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Which English writerâs work did Denis Diderot translate in 1745?
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Denis Diderot
Portrait of Denis Diderot, oil on canvas by Dimitry Levitzky, 18th century.
In 1745, Denis Diderot published a free translation of the Inquiry Concerning Virtue by the English philosopher Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury.1
Diderotâs translation helped spread Shaftesburyâs fame and influence in France, and the ideas within the workâwhich emphasized a natural moral senseâdirectly inspired or were incorporated into Diderotâs own PensĂ©es philosophiques (1746).1