In the 18th century, nature is hardly defined, as the article "Nature" of the Encyclopédie states. However, what characterizes Diderot’s notion of Nature is its multidisciplinary materialism that brings together the philosophical, the aesthetic, the political and the literary works into dialogue. Without defining or systematizing this constantly evolving nature, the philosopher tries to study its phenomena in order to better understand it and make it known through his work. Alongside his philoso…
Read moreIn the 18th century, nature is hardly defined, as the article "Nature" of the Encyclopédie states. However, what characterizes Diderot’s notion of Nature is its multidisciplinary materialism that brings together the philosophical, the aesthetic, the political and the literary works into dialogue. Without defining or systematizing this constantly evolving nature, the philosopher tries to study its phenomena in order to better understand it and make it known through his work. Alongside his philosophical and political essays, Les Salons, the serious dramas and the historical tales are experiences whose material is nature itself.
We try in this work to examine the originality of the notion of nature, its uses and its implications in all the works of Diderot and the Encyclopédie, starting from an ambivalent apprehension, that of the true and the beautiful.
