History of the Origins of World Philosophy, French Enlightenment No. 5: Diderot

French Enlightenment No. 5: Diderot

　　Diderot was born in 1713 in Langerdale, France. His father was a knife maker, and although his income was not bad and the family wealth was very rich, he could only be regarded as a lowly countryman in the concept of the French upper class at that time. He has no taboo about this, not only has no taboo, but he does his own thing. His wife was not only of low birth, but also very poor.

　　Diderot was a young man with a precocious outlook, excellent academics, and a great personality. He systematically studied logic, ethics, and many of Aristotle's works, and was equally interested in the natural disciplines, whether in mathematics, chemistry, or physics. In addition, he was a great translator. That's why the publishers who were the first to plan a translation of Chambers' Encyclopedia would want to hire him as editor-in-chief.

　　Diderot was versatile, and in this respect he was no less than Voltaire. He was a thinker, philosopher, playwright, novelist, translator, and critic of literature and art. His scholarly character was down-to-earth, and his scholarly influence grew so deep that one historian of philosophy considered him "one of the greatest philosophers of modern Western Europe before Kant after Bacon." He did enjoy great prestige in European cultural circles, especially those who were super literary giants such as Goethe, Hugo, Balzac and Baudelaire. Goethe once said, "Diderot is Diderot, an incomparable man." In his opinion, although there are many talents, Diderot has only one.

　　Diderot's life was not smooth. Although he did not sit in prison more often than Voltaire, he did not enjoy the romantic life of Voltaire's grace and luxury, on the contrary, difficulties, crises, poverty and endless chores accompanied him almost all his life. He did not receive a corresponding social reward in his life, neither received great Voltaire honors during his lifetime, nor did he have an extraordinary Influence of Rousseau after his death. From the beginning of his entry into society, he was associated with poverty and hardship. One of the factors why he was obsessed with the editor-in-chief of the Encyclopedia was that he especially needed a relatively stable income at that time. However, good dreams are hard to come by. After he really began to work as editor-in-chief, he realized that the editor-in-chief fee was not enough. So he edited the book while selling articles for a living. Diderot was the first french thinker of the Enlightenment to make a living selling literature. With the publication of the Encyclopedia, his path was clear. His way of making a living from literature was not an enviable path at the time, and it is difficult to say that it was a successful path. But Diderot created miracles and successes on this road, and he set an example for modern cultural people.

　　His family life was also not happy, mainly because of his limited relationship with his wife. Although their marriage was entirely motivated by free love, for whatever more precise reason, Diderot's private life was far from moral, and he had no love outside of marriage and had another lover. And it was the expense of his lover that made him feel anxious and anxious. Mr. Dashing and Strange Man, the contending wind is heavily indebted.

　　But the real trouble is the persecution of him by the authorities. These persecutions were directed both directly at himself and against the Encyclopedia he edited. At the height of the situation, the Encyclopedia was in danger of dying—unpublished volumes were almost banned from publication, and some of his close literary friends left him for various reasons. At this time, Diderot can be said to be in internal and external difficulties, and he feels lonely. But the supporters himself were there, and he himself was particularly brave enough to face all difficulties and never give in. He had already identified the road, and no matter how many difficulties and obstacles there were, he must continue to complete it. Therefore, there are great philosophers who say that he is a man who dedicates his life to the truth, and this evaluation is really appropriate.

　　Diderot's life's experience, almost all moves, is related to the Encyclopedia. As the editor-in-chief of such a huge cultural project, it is even more impossible to be competent and happy in many aspects, that is, not only must we have knowledge, we must have vision, we must have independent thinking ability, we must have strong writing skills, we have superhuman practical spirit, we have the ability to cope with the wind from all sides with three heads and six arms, we must have the organizational ability to look at the six roads, listen to the eight directions, calmly and orderly, and command Ruoding, we must also have the character of bearing hardships and stand hard work, and the perseverance of perseverance, as well as many sweet, sour, bitter, and spicy bitterness that are not enough for outsiders. And all of this, Diderot has everything, and everything can be called. Although he and Dharambert were editors of the Encyclopedia for 12 years, he is the central force of this cultural masterpiece, no matter what level of understanding.

　　The writing of the Encyclopedia requires experts in various fields. Dealing with so many experts is no easy task, especially not a pleasant one. The strength of experts, the awkwardness of experts, the strangeness of experts, the habits of experts, the self-confidence of experts, and the self-cherishing and self-love of the words written by experts cannot be changed by others, all of which are difficult for outsiders to understand and are not humane. Coupled with the division of the basic content of the Encyclopedia, it has its own characteristics. It divides the entries into three main parts, namely the natural sciences, the social sciences and the crafts. The separate compilation of craft entries is a major feature of it, and under the conditions at that time, such a distinction was not only novel but also necessary. However, the writing of process articles is by no means something that theoretical experts can do. The intersection of many articles in terms of content brings unexpected difficulties to the assignment of tasks. As a result, some articles are very popular, you want to write I also have to write, other articles, are cold and cold, no one cares, and even people see people to avoid, avoid it. Whenever this happens, the editor-in-chief will say " I'll do it " , so I'll take it in and finish it one by one. Because he himself is the son of a craftsman, and he is not ashamed of it, he must be proud of it.

