Diderot: Political Writings

by Denis Diderot , Edited by John Hope Mason , Robert Wokler

• ISBN13: 9780521369114
• ISBN10: 0521369118
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1992-07-31
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

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.

Table of Contents

Foreword	vii
Introduction	ix
Chronology	xxxvi
Further reading	xxxviii
Articles from the Encyclopedie	1	(30)
The Supplement au Voyage de Bougainville	31	(46)
Observations sur le Nakaz	77	(88)
Extracts from the Histoire des Deux Indes	165	(50)
Index	215