Diderot in the tradition of leibnizian philosophy
DOI : 10.21049/ccs.2019.55..189
Publisher : Center for Cross Culture Studies
Research Area : Literature
-
It is well known that philosophers of the 18th century were under the Leibnizian influence, of which fundamental thoughts are summed up as such: all phenomena in nature are related to each other. According to Leibniz, knowledge of nature is linked, and new discoveries fill missing links that remain insoluble and incomplete, until then. So, it is undeniable that the idea of the Encyclopédie led by Denis Diderot, is based on the optimistic epistemology of Leibniz. It should be noted that Diderot was leibnizian, not on mathematics and metaphysics, but on contemporary experimental sciences. The publisher of the Encyclopédie reproduces, in his bold system of materialistic atheism, leibnizian thoughts: beings are chained by degrees to each other, and no one is completely like another. Our study focuses on the recurring notions of Leibniz, in Diderot’s works concerning natural history and natural philosophy. Diderot continually criticizes the preformation and embedding of germs that have been widespread among philosophical and scientific scholars, since the last century. It should not be forgotten, however, that our author also criticizes contemporary naturalists, Buffon and Maupertuis, for having always used equivocal notions, and that he tries to positively welcome contemporary Leibnizian naturalists: Bourguet, Haller, Bonnet, and Robinet. What Diderot wanted to draw from the Leibnizians of his time, is the idea of a chain of beings in nature, including minerals. With this idea, he enterprisingly accepts the principle of organization, and development of organized bodies. He emphasizes the dynamic relationship between unity and variety, and he questions limits that artificially classify species and reigns in nature.
-
[book] Andrault, Raphaël / 2014 / La Vie selon la raison. Physiologie et métaphysique chez Spinoza et Leibniz / Honoré Champion
[book] Belaval, Yvon / 2003 / Etudes sur Diderot / PUF
[book] Bonnet, Charles / 1985 / Considérations sur les corps organisés / Fayard, Corpus des oeuvres de philsophie
[book] Bonnet, Charles / 1769 / Contemplation de la nature 2 vol / Marc-Michel Rey
[book] Bourguet, Louis / 1729 / Lettres philosophiques sur la formation des sels et des crystaux / François L’honnré
[book] Buffon, Georges de / 1855 / OEuvres complètes 12 vol / Garnier Frères
[book] Cherni, Amor / 1998 / Epistémologie de la transparence sur l’embryologie de A. von Haller / J. Vrin
[book] Diderot, Denis / OEuvres complètes 33 vol / Hermann
[book] Deleuze, Gilles / 1988 / Le Pli / de Minuit
[book] Duchesneau, François / 1982 / La Physiologie des Lumières. Empirisme, Modèles et Théories / Martinus Nujhoff Publishers
[book] Duchesneau, François / 1998 / Les modèles du vivant de Descartes à Leibniz / J. Vrin
[book] Duchesneau, François / 2010 / Leibniz, le vivant et l’organisme / J. Vrin
[journal] Duprey, Laura / 2011 / L’Idée de chaîne des êtres, de Leibniz à Charles Bonnet / Dix-Huitième siècle (43) : 617~637
[book] Haller, Albrecht von / 1769 / Eléments de Physiologie / Guillyn
[book] Haller, Albrecht von / 1751 / Réflexions sur le systême de la génération, de M. de Buffon / Barrillot & fils
[book] Haller, Albrecht von / 1758 / Sur la formation du coeur dans le poulet sur l'oeil, sur la structure du jaune 2 vol / Marc-Michel Bousquet
[book] Fauvergue, Claire / 2006 / Diderot, lecteur et interprète de Leibniz / HonoréChampion
[book] Leduc, Christian / 2015 / Leibniz et Diderot. Rencontres et transformations / J. Vrin
[book] Pépin, François / 2012 / La Philosophie expérimentale de Diderot et al chimie. Philosophie, sciences et arts / Classiques Garnier
[book] Proust, Jacques / 1995 / Diderot et l’Encyclopédie / Albin Michel
[book] Roger, Jacques / 1994 / Les Sciences de la vie dans la pensée française au XVIIIe siècle / Albin Michel
-
KCI Citation (0)
187 Viewed
Print this page
Download PDF