	Encyclopédistes; French materialism
Nationality	French

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Denis Diderot (5 October 1713 – 31 July 1784) was the most eminent materialist thinker of the French Enlightenment and the driving force behind the Encyclopédie. For a quarter of a century, he published the monumental work with Jean le Rond d'Alembert, a project persecuted by the State and the Jesuits. Friedrich Engels wrote, “If anyone has enthusiastically dedicated his entire life to truth and to the right—in the best sense of the word—it was Diderot.”

Diderot was a prolific polymath who wrote on nearly every subject: natural science, mathematics, history, society, economics, law, morals, art, and literature. His thought evolved from strict Catholicism to deism to militant materialism and atheism, and finally to revolutionary bourgeois philosophy. His early works, like Philosophic Thoughts (1746) and An Essay on Blindness (1749), attacked the Church and led to his imprisonment, yet his philosophy was not confined to simple materialism. His later dialogues, such as A Conversation between d’Alembert and Diderot and D’Alembert’s Dream (both 1769), are considered masterpieces of materialist literature.

A visionary in science, Diderot is rightly seen as a precursor to Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and Charles Darwin. He clearly argued for the evolution of organisms from a common "primitive being" and the transformation of species, extending this idea of perpetual change to all matter in his Thoughts on the Interpretation of Nature (1754).

Beyond philosophy and science, Diderot was an eminent dramatist and master of prose who championed naturalism in art and theater. His witty novels and short stories were admired and translated by figures like Lessing, Schiller, and Goethe. Diderot was Karl Marx's favourite author and Engels also hailed his most famous work, Rameau’s Nephew (1762), as a "masterpiece of dialectics." His radical vision extended to social justice, where he famously called for a Black Spartacus-like figure to lead an uprising against slavery to provide reparations to the formerly enslaved.^[1]

References[edit | edit source]

↑ Domenico Losurdo (2011). Liberalism: A Counter-History: 'Crisis of the English and American Models' (p. 168). [PDF] Verso. ISBN 9781844676934 [LG]

[:122-1] Domenico Losurdo (2011). Liberalism: A Counter-History: 'Crisis of the English and American Models' (p. 168). [PDF] Verso. ISBN 9781844676934 [LG]

[1]

