Diderot: Political Writings


Book Description

Denis Diderot (1713-1784) was one of the most significant figures of the French enlightenment. His political writings cover the period from the first volume of the Encyclopedie (1751), of which he was principal editor, to the third edition of Raynal's Histoire des Deux Indes (1780), one of the most widely read books of the pre-revolutionary period. This volume contains the most important of Diderot's articles for the Encyclopedie, a substantial number of his contributions to the Histoire, the complete texts of his Supplement au Voyage de Bougainville, one of his most visionary works, and his Observations sur le Nakaz, a precise and detailed political work translated here into English for the first time. The editors' introduction sets these works in their context and shows the underlying coherence of Diderot's thought. A chronology of events and a bibliography are included as further aids to the reader.







New Essays on Diderot


Book Description

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.







Tolerance


Book Description

Inspired by Voltaire’s advice that a text needs to be concise to have real influence, this anthology contains fiery extracts by forty eighteenth-century authors, from the most famous philosophers of the age to those whose brilliant writings are less well-known. These passages are immensely diverse in style and topic, but all have in common a passionate commitment to equality, freedom, and tolerance. Each text resonates powerfully with the issues our world faces today. Tolerance was first published by the Société française d’étude du dix-huitième siècle (the French Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies) in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo assassinations in January 2015 as an act of solidarity and as a response to the surge of interest in Enlightenment values. With the support of the British Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, it has now been translated by over 100 students and tutors of French at Oxford University.




Hating Empire Properly


Book Description

Discusses arguments made against empire and colonialism in the eighteenth century through works by Denis Diderot and Edmund Burke. Explores the limits and failures of their arguments by emphasizing what they wrote on the two indies, especially India and Haiti.




Supplément au voyage de Bougainville


Book Description

"Supplément au Voyage de Bougainville" est une œuvre écrite par le philosophe et écrivain français Denis Diderot. Il a été rédigé dans la seconde moitié du XVIIIe siècle, mais il n'a pas été publié de son vivant en raison de ses aspects controversés. Ce texte est un dialogue entre deux personnages, un Tahitien et un Français, qui discutent des différences culturelles et des points de vue sur la société. L'œuvre explore la question de la moralité, de la civilisation et des rapports entre les cultures européennes et polynésiennes à l'époque de l'exploration. Denis Diderot était un des philosophes majeurs de l'époque des Lumières en France et l'un des principaux contributeurs de l'Encyclopédie. "Supplément au Voyage de Bougainville" s'inscrit dans le contexte de la philosophie des Lumières, remettant en question les préjugés et les valeurs de l'époque, tout en encourageant la tolérance et la compréhension interculturelle. Il est reconnu pour sa réflexion sur le relativisme culturel et la manière dont les sociétés européennes percevaient d'autres cultures lors de l'exploration du monde.







Dialogues


Book Description




Vanishing Paradise


Book Description

Vanishing paradise" offers a fresh take on the modernist primitivism of the French painter Paul Gauguin, the exoticism of the American John LaFarge, and the elite tourism of the American writer Henry Adams. Childs explores how these artists wrestled with the elusiveness of paradise and portrayed colonial Tahiti in ways both mythic and modern.