Denis Diderot
French philosopher and encyclopedist who co-edited the Encyclopédie, the great project of Enlightenment thought. His novels and dialogues are among the most intellectually adventurous of the 18th century. Rameau's Nephew anticipates the dialogic novel and the alienation of the modern intellectual.
Works
- Jacques the FatalistPicaresque novel exploring fate and free will through a wandering protagonist
- Rameau's NephewPhilosophical satire on music, aesthetics, and parasitic genius in society
- The NunEpistolary novel exploring a nun's forbidden desires and religious constraints
- D'Alembert's DreamPhilosophical dialogue on materialism, consciousness, and life between sleeping philosophers
- Supplement to the Voyage of BougainvillePhilosophical essay critiquing European morality through imagined South Pacific society
- EncyclopédieMassive collaborative encyclopedia project documenting Enlightenment knowledge and critical thought