Diderot's Dream

272 Pages·1990·10.452 MB·English

by  Wilda Anderson

Diderots Dream

Wilda Anderson
Diderots
Dream
THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY PRESS
BALTIMORE AND LONDON
\°n
9
© 1990 The Johns Hopkins University Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
The Johns Hopkins University Press, 701 West 40th Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21211
The Johns Hopkins Press Ltd., London
The paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed
Library Materials, ansi Z39.48-1984.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CAIALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Anderson, Wilda, 1951-
Diderot’s dream / Wilda Anderson,
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
isbn 0-8018-3976-9
1. Diderot, Denis, 1713-1784—Criticism and interpretation.
2. Materialism in literature. 3. Humanism in literature.
I. Title.
PQ1979.A88 1990
848'. 509—dc20 89-43478 CIP
Frontispiece: Portrait de Diderot, by L.-M. Van Loo (Photo: Musees nationaux).
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction 1
Part I Diderot’s Materialism: Vibrant Organization
one The Philosopher’s Task 11
two Good, Solid Philosophy 42
three Savants and Philosophers 77
Part II Diderot’s Humanism: The Economics of a Virtuous
Esthetics
four Dismantling a Utopian Economics 127
five Toward an Empirical Esthetics 168
six The Nephew’s Natural Morality 211
By Way of Conclusion 256

Acknowledgments
I
would like .to thank Carl Anderson, Rosalina de la Carrera and
my colleagues Josue Harari, Gary Hatfield, and Frangois Rous-
tang for their generous willingness to read various stages of this
manuscript. They have provided many helpful suggestions and a
great deal of moral support. I would also like to thank Thomas Kava-
nagh and Jack Undank for their challenging criticism.
Eric Halpern of the Johns Hopkins University Press has been a
patient and encouraging editor, and Irma Garlick and Therese Boyd,
my copy and production editors, have significantly improved the
manuscript and made the production a remarkably smooth process.
To them all I express my appreciation.

Diderot’s Dream