Pensées philosophiques
“In this first significant work, Diderot establishes his place as one of the master philosophers of the century” (R. Mortier and R. Trousson).
First edition of Diderot's Pensées preserved in its fine contemporary morocco binding.
12mo, (2) leaves, 136 pp., (6) leaves of table.
Red morocco. Contemporary binding.
163 x 89 mm.
Diderot, Denis. Philosophical Thoughts.
The Hague, At the expense of the Company, 1746.
First edition of the first major philosophical treatise byDiderot condemned to be burned by the Parlement of Paris on July 7, 1746.
D. Adams, II, PD3; Tchemerzine, II, 919; Cioranescu, 24143; Niklaus, p.50; Catalogue de Backer, 1205.
A decree of the Parlement of Paris on July 7, 1746 condemned the pamphlet to be burned. It was attributed to Voltaire and La Mettrie, but in 1749, while he was in prison at Vincennes, Diderot acknowledged authorship of the Philosophical Thoughts.
“ The Philosophical Thoughts are connected with the clandestine anticlerical literature of the early century, which circulated in the form of manuscript copies. The title indicates that it is a response to Pascal’s Pensées and seems to follow Voltaire’s Philosophical Letters”.
Diderot denounces the absurdity of the various dogmas of the Christian religion, which he considers contrary to morality, while emphasizing the weakness of the proofs it invokes, notably historical evidence mostly based on suspect testimony. He also attacks the ideal of asceticism in Christian morality. Diderot further seeks to refute atheism, which he counters with the spectacle of the order of nature, particularly that reigning in the living world, which reveals, according to him, the existence of a Creative Intelligence.
“It is in the Philosophical Thoughts that we grasp, on close inspection, the essence of Diderot’s thought. In this first important work, Diderot, by asserting his strong and complex personality, marks his place as one of the great philosophers of the century” (R. Mortier and R. Trousson).
“ Few works by Diderot have been as systematically criticized as the Philosophical Thoughts, except perhaps the Encyclopedia itself. From their appearance, friends and foes alike perceived that the Philosophical Thoughts gave a new tone to Enlightenment philosophy—more direct, more independent, even more insolent, less concerned than Voltaire’s with winning the approval of refined society.
Traditionalists and the enemies of the philosophers were not the only ones to see the originality of Diderot’s thought. Voltaire, visibly impressed by these demonstrations of a genius quite unlike his own, carefully revisited the Philosophical Thoughts on several occasions. His careful annotations reflect a certain anxiety at the introduction of enthusiasm into Enlightenment philosophy, and at certain aspects of Diderot’s materialist argumentation. Diderot’s pamphlet was considered an important event by his contemporaries, and more than a quarter century after its publication, it still provoked the insight or the resentment of his opponents” (R. Morin).
As soon as it was published, the work was condemned to the flames by the Parlement of Paris as: “offering to restless and bold minds the venom of the most criminal and absurd opinions of which the corruption of human reason is capable, and by a feigned uncertainty placing all religions on the same level, only to end by acknowledging none” (Belin, The Philosophical Movement, p.25).
A precious and beautiful copy preserved in its fine contemporary red morocco binding.
