You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
A prominent figure of the Age of Enlightenment, the French philosopher Denis Diderot served as chief editor of the ‘Encyclopédie’, the first encyclopaedia to include contributions from many named contributors. He developed a materialist philosophy and arrived at startling intuitive insights into biology and chemistry. In speculating on the origins of life without divine intervention, he foreshadowed the evolutionary theories of Darwin and put forth a prophetic picture of the cellular structure of matter. His ideas, often captured in the form of paradox and dialogue, stem from a sense of life’s ambiguities and a profound understanding of the complexities and contradictions of human nat...
Artifacts for Diderot's Elements of Physiology is a translation of Denis Diderot's rare 18th Century work, Éléments de physiologie, situating it in light of New Materialism and other current debates in continental philosophy. It takes one of many possible theoretical tours through this oeuvre of Diderot, as well as incorporates other supplementary artifacts, including translations of sections of the Latin of Albrecht von Haller on which Diderot's text is partially based.With its critical footnotes and supplementary material, Artifacts addresses old and new materialism in Diderot as a work of theory. Its introductory discussion of animal organs, technical evolution and Diderot's relation to...
Immediately upon publication, this book "stirred up quite a scandal, and introduced the world to a new athlete, all the harder to beat, since he hit you from all sides at once; he seems to assume different forms, and in this respect he could say, like the devil, 'Our name is Legion'" (Naigeon, 'Memoires'). A scandal, to be sure: the book was promptly banned, burned and its anonymous author was pursued by the authorities.The author later became a guiding mind of the Englightment with his Encyclopedia. In this, his first published book, Diderot launches a sustained attack on his twin enemies: superstition (i.e. Christianity, the Bible, miracles, and revelation) and atheism. The truth, he thought, lies with deism: God is knowable through his masterpiece, the world and all it contains. This fully revised translation includes the following texts: 'Philosophical Thoughts''Addition to the Philosophical Thoughts''Unpublished Thoughts''On the Sufficiency of Natural Religion''Ruling of the Parlement of Paris Regarding the Philosophical Thoughts, 1746'
The great eighteenth-century French thinker Denis Diderot (1713–84) once compared himself to a weathervane, by which he meant that his mind was in constant motion. In an extraordinarily diverse career he produced novels, plays, art criticism, works of philosophy and poetics, and also reflected on music and opera. Perhaps most famously, he ensured the publication of the Encyclopédie, which has often been credited with hastening the onset of the French Revolution. Known as one of the three greatest philosophes of the Enlightenment, Diderot rejected the Christian ideas in which he had been raised. Instead, he became an atheist and a determinist. His radical questioning of received ideas and established religion led to a brief imprisonment, and for that reason, no doubt, some of his subsequent works were written for posterity. This collection of essays celebrates the life and work of this extraordinary figure as we approach the tercentenary of his birth.
First published in 1953, this selection was created to provide the texts of Diderot's more important philosophical writings.
None
The first recounts the story of Tanié, who is in love with a venal and greedy woman, Madame Reymer. Tanié goes off to Saint-Domingue for ten years to make a fortune for her. Madame Reymer takes advantage of his absence and finds other lovers. When Tanié comes back from his voyage, he lives with Madame Reymer for around five years. Then, Monsieur de Maurepas proposes that he leave to do business with the North, which Tanié accepts to take on because he knows that Madame Reymer is only with him for his fortune. He dies of a fever some days after he departs.In the second story, Diderot recounts the history of Gardeil and Mademoiselle de la Chaux. Out of love for him, Mademoiselle de la Chau...
18th Century Frenchman Diderot uses a fictional conversation between two men to criticize those who argued against the Enlightenment. As his prior works of political opinion had caused his imprisonment, Diderot was especially careful to craft "Rameau's Nephew" in such a way to not face further trouble.