DIDEROT, DENIS. - Philosopher, b. at Langres (Champagne) on 5 Oct. 1713, d. at Paris on 30 July 1784. Destined by his father for the ecclesiastical state, he attended the Jesuit college in his native city, but was withdrawn from it in order to put an end to certain aspirations toward the novitiate. Having finished his studies in Paris and refused every profession, he devoted himself to study, principally of mathematics and the sciences. He had worked only on some translations when, at the age of 33, he was chosen as editor of a publication that became, in his hands, and with the collaboration of D'Alembert, the famous Encyclopédie (v.), one of the most considerable events of the 18th century. The revolutionary and anti-religious spirit of the work, which already found correspondence in the state of minds, contributed powerfully to preparing the explosion of 1789. D. worked on it until the end, that is, from 1746 to 1772. He was pensioned by Frederick II and by Catherine II.

D.'s activity as a writer did not exhaust itself in the Encyclopédie. Besides the various works published by him, many of his writings, intended for abroad, were published posthumously: for the most part brief essays, tales and dialogues, written with brio and full of the spirit of the Encyclopédie. D.'s style is a model of life and spontaneity, but it lacks sobriety: one of his most original works, Le neveu de Rameau, was translated by Goethe. His Salons represent a valid contribution to art criticism.

Notable among his philosophical works: Pensées philosophiques (1746); Lettre sur les aveugles (1749); Interprétation de la nature (1759); and, posthumously, Le rêve de d'Alembert; Supplément au voyage de Bougainville. Initially D. adhered to a vague deism, but soon passed to a pure materialism, impugning the existence of God, without however overcoming every doubt (« O Dieu, je ne sais si tu es »). D. confessed that in his system, without obligation and without freedom, morality could find no place. D. in any case seemed to have overcome pure mechanistic determinism in favor of a conscious vitalistic determinism (Venturi).

DIDEROT, DENIS - Bust of D. D. Work by J. B. Pigalle. Paris, Louvre.(phot. Alinari)

Bibliography13 works

BIBL.: Oeuvres complètes, ed. J. Assézat and M. Tourneux, 20 vols., Paris 1875-79; J. A. Naigeon, Mémoires historiques et philosophiques sur la vie et les ouvrages de D., ibid. 1821; J. Morley, D. and the Encyclopaedists, 2 vols., London 1891; J. Reinach, D., Paris 1894; L. Ducros, D., ibid. 1894; L. Brunel, D. et les encyclopédistes, in Histoire de la langue et de la littérature française des origines à 1900, VI, Paris 1898, ch. 7, pp. 320-71; P. Hermand, Les idées morales de D., Paris 1923; M. D. Busnelli, D. et l'Italie, ibid. 1925; J. Le Gras, D. et l'Encyclopédie, Amiens 1928; F. Venturi, Jeunesse de D., Paris 1939; D. Mornet, D. L'homme et l'oeuvre, ibid. 1941; D. H. Gordon-N. L. Torrey, The censoring of Diderot's Encyclopædia and the reestablished text, New York 1947; H. Lefebvre, D., Paris 1949.

Carlo Boyer

@incollection{ec4_diderot_denis, author = {Boyer, Carlo}, title = {Diderot, denis}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {IV}, pages = {1566--1567}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1950}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/diderot-denis} }

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Diderot, Denis

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