Diderot, Denis

1995/08/02 Azkune Mendia, Iñaki - Elhuyar Fundazioa | Kaltzada, Pili - Elhuyar Zientziaren Komunikazioa

• Biografiak

(1713-1784)

This French encyclopedist was born in Langres (Upper Marne) on November 5, 1713. He studied at a Jesuit college from 1723 to 1728 and in 1729 worked at the University of Paris until in 1732 he obtained a doctorate in arts. Although there is no record of what he did in the next ten years, he is considered to have dealt with many different issues.

In 1743 he secretly married Antoinette Champion. In 1746 he wrote his first work Pensées Philosophiques (Philosophical Thoughts), but it was rejected by the Paris Parliament a month after its publication. That same year, together with the mathematician d'Alembert, he signed the contract for the French translation of the English encyclopedia Cyclopaedia de Chambers. In 1748 his first novel, Indiscrete Jewels, was published. In parallel, he published a report on the different mathematical topics. The following year he was imprisoned because in one of his attempts he mentioned that evolution could be a natural option. However, since he signed the contract he did not stop working to return the encyclopaedia, so in 1751 the first number was published. But the authorities rejected this work because in it there were many opinions contrary to theories accepted by monarchical absolutism and religious orthodoxy. Therefore, in 1759 the publication process of the encyclopaedia was paralyzed. However, Diderot continued to secretly return the encyclopedia. Other comrades (including d'Alembert), at risk of imprisonment, abandoned him. In 1772 the publication process of the encyclopaedia ended. It was the first of the great encyclopedias, as it made available to the public all the scientific opinions of the century.

Throughout these years he wrote many other works. In 1757 he published the dramatic works Le Fils Naturel (Natural Son) and in 1758 Le Pére de Famille (Father of the Family) and then two theoretical writings: Entretiens avec Dorval (Tertulias con Dorval) and Discours sur la Poésie Dramatique (Lectures on Dramatic Poetry). In them he explained his vision of the "bourgeois drama." Then a theatre, Est-il bon? Is this the case? (Is it good? Is it bad?) and another of his theoretical works, Le Paradoxe sur le Comédie (Paradoja sobre el Comediante), although the provisional version of the theatre was not published until 1834. In 1759 he wrote his first Salon at the Correspondance Littéraire, after which he wrote another eight. In 1760 he began writing the novel La religieuse (Religious), published in 1796.

Diderot didn't have much money in the early years of his life, but then picked up something for the encyclopedia's return contract and the sale of his library. The Diderot library was purchased by Empress Catherine II of Russia, who asked her to be also her library. After the translation of the encyclopaedia, he wrote several political works. Apology of Galiani, on free trade, Reflections for Catherine II (1773), Principles of the Politics of the Sovereigns, against the Frederick II of Prussia and despotism (1774), etc. In 1773 and 1774 he was in Russia at the request of Katalina 1l. In the last years of his life he wrote the essay on the mandate of Klaudio and Nero (1778) and the apology of Raynal (1781).

Diderot died in Paris on 31 July 1784. Facing the scholastic tradition of the diderotes and after many reflections, he concluded that "nature is not god and man is not a machine". He was the XVIII. In the twentieth century, the only philosopher who maintained that the material world is eternal and always in motion; that man, being rational and social, is part of nature and, therefore, is linked to its determinism, although through work and reflection he can dominate that determinism and create his own history.