The biographer wrote: "Wouldn't it be strange for the son of a craftsman to hate the craftsmanship that his family had been proud of for generations, and besides, that would be an innovation!" It's an untapped theme, elusive, alive, and humane! 'Various arts and trades', henceforth his column, he pledged to give them their rightful place and put them first! Because he felt that the era of symbolizing man over things was coming. And this victory of man cannot be achieved without the help of his own hands. Man's hands will soon dominate man's destiny; it is by relying on his hands that one can hope for a more just, happier, and more convenient future. Well, he agreed, all the manual trades, he all wrapped up! Agriculture and rural economy were written by him, knitting was written by him, anchor making was written by him, silver plating, land measurement, jewelry, bread, leather goods, beer, brick making, alum tanning, hat making, pot making were written by him, strong glue and sealing paint were written by him, gold and silver jewelry carving and skeletonization were written by him! Pins, armor, coal, cardboard and carriage were written by him! Jute and bell written by him! The confectionery industry, brass and diamonds, cotton and shochu, fans and spurs were written by him! Mirrors and fountains were written by him! Watches, engravings, printing, underwear and bedding, spectacle making, masonry, horseshoe industry, leather industry, joinery, inlay industry, paper making, parchment making, pipes, plaster, feather ornaments, gunpowder, ribbons, silk fabrics, locks, sugar and barrels were all written by him. "

Even eighteen all-rounders who are proficient in all kinds of weapons will be dizzy at the sight of these entries, and our Diderot has such a spirit. It was with such knowledge, talent and spirit that he fulfilled the lofty mission of editing the Encyclopedia. Although it is now difficult to distinguish exactly which entries were entirely from the editor-in-chief, his deeds have been printed in the encyclopedia, and he will coexist with this great cultural project for eternity.

　　But it's always a thankless task for a scholar to be editor-in-chief, even if the book you're editing is the most important book in the world at the time. For a long time before and after his death, Diderot was seen by many as an editor. His fame and influence were far less great and loud than those of Voltaire and Rousseau. In fact, Diderot was truly a versatile and highly theoretical author. Even if he had not edited the Encyclopedia and had only completed his own work, he was still a prolific writer with outstanding talent and achievement.

　　Diderot's major works include philosophical works: Philosophical Thought, The Footsteps of skeptics, On the Virtues of Natural Religion, and On the Writings of the Blind; plays: Philosophers, Illegitimate Children, Head of the Family; Novels: Rameau's Nephew, The Nun; Commentaries: On Painting, On the Conversation of the Bastard, etc.

　　Diderot was an atheist, with a critique of traditional religion and its theological concepts, both Voltaire's poignancy and rigorous and down-to-earth. He was particularly adept at exposing religion with its own inherent contradictions, so that it could not be theoretically self-defeating, and could not find a foothold in trying to argue. He wrote: "The three in the 'Trinity' are either three contingent attributes or three ontologies. There is absolutely nothing in the middle. If these are the three contingent attributes, we are atheists or deists.

　　If these are the three ontologies, we are heretics. He also said, "To prove the gospel by a miracle is to prove something absurd by something that is contrary to nature." He said, "If you remove a Christian's fear of hell, you will remove his faith." Diderot's way of thinking was more dialectical than that of his French colleagues, and he was particularly adept at using paradoxes. Paradoxes are easy to explain, for example, when he says, "If all things were created by God, then everything must be perfect; if everything is not perfect, it must indicate that God is either limited in power or lacks goodwill." Please consider, can the Almighty God lack goodwill? No. If there is no lack of goodwill, then why can't Almighty God make the world perfect by His own hands? Discussing the problem in this way is really enough to give the theologians a headache. If there really was God, God must have been pleased with Mr. Diderot's cleverness. His philosophical novel Rama's Nephew was well received by Marx as a masterpiece full of dialectics.

　　Diderot's academic attitude is the most rigorous and square. Until the spark of his life was about to be extinguished, the last words he left for his only daughter were still about the attitude of governance. He said: "The first step towards philosophy is not to be gullible. He was not gullible in anything that had not been proven, and in a sense he was a "skeptic."

　　Although Diderot's reputation was less than voltaire and Rousseau's, his 20 years of editing the Encyclopedia, and for reasons such as his own temperament and character, his theories were most equal among almost all French Enlightenment thinkers. Therefore, his writings are certainly not as passionate and unforgettable as Rousseau and others; but from an academic point of view, they may be able to withstand the test of time. For example, the Encyclopedia can be evenly compared to modern thinkers since Bacon, including Descartes, Newton, Locke, Leibniz, Spinoza, etc., rather than being praised and depreciated and biased.

　　However, from the basis of his entire philosophical thought, Diderot still has more relationship with Locke's philosophy. He argues: "Since sensations are the source of all our knowledge, it is important to understand how far we can rely on sensory evidence. He added, "We are instruments endowed with sensibility and memory." Our senses are the keyboard, and nature around us plays it. He acknowledges that movement is an inherent property of matter. It is believed that "susceptibility is also a property of moving matter." He absolutely disagreed with Berkeley's theory that "existence is perceived", saying that Berkeley philosophy was a "chaotic system that only the blind can create". Throughout Diderot's life, his personality belongs to a more rigorous category among French Enlightenment thinkers, and his Enlightenment ideas are by no means radical. This made his articles more readable, but at the same time it was difficult for him to obtain the special insights and favors of his time.

　　Diderot died in 1784 at the age of 71.

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