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- Encyclopédie, Ou Dictionnaire Raisonné Des Sciences, Des Arts Et Des Métiers
Encyclopédie
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What is the Encyclopédie?
The Encyclopédie was an 18th-century French reference work that served as a key project of the philosophes, who advocated for science, secularism, and tolerance during the Enlightenment.
Inspired by Ephraim Chambers' Cyclopaedia, the Encyclopédie was initially meant to be a French translation of Chambers' work. However, it evolved into a larger project led by Denis Diderot and Jean d’Alembert. Published in seventeen volumes of text between 1751 and 1765, with eleven volumes of plates, the Encyclopédie aimed to compile contemporary knowledge in the sciences, arts, and crafts.
Despite facing opposition and censorship from conservative figures, the Encyclopédie became known for its progressive ideas, influencing intellectual thought and contributing to the French Revolution.
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Who created the Encyclopédie?
The Encyclopédie was a collaborative project spearheaded by Denis Diderot who took on the general direction of the work in 1747, and, initially, Jean d’Alembert, who served as editor for the mathematical portions.
Inspired by Ephraim Chambers' Cyclopaedia, the Encyclopédie aimed to compile all contemporary knowledge in the sciences, arts, and crafts. Diderot assembled a team of contributors, including Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Voltaire and A.-R.-J. Turgot. The work comprised 17 volumes of text and 11 volumes of plates, published between 1751 and 1772.
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When and where was the Encyclopédie published?
The Encyclopédie, a French encyclopaedia, was a collaborative Enlightenment project. It was spearheaded by Denis Diderot and, initially, Jean d’Alembert. Publishing began in 1751, with seventeen volumes of text released between 1751 and 1765, and eleven volumes of plates between 1762 and 1772. It was supplemented in 1776–77 by four text volumes and one of illustrations, with two index volumes in 1780. The Encyclopédie championed tolerance, liberalism, and innovative coverage of trades and mechanical arts. Despite facing opposition and censorship, it became a significant expression of progressive thought, influencing the French Revolution.
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What was the main purpose of the Encyclopédie?
The main purpose of the Encyclopédie was to promote science and secular thought, as well as the tolerance and open-mindedness of the Enlightenment. As a literary and philosophical undertaking, it had significant political, social, and intellectual impacts in pre-Revolutionary France.
Edited by Denis Diderot, the Encyclopédie aimed to present the current state of knowledge in the sciences, arts, and trades, with the goal of enabling people to become more virtuous and happier through knowledge. It challenged traditional authority and promoted critical thinking, serving as a textbook for those who sought to change the common way of thinking.
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How did the Encyclopédie influence the Enlightenment?
The Encyclopédie was a collaborative French reference work that served as a cornerstone of the Enlightenment. Published between 1751 and 1772, it was more than just a collection of knowledge; it was a showcase for progressive thought, championing science and secularism while advocating for tolerance and open-mindedness.
Edited by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d’Alembert, the Encyclopédie aimed to present the current state of knowledge in the sciences, arts, and trades. It challenged traditional authority and promoted the idea of progress through learning, influencing thinkers and reformers across Europe. Despite facing censorship and opposition, its principles of scientific empiricism and its critique of legal, judicial, and clerical abuses had a profound impact, serving as an intellectual prologue to the French Revolution.
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Why was the Encyclopédie controversial at the time it was published?
The Encyclopédie was controversial because it served as a showcase for new schools of thought and expressed progressive ideas that had political, social, and intellectual repercussions in France before the Revolution.
Its attitude of tolerance and liberalism, emphasis on scientific determinism, and criticism of legal, judicial, and clerical institutions clashed with conservative ecclesiastics and government officials who opposed its publication. The work faced Jesuit censorship, suppression of volumes, formal condemnation, and denial of publication permission. Despite the controversy, the Encyclopédie became a textbook for thoughtful individuals and a means to change the common way of thinking.
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Encyclopédie, (French: “Encyclopaedia, or Classified Dictionary of Sciences, Arts, and Trades”), the 18th-century French encyclopaedia that was one of the chief works of the Philosophes, men dedicated to the advancement of science and secular thought and the new tolerance and open-mindedness of the Enlightenment. The Encyclopédie was a literary and philosophical enterprise with profound political, social, and intellectual repercussions in France just prior to the Revolution. Its contributors were called Encyclopédistes.
The Encyclopédie was inspired by the success of Ephraim Chambers’ Cyclopaedia; or An Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (London, 1728). Indeed, the work originated in an abortive attempt to put out a five-volume French translation of Chambers’ Cyclopaedia. When this project collapsed in 1745, its intended publisher, André Le Breton, immediately embarked on plans for an expanded Encyclopédie. He secured the services of the mathematician Jean d’Alembert in 1745 and of the translator and philosopher Denis Diderot in 1746 to assist in the project. In 1747 Diderot undertook the general direction of work on the Encyclopédie, except for its mathematical parts, which were edited by d’Alembert. (D’Alembert resigned in 1758.) Seventeen volumes of the Encyclopédie’s text were published between 1751 and 1765; 11 volumes of plates were also published between the years 1762 and 1772, making a total of 28 volumes. These were supplemented in 1776–77 by five more volumes—four of text and one of illustration plates—and by two volumes of index in 1780, all compiled under other editors, since Diderot had refused to edit the supplementary materials. These seven volumes, plus the 28 prepared by Diderot, constituted the first edition of the Encyclopédie in 35 folio volumes.
The Encyclopédie was a showcase for representatives of the new schools of thought in all branches of intellectual activity. The work was notable for its attitude of tolerance and liberalism and also for its innovative coverage of the trades and mechanical arts. In its skepticism, its emphasis on scientific determinism, and its criticism of the abuses perpetrated by contemporary legal, judicial, and clerical institutions, the Encyclopédie had widespread influence as an expression of progressive thought and served in effect as an intellectual prologue to the French Revolution.
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The Encyclopédie’s publication was opposed by conservative ecclesiastics and government officials almost from the start. The work was subjected to Jesuit censorship and the suppression of several volumes by the French Council of State (1752), and it was formally condemned and denied permission for publication in 1759 and for several years thereafter. At this point Diderot’s friends urged him to abandon the project, but he persuaded the publishers to secure permission to bring out the relatively uncontroversial volumes of illustration plates, while the remaining volumes of text were edited and printed. Diderot also discovered in 1764 that Le Breton and a compositor had secretly removed about 300 pages of liberal or controversial material from the proof sheets of about 10 folio volumes.
The group of writers that Diderot and d’Alembert assembled for the production of the Encyclopédie were at first relatively unknown, with the exception of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Baron d’Holbach. But as both the fame of the Encyclopédie and the attacks upon it grew, distinguished and expert contributors were attracted, including A.-R.-J. Turgot, Voltaire, J.-F. Marmontel, and Jacques Necker. Diderot himself contributed innumerable articles, especially on philosophy, social theory, and the trades, proving to be both an energetic general editor and the driving force behind the crisis-ridden project. It was he who compiled and supervised the preparation of the work’s 3,000 to 4,000 plates, many of which vividly illustrated industrial arts and processes.
In 1782 the publication of a new, enlarged edition departing from the alphabetical arrangement of the first edition was begun under the title Encyclopédie méthodique ou par ordre de matières (“Systematic Encyclopaedia or Arranged by Subject”). Work on this topically arranged encyclopaedia continued through the French Revolution and was completed in 1832 with the appearance of the 166th volume, 50 years after the appearance of the first volume.