DIDEROT: his 6 most important WORKS

In this lesson from a TEACHER we offer you a brief exposition of the most important works of Denis Diderot (1713-784), French writer and philosopher and belonging to the illustrated movement. He is the most prolific author of the time and wrote works of all genres: Rococo, Neoclassicism, and Preromanticism.

One of his most important works is Philosophical thoughts, Although he is best known for having collaborated, together with d'Alambert, in the edition of the ANDEncyclopedia. Catarina II of Russia bought her extensive library from him in exchange for a pension. He also participated in the book, Raynal, History dit's two o'clock Indias, a bet in favor of trade as the engine of progress and civilization.

If you want to know more about most important Diderot works, keep reading this article by a TEACHER.

Index

1. 6 important works by Diderot
2. Philosophical Thoughts, an important work by Diderot
3. The indiscreet jewels, one of his most controversial works
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4. Letter on the blind, the work that leads Diderot to prison
5. The Encyclopedia of Diderot and d'Alambert
6. The religious, a complaint against the church
7. Jaques the fatalist, an existential work

Diderot was a very prolific writer, and not only in terms of the number of works that he published, but also because of the variety of genres that he played. Among his main works, the following stand out:

1. Philosophical thoughts
2. The prying jewels
3. Letter about the blind
4. The Encyclopedia of Diderot and d'Alambert
5. The religious
6. Jaques the fatalist

In this work, Diderot makes a defense of the great passions, considering that they are the only ones that can raise the soul At the top. Thus, he says:

“... only passions, and great passions, are those that can elevate the soul to great things”.

Philosophical thoughts It is a mixture of deism and pantheism, even affirming that the existence of God can be demonstrated from experimental physics, ensuring that the rationalism of Malebranche YDiscards he has not been able to do it.

It is his spiciest work and also the most popular of the French philosopher and not only at the time, since today it is still his best-known book and also the most translated. The prying jewels they chat with each other in the women's private room.

The fun conversation revolves around the inevitable fate of the female: being unfaithful to his partner. One of the characters laments this condition saying:

” I would like to find in the woman I love a beautiful appearance, intelligence, feeling and, above all, decency…”

Diderot, not only supported adultery by women. Furthermore, he advocated the sex education of them, making an apology for the female orgasm. The philosopher affirmed that women had to know their own body in order to enjoy the greatest possible pleasure.

We continue to know the most important works of Diderot to talk about this philosophical essay in the form of a letter in which the philosopher declares himself for the first time atheist and materialist. The name of the recipient is not revealed in the work, but everything indicates that it is the feminist writer Madeleine de Puisieux, she lover of the philosopher for five years, although they never broke her friendship.

"If ever a philosopher who was blind and deaf from birth made a man in imitation of Descartes, I can assure you, madam, that she would place the soul at the tip of her fingers, because that is where the main sensations of her and all her knowledge".

The work is divided into three parts:

1. In the first he recounts the encounter with Puisaux, blind from birth.
2. The second is dedicated to another blind man, the mathematician Nicholas saunderson, a brilliant Oxford professor, as well as an inventor.
3. The third part is a reflection on the Molyneux problem, the mental experiment that the Irish scientist William Molyneux presents to John Locke. The answer to the question of whether spatial knowledge is a priori, or if on the contrary it is something empirical.

André Le Breton gets the license for the French translation from Ephraim Chambers' encyclopedia, Cyclopædia: or, An Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, and although the project was to be led by others, Diderot and Jean Le Rond d'Alembert they take care of its editing. But Diderot wants to go further, and make a totally new work. The French publisher accepts and thus, the great Encyclopédie.

In this gigantic work also other philosophers participated What Voltaire, Montesquieu, Jean-Jacques Rousseau or Adam Smith, among other experts in different branches of knowledge: economics, mechanical arts, philosophy, politics, religion, etc.

Diderot himself is the author of the Encyclopedia definition:

Encyclopedia, n. F. (Philosopher.) This word means chain of knowledge. It is composed of the preposition in Greek ἐν, en, and the names κύκλος, circle, and παιδεία, knowledge. Indeed, the objective of an Encyclopedia is to bring together the dispersed knowledge, to show the system general to the men we live with, and pass them on to the men who will come after U.S; so that the works of past centuries are not useless worksfor successive centuries; May our grandchildren, being more educated, be more virtuous and happier at the same time, and may we not disappear without having contributed to the human race.

This work by Diderot is a complaint against the mistreatment that the Catholic Church exerts on women, whom he forces to accept the established hierarchy. This is the only destiny of a woman, to obey her husband and satisfy all her needs. The author says about the unequal situation of women in society:

"ANDhe world in which women were trapped within an implacable system was organized by men and for men and brought misery to half the planet's population. " Thus, women are only valued for their beauty and youth, being later relegated to absolute oblivion. Taking the habits was the only solution that many found ".

Although Diderot was an atheist, he does not discuss in this work of condemn the Catholic religion, but only to the church to her hierarchy, easily observable in the relationship between the new nuns, forced to take the veil, and the mother superior.

This book by Voltaire has been brought to big screen on countless occasions, being the most popular movie, The religious, from Jacques rivette, released in 1966. It stars Anna Karina and Liselotte Pulver.

A posthumous work by Didetot and the most existential of all. It raises the problem of Liberty and the stoprminism. Also, she is a condemns corruption of the most powerful, including religious institutions.

“Jacques asked his master if he had not noticed that, however great the misery of the people poor, without having bread for themselves, they all had a dog... From which he concluded that every man wanted to send other; and that the animal being in society immediately below the class of the last citizens commanded by all the other classes, those took an animal to be able to send someone too... Each one has his dog. The minister is the king's dog, the prime official is the minister's dog... "

This novel, cut modern, breaks with the old style of the time, and is considered one of the works fundamental of the fictional genre. His ramblings and curiosities are reminiscent of works such as El Lazarillo or El Quijote.

If you want to read more articles similar to Diderot: most important works, we recommend that you enter our category of Philosophy.

1. Diderot, D. Philosophical thoughts. Ed. Proteus. 2012
2. Diderot, D. The indiscreet jewels. Ed. Universitas. 2010
3. Diderot, D. Letter about the blind. Ed. Pre-texts. 2022
4. Diderot, D. The religious. Ed. Verticals. 2008
5. Diderot, D. Jacques the fatalist. Ed. Chair. 2017