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Why was Denis Diderot arrested after publishing An Essay on Blindness?
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Denis Diderot
Portrait of Denis Diderot, oil on canvas by Dimitry Levitzky, 18th century.
Denis Diderot was arrested and incarcerated for three months in the prison of Vincennes following the 1749 publication of his Lettre sur les aveugles (An Essay on Blindness).1
While the work is noted for its forward-thinking proposal to teach the blind to read through touch, it also contained a daring exposition of the doctrine of materialist atheism. By emphasizing human dependence on sense impressions and speculating on origins without divine intervention, the text challenged the prevailing religious and state authorities of the time.1