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What did Jean Le Rond dâAlembert argue in Essai sur les gens de lettres?
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Jean Le Rond dâAlembert
Jean Le Rond d'Alembert.
In his Essai sur les gens de lettres, published within his 1753 collection MĂ©langes de littĂ©rature, dâhistoire et de philosophie, Jean Le Rond dâAlembert advocated for the intellectual integrity of writers. He exhorted authors to pursue "liberty, truth and poverty" and urged aristocratic patrons to respect the talents and independence of those writers.1