Diderot, Denis, << DEE duh roh, duh NEE >> (1713-1784), was a major French philosopher of an intellectual movement called the Enlightenment. His work included fiction, drama, art and literary criticism, and satire. Diderot was also a brilliant conversationalist. He spent much of his life compiling, editing, and writing the French Encyclopedie, a reference work that reflected revolutionary political views and antireligious sentiment. Diderot’s major philosophical works are Thoughts on the Interpretation of Nature (1754) and d’Alembert’s Dream (1769). Today, Diderot is increasingly appreciated for his major literary writings, especially the novels The Nun (1760) and Jacques the Fatalist (1773) and the satirical dialogue Rameau’s Nephew (written 1762-1764).
Diderot strongly supported experimental methods in philosophy and science. He believed that nature was in a state of constant change and no permanently adequate interpretation of it was possible. Diderot was also a philosophical materialist, believing that thought developed from the movements and changes of matter. His views on this subject were vague, as were his religious opinions. At one time, he was an atheist. At another time, Diderot was a deist, believing that God existed independently of the world and had no interest in it. But he later suggested that all of nature was God. Diderot was born on Oct. 5, 1713, in Langres, near Chaumont. He died on July 31, 1784.
See also Drama (European drama); Encyclopedia (An age of experiment); Enlightenment.
