Denis Diderot, French Encyclopedist
Denis Diderot (October 5, 1713 - July 31, 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer. In 1751 he became co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the Encyclopédie along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. The project was mired in controversy from the start. For Diderot it was twenty years of drudgery, persecution and desertion of friends. He damaged his eyesight correcting proofs and editing the manuscripts. He spent his days at workshops, mastering manufacturing processes, and his nights writing what he had learned during the day. When his immense work was drawing to an end, he encountered a crowning mortification: he discovered that the bookseller, fearing the government's displeasure, had struck out from the proof sheets, after they had left Diderot's hands, all passages that he considered too dangerous. The monument to which he had labored was irreparably mutilated and defaced. Although the Encyclopédie was his monumental piece, he was the author of many other works that sowed nearly every field of intellectual interest with new and creative ideas. He died of gastrointestinal problems in 1784 at the age of 70. Pierre-Michel Alix, 1793.
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