CONTRIBUTI / 6 / James Clow /
This paper explores the divergent forays made by Denis Diderot into aesthetic philosophy, focusing on the Art and Beau articles from the Encyclopédie, and the dialogue Rameau’s Nephew. Two central currents are identified running through this work, one emphasising rationality and the other questioning the limits of that rationality. Particular attention is paid to the influence the work of Francis Bacon had over Diderot and the tensions that result from that influence. The category of ‘genius’ i, identified as the core of these tensions and Diderot’s disparate accounts of genius are shown to reveal the complexity and reflexivity of his thought. In this way, the aesthetic philosophy of Diderot indicates the internally inconsistent nature of much of his philosophy. At the same time it suggests that such inconsistency endows his work with a greater interest, pointing to and criticising certain vulnerabilities of enlightenment thought more generally.
Bibliography
- Antoine, P. 1992.Gestes ouvriers, opérations et processus techniques. La vision du travail des encyclopédistes. «Recherches sur Diderot et sur l’Encyclopédie», 13. pp. 131-147.
- Bacon, F. 1640. Of the Advancement and Proficience of Learning. Oxford. G. Wats.
- Bacon, F. 1857. The Works. J. Spedding, R. Ellis, and D. Heath (eds). London, Longmans.
- Becq, A. 1994. Genèse de l’esthétique française moderne. Paris, Michel.
- Chouillet, J. 1973. La Formation des idées esthétiques de Diderot 1745-1763, Paris, Armand Colin.
- Cru, R. 1913. Diderot as a Disciple of English Thought. New York, Columbia University Press.
- D’Alembert, J. 1995. Preliminary Discourse to the Encyclopedia of Diderot. Chicago, University of Chicago Press.
- Diderot, D. 2003. The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d’Alembert Collaborative Translation Project. Ann Arbor, Michigan Publishing.
- Diderot, D. 1751. Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, Paris.
- Diderot, D. 2006. Rameau’s Nephew. M. Mauldon, and N. Cronk (trans). Oxford, Oxford World’s Classics.
- Diderot, D. 1875. Œuvres Complètes. 20 vols. J. Assézat (ed). Paris, Garnier.
- Dieckmann. H. 1943. The Influence of Francis Bacon on Diderot’s Interprétation de la nature «The Romanic Review», 34. pp. 303-330.
- Duflo. C. 2003. Diderot Philosophe. Paris, H. Champion.
- Furbank, P. 1992. Diderot: A Critical Biography. New York, A. A. Knopf.
- Hegel, G. 2013. Phenomenology of Spirit. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
- Horkheimer, M. and T. Adorno. 2002. Dialectic of Enlightenment: Philosophical Fragments. Stanford, Stanford University Press.
- Hutcheson, F. and P. Kivy. 973. An Inquiry Concerning Beauty, Order, Harmony, Design. The Hague, Springer Dordrecht.
- Jefferson, A. 2015. Genius in France. Princeton, Princeton University Press.
- Kafker, F. and J. Loveland. 2013. L’Admiration d’Adam Smith pour l’Encyclopédie. «Recherches sur Diderot et sur l’Encyclopédie», 48, pp 191-202.
- Lash. N. 1995. Reason, Fools and Rameau’s Nephew. «New Blackfriars» 76, no. 896. pp. 368-377.
- Martine, J. L. 2005. L’article ART de Diderot : machine et pensée pratique. «Recherches sur Diderot et sur l’Encyclopédie», 39. pp. 41-79.
- Missé, B. 2018. Rameau’s Nephew as an Essay-Form. «Romance Studies», 36:4. pp. 151-166.
- Proust, J. 2003. Du goût dans les arts mécaniques, in L’Encyclopédie ou la création des disciplines, Martine Groult (ed.), Paris, CNRS Editions. pp. 119-129.
- Quintili, P. 1998. Le rêve de l’industrie mécanisée dans l’encyclopédie, in La matière et l’homme dans l’Encyclopédie Sylviane Albertan-Coppola and Anne-Marie Chouillet (eds.). Paris, Klincksieck. pp. 247-276.
- Seznec, J. and J. Adhémar (eds). 1957-1967. Diderot, Salons. Oxford, The Clarendon Press.
- Stengers, I. 2007. Diderot’s egg: Divorcing materialism from eliminativism. «Radical Philosophy». 144, Jul/Aug. pp. 7-15.
