Concept
Encyclopédie
Overview
The Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers (French for 'Encyclopedia, or a Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts and Crafts'), better known as the Encyclopédie (French: [ɑ̃siklɔpedi]), was a general encyclopedia published in France between 1751 and 1772, with later supplements, revised editions, an index, and translations. It had many contributors, known among contemporaries as the Encyclopédistes. It was edited by Denis Diderot and, until 1759, co-edited by Jean le Rond d'Alembert.
The Encyclopédie is most famous for representing the thought of the Enlightenment. According to Diderot in the article "Encyclopédie", the Encyclopédie's aim was "to change the way people think" and to allow people to inform themselves. Diderot hoped the Encyclopédie would disseminate a vast amount of knowledge to the present and future generations. Thus, it is an example of democratization of knowledge, though the high price of the first edition especially (980 livres) prevented it from being bought by much of the middle class.
The Encyclopédie was also the first encyclopedia to include contributions from many named contributors, and it was the first general encyclopedia to describe the mechanical arts in much detail. In the first edition, seventeen folio volumes of text were accompanied by eleven volumes of engravings. Later editions were published in smaller formats and with fewer engravings in order to reach a wider audience within Europe.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
Found by search and not yet checked by a person; they may only mention the idea in passing.
The former is nothing else, but Sense and Memory, and is Absolute Knowledge; as when we see a Fact doing, or remember it done: And this is the Knowledge required in a Witnesse. The later is called Science; and is Conditionall; as when we know, that, If The Figure Showne Be A Circle, Then Any Straight Line Through The Centre Shall Divide It Into Two Equall Parts. And this is the Knowledge required in a Philosopher…
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan
States what Encyclopédie is; the author is tied to Encyclopédie in the knowledge graph.
PARIS, February 26, 1787. DEAR SIR,--Your favor of October 1, covering the letter and bill to Captain Capitaine, did not come to my hands till yesterday. I wrote to him immediately, to inform him it should be delivered here at any moment. We talk and think of nothing here but the Assemblée des Notables. Were all the puns collected, to which this Assembly has given rise, I think they would make a larger volume than…
Thomas Jefferson, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson Library Edition - Vol. 6
Names Encyclopédie.
6. The works pertaining to the persons of learned men (besides the advancement and countenancing of them in general) are two—the reward and designation of readers in sciences already extant and invented; and the reward and designation of writers and inquirers concerning any parts of learning not sufficiently laboured and prosecuted. 7. These are summarily the works and acts wherein the merits of many excellent…
Francis Bacon, The Advancement of Learning
The author is tied to Encyclopédie in the knowledge graph.
Philosophers who discussed Encyclopédie
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau
- Baron d'Holbach
- Voltaire
- Jean Le Rond d'Alembert
- Denis Diderot
- Jacques-André Naigeon
- Constantin François Chassebœuf, comte de Volney
Related ideas
- Francis Bacon
- Isaac Newton
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau
- Jesuits
- Laissez-faire
- Étienne Bonnot de Condillac
- Baron d'Holbach
- Economic liberalism
- Thomas Hobbes
- Age of Enlightenment
- Voltaire
- William Shakespeare
- Symbol
- Philosophes
- Wikipedia
- Jean Le Rond d'Alembert
- Humanism
- Montesquieu
- France
- General will
- Rationalism
- Denis Diderot
- Encyclopedia
- Encyclopédistes
Place in the tradition
Part of Atheism.