Denis Diderot

Denis Diderot ( ; October 5, 1713 – July 31, 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer. He was a prominent person during the Enlightenment and is best known for serving as co-founder and chief editor of and contributor to the Encyclopédie along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert.

Diderot also contributed to literature, notably with Jacques le fataliste et son maître (Jacques the Fatalist and his Master), which emulated Laurence Sterne in challenging conventions regarding novels and their structure and content, while also examining philosophical ideas about free will. Diderot is also known as the author of the dialogue, Le Neveu de Rameau (Rameau's Nephew), upon which many articles and sermons about consumer desire have been based.

Read more about Denis Diderot:  Life and Death, Early Works, Encyclopédie, Other Works, Philosophy, Historiography, Bibliography

Famous quotes by denis diderot:

    Are we not madder than those first inhabitants of the plain of Sennar? We know that the distance separating the earth from the sky is infinite, and yet we do not stop building our tower.
    Denis Diderot (1713–1784)

    Shakespeare’s fault is not the greatest into which a poet may fall. It merely indicates a deficiency of taste.
    Denis Diderot (1713–1784)

    Good music is very close to primitive language.
    Denis Diderot (1713–1784)

    The possibility of divorce renders both marriage partners stricter in their observance of the duties they owe to each other. Divorces help to improve morals and to increase the population.
    Denis Diderot (1713–1784)

    I have often seen an actor laugh off the stage, but I don’t remember ever having seen one weep.
    Denis Diderot (1713–1784)