Denis Diderot was born on October 5, 1713 in Langres. After having embraced the ecclesiastical career, then the law, Denis Diderot undertook a titanic work with d'Alembert by tackling the writing of the Encyclopédie . He wants to give people access to knowledge. He thinks that man can become better in contact with society. But, from his first work as a writer carried out in parallel, he was imprisoned for three months at the Château de Vincennes for having criticized Christianity (The Letter on the Blind, Promenade du Skeptic ). As a free thinker, he tries all his life to introduce his reader to objectivity by freeing himself from accepted principles. He renews the genre of the novel with Jacques le fataliste, Le Neveu de Rameau , the theater (The Natural Son ) and, with its Salons , he analyzes the masterpieces exhibited in Paris during the Salons, for the Greats of Europe. Known for his critical spirit as much as for his erudition, Denis Diderot, materialist, is more interested in reasoning than in truth. It is the triumph of Reason. He is one of the great philosophers of the Enlightenment.
October 5, 1713 - July 31, 1784
Status
Writer
Philosopher
Polemicist
Storyteller
Literary criticism
Art criticism
Playwright
Encyclopaedist