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+{{Message box/Missing Sources}}{{Infobox philosopher|name=Denis Diderot|image_size=200|image=Denis Diderot.png|birth_date=5 October 1713|birth_place=Langres, Champagne, [[Kingdom of France (987–1792)|France]]|death_date=31 July 1784 (aged 70)|nationality=French|death_place=[[Paris]], France|school_tradition=[[Encyclopédistes]]<br>[[French materialism]]}}
-'''Denis Diderot''' (5 October 1713 – 31 July 1784) was the most eminent thinker among the [[Materialism|materialists]] of the French [[Enlightenment]] and the leader and soul of the Encyclopedists. During a quarter of a century, he published, along with d’Alembert, the famous Encyclopedia called “the Holy Alliance against fanaticism and tyranny.” The publication of this undertaking, persecuted by the [[State]] and the Jesuits, demanded a sustained moral effort, an unflagging will-power, the greatest obstinacy and absolute devotion. [[Friedrich Engels|Engels]] wrote, “If anyone has enthusiastically dedicated his entire life to truth and to the right—in the best sense of the word—it was Diderot.” He wrote on the most diverse topics, on natural science and mathematics, history and society, the economy and the State, law and morals, art and literature. Raised in strict [[Catholicism]], Diderot developed with remarkable logic, evolving from [[deism]] to militant materialism and [[atheism]], and finally embodying the highest goals of the [[Bourgeois revolution|revolutionary bourgeois]] philosophy of the French Age of Enlightenment. He exerted the most profound and long-lasting influence on the society of his time. But his thought was not restricted to the narrow limits of vulgar materialism. A number of glimmers of dialectical thought are to be found in his works. Already in his ''Philosophic Thoughts'' (the Hague, 1746), which were burned by the public hangman by order of the Parliament, and in his ''Wandering of a Skeptic'' (1747), confiscated before publication, he vigorously attacks the Church. His atheistic work, ''An Essay on Blindness'' (London, 1749), cost him a year in prison. Diderot is justly considered a precursor of [[Jean-Baptiste Lamarck|Lamarck]] and [[Charles Darwin|Darwin]], for he already maintains, clearly and resolutely, the idea of the evolution of organisms and of the initial existence of a “primitive being” from which, by progressive transformations, the later diversity of the animal and plant kingdoms derived. Just as there is an individual evolution, there is also, according to Diderot, an evolution of species. Logically pursuing the idea of evolution, Diderot finally demands the recognition of the evolution of all inanimate matter. In this work, ''Thoughts on the Interpretation of Nature'' (1754), in order to explain psychic phenomena, he imagines the hypothesis of atoms endowed with sensation, which already exist in animals and which bring about thought in humans. All natural acts are signs of a substance which comprises all of being, in which the unity of forces in perpetual transformations and reciprocal action is apparent. Among his most daring and clever materialist writings should be noted: ''A Conversation between d’Alembert and Diderot'' (1769) and ''D’Alembert’s Dream'' (1769), which are at the same time complete literary masterpieces. Diderot was, moreover, an eminent dramatist and a master of prose. In his struggle for reforms in art and the theater, he advocates naturalism, the uncamouflaged representation of living, concrete reality. Diderot composed, moreover, numerous witty novels and short stories (he was [[Karl Marx|Marx]]’s favorite author) whose importance can be seen in the fact that men such as Lessing, Schiller and Goethe not only admired them but translated many of them into German as well. His most famous work is ''Rameau’s Nephew'' (1762) which Engels called a “masterpiece of [[dialectics]].”
+'''Denis Diderot''' (5 October 1713 – 31 July 1784) was the most eminent [[Materialism|materialist]] thinker of the [[French Enlightenment]] and the driving force behind the ''Encyclopédie''. For a quarter of a century, he published the monumental work with [[Jean le Rond d'Alembert]], a project persecuted by the [[State]] and the [[Jesuits]]. [[Friedrich Engels]] wrote, “If anyone has enthusiastically dedicated his entire life to truth and to the right—in the best sense of the word—it was Diderot.”
-Diderot called for a Black [[Spartacus]]-like figure to lead an uprising against [[slavery]] that would give reparations to formerly enslaved people.<ref name=":122">{{Citation|author=[[Domenico Losurdo]]|year=2011|title=Liberalism: A Counter-History|chapter=Crisis of the English and American Models|page=168|publisher=Verso|isbn=9781844676934|lg=https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=5BB3406BC2E64972831A1C00D5D4BFE4|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacebhsj2yxuoudkhkjp6lzgr5jvgyhu76zxe4gw3d65gpg32a6nded4?filename=Domenico%20Losurdo%2C%20Gregory%20Elliott%20-%20Liberalism_%20A%20Counter-History-Verso%20%282011%29.pdf}}</ref>
+Diderot was a prolific polymath who wrote on nearly every subject: natural science, mathematics, history, society, economics, law, morals, art, and literature. His thought evolved from strict [[Catholicism]] to [[deism]] to militant materialism and [[atheism]], and finally to [[Bourgeois revolution|revolutionary bourgeois]] philosophy. His early works, like ''Philosophic Thoughts'' (1746) and ''An Essay on Blindness'' (1749), attacked the Church and led to his imprisonment, yet his philosophy was not confined to simple materialism. His later dialogues, such as ''A Conversation between d’Alembert and Diderot'' and ''D’Alembert’s Dream'' (both 1769), are considered masterpieces of materialist literature.
+A visionary in science, Diderot is rightly seen as a precursor to [[Jean-Baptiste Lamarck]] and [[Charles Darwin]]. He clearly argued for the [[evolution]] of organisms from a common "primitive being" and the transformation of species, extending this idea of perpetual change to all matter in his ''Thoughts on the Interpretation of Nature'' (1754).
+Beyond philosophy and science, Diderot was an eminent dramatist and master of prose who championed naturalism in art and theater. His witty novels and short stories were admired and translated by figures like Lessing, Schiller, and Goethe. Diderot was Karl Marx's favourite author and Engels also hailed his most famous work, ''Rameau’s Nephew'' (1762), as a "masterpiece of dialectics." His radical vision extended to social justice, where he famously called for a Black [[Spartacus]]-like figure to lead an uprising against [[slavery]] to provide reparations to the formerly enslaved.<ref name=":122">{{Citation|author=[[Domenico Losurdo]]|year=2011|title=Liberalism: A Counter-History|chapter=Crisis of the English and American Models|page=168|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacebhsj2yxuoudkhkjp6lzgr5jvgyhu76zxe4gw3d65gpg32a6nded4?filename=Domenico%20Losurdo%2C%20Gregory%20Elliott%20-%20Liberalism_%20A%20Counter-History-Verso%20%282011%29.pdf|publisher=Verso|isbn=9781844676934|lg=https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=5BB3406BC2E64972831A1C00D5D4BFE4}}</ref>
 == References ==
+[[Category:1713 births]]
+[[Category:1784 deaths]]
+[[Category:French encyclopedists]]
 [[Category:French philosophers]]

Denis Diderot

Born	5 October 1713 Langres, Champagne, France
Died	31 July 1784 (aged 70) Paris, France
School tradition	Encyclopédistes French materialism
Nationality	French