Denis Dederot, Encyclopedia

Denis Diderot, excerpts from Encyclopedia
[Perry, pp. 75-77]

The Encyclopedia compiled by Diderot was the pinnacle of Enlightenment thought, a compilation of human knowledge with which the French thinker hoped to empower the individual and, in his own words, "serve humanity" itself.

Guiding Motivations
Compiling knowledge and leaving a legacy: "To collect all knowledge scattered across the face of the earth...and transmit this to those who will come after us...[so] that we may not die without having deserved well of the human race."
An optimism and confidence about the age: "Such a work constantly demands more intellectual daring than is commonly found in less courageous periods."
Looking to nature, not tradition: to create "a reasoning age when men would no longer seek the rules in classical authors but in nature"

Revolutionary ideas
All these ideas foreshadow a new, more modern world view--
Liberalism central to any political thinking: "The greatest good of the people is its liberty"
Importance of history: "The great mistakes of the past are useful in all areas"
The concept of tolerance: "It is impious to impose laws upon man's conscience"
Political authority questioned: "No man has received from nature the right to command others"
Social contract: "The prince owes to his very subjects the authority that he has over them" (echoing Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau as an "update" to Machiavelli)
Freedom of press: "It is of the greatest importance to conserve this practice in all states."

Obstacles to its publishing
There were several factors holding back such a monumental book:
1. The Church- Pope Clement XIII called it "scandalous," in the tradition of the Vatican's papal index.
2. Governmental Authorities- The very idea that any person could challenge the existing heirarchy with their own knowledge from such a book was frightening.