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Die Welt der Encyclopedie
Wer hätte gedacht, dass Kretin ursprünglich einen unter Schwachsinn leidenden "Menschenschlag bezeichnet, der recht zahlreich im Wallis zur Welt kommt und insbesondere in seiner Hauptstadt Sion"? Man erfährt solche Kuriositäten in einem Buch, das als Bibel der Aufklärung in die Kulturgeschichte der Moderne einging. Jetzt ist es in einer -- um es gleich zu sagen -- ausgesprochen gelungenen Ausgabe in repräsentativer Auswahl vom Eichborn-Verlag zugänglich gemacht.
Robert Darnton schreibt in seinem Nachwort, dass das Lesen der Encyclopédie sich in ein Spiel verwandeln konnte, "in eine Jagd nach Hinweisen zwischen den Zeilen und an entlegenen Plätzen, in eine Dechiffrier- und Detektivarbeit, die eine kritische Geisteshaltung förderte". Die Gefährlichkeit des Buchs, an dem die größten Geister des 18. Jahrhunderts mitwirkten, lag zudem in seinem Programm, das gesamte Wissen der Epoche nach allgemeinen Prinzipien zu strukturieren und die Grenzen zwischen dem, was gewusst werden kann und dem Unerforschlichen neu zu ziehen und damit das Christentum dem Bereich des Nicht-Wissen-Könnens überantworteten.
Worin besteht die Aktualität dieses historisch einmaligen Projekts? Vielleicht ist die Ankündigung der Herausgeber ein wenig angestrengt, dass es sich hier um ein Orakel auf dem Weg ins 21. Jahrhundert handelt. Das Buch bereitet vor allem ein außergewöhnliches Lesevergnügen in inhaltlicher und literarischer Hinsicht, das in der vorliegenden Ausgabe noch verstärkt wird durch eine Reihe von kommentierenden und Ausblicke bietenden Artikeln, die von Wissenschaftlern, Schriftstellern und Intellektuellen eigens dafür verfasst wurden, sowie durch zahlreiche eingefügte philosophisch-literarische Zitate, die einen Kontrapunkt zum Haupttext bilden.
Nicht Aktualität also, sondern jene Jagd nach Hinweisen und die subtile Detektivarbeit zur Förderung kritischen, und wie man nach einer mehr als 200-jährigen Erfahrung wohl auch hinzufügen darf, selbstkritischen Geistes, von der Darnton spricht und die so manche Fragwürdigkeit und Kuriosität ans Licht fördert: Das ist es, was das Versinken in die singuläre Welt der Enzyklopädie dem heutigen Leser, vor allem in der auch äußerlich sehr schönen Präsentation in der Anderen Bibliothek, zu bieten hat. --Jens Kertscher
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1751
About the author
Denis Diderot
2,504 books592 followersWork on the
Encyclopédie
(1751-1772), supreme accomplishment of French philosopher and writer Denis Diderot, epitomized the spirit of thought of Enlightenment; he also wrote novels, plays, critical essays, and brilliant letters to a wide circle of friends and colleagues.
Jean le Rond d'Alembert contributed.
This artistic prominent persona served as best known co-founder, chief editor, and contributor.
He also contributed notably to literature with Jacques le fataliste et son maître (Jacques the Fatalist and his Master), which emulated Laurence Sterne in challenging conventions regarding structure and content, while also examining ideas about free will. Diderot also authored of the known dialogue, Le Neveu de Rameau (Rameau's Nephew), basis of many articles and sermons about consumer desire. His articles included many topics.
Diderot speculated on free will, held a completely materialistic view of the universe, and suggested that heredity determines all human behavior. He therefore warned his fellows against an overemphasis on mathematics and against the blind optimism that sees in the growth of physical knowledge an automatic social and human progress. He rejected the idea of progress. His opinion doomed the aim of progressing through technology to fail. He founded on experiment and the study of probabilities. He wrote several articles and supplements concerning gambling, mortality rates, and inoculation against smallpox. He discreetly but firmly refuted technical errors and personal positions of d'Alembert on probability.
Jean le Rond d'Alembert contributed.
This artistic prominent persona served as best known co-founder, chief editor, and contributor.
He also contributed notably to literature with Jacques le fataliste et son maître (Jacques the Fatalist and his Master), which emulated Laurence Sterne in challenging conventions regarding structure and content, while also examining ideas about free will. Diderot also authored of the known dialogue, Le Neveu de Rameau (Rameau's Nephew), basis of many articles and sermons about consumer desire. His articles included many topics.
Diderot speculated on free will, held a completely materialistic view of the universe, and suggested that heredity determines all human behavior. He therefore warned his fellows against an overemphasis on mathematics and against the blind optimism that sees in the growth of physical knowledge an automatic social and human progress. He rejected the idea of progress. His opinion doomed the aim of progressing through technology to fail. He founded on experiment and the study of probabilities. He wrote several articles and supplements concerning gambling, mortality rates, and inoculation against smallpox. He discreetly but firmly refuted technical errors and personal positions of d'Alembert on probability.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
i-want-money
August 13, 2014March 4, 2024
In Chemie is known about Soare(Soar, Solis) written Solei
Page 1830, Hammer movements like power at Soare(Soar, Solis, Soleil)
Page 1849, power Soare(Soar, Solis, Soleil) at work
Page 1856, power Soare(Soar, Solis, Soleil) at work
Page 2046-2047 It was known experiment from school with intellect in matter of universe
It traces the various stages through wich man’s exploration of the universe must pass and sets them down for future generations.
… but it's aim is to encompass the unknown, witch goes by the name of “progress”
If they did not give to create, hold Soare(Soar, Solis, Soleil) to computer tu understand, it would be my creation, humans understand as it created by God. Maybe but, transformation of Obelisk, into Ouroborous would be different or even do not united.
They both transform the natural universe into an artificial world by means of a form of alchemy in which luxury, the synonym of a civilization that has reached a peak of perfection, represents man’s ultimate triumph-a purely useless thing created solely for pleasure.
The word sets the final seal on anything that has been created. The moment in which a word is born comes at the end of the alchemical process whereby matter is gradually sifted until it becomes a symbol, this proving that it has been entirely clarified.
Le Soleil
Total mastery of language would after all, enable us to dominate the whole universe, since the mot juste, the right word, merges into the thing or object it describes, wich strictly speaking is only a word as far as man is concerned, his own word, indicating his subjective angle of vision.
This also throws light on the concept of the statue, which keeps on reccuring in this article. A statue is an unchanging effigy of a man who is not present here and now, but who is constantly present in the future by virtue of having been thus depicted.
Statue of Liberty
Roger Lewinter
translated by Vivienne Menkes
Page 1830, Hammer movements like power at Soare(Soar, Solis, Soleil)
Page 1849, power Soare(Soar, Solis, Soleil) at work
Page 1856, power Soare(Soar, Solis, Soleil) at work
Page 2046-2047 It was known experiment from school with intellect in matter of universe
It traces the various stages through wich man’s exploration of the universe must pass and sets them down for future generations.
… but it's aim is to encompass the unknown, witch goes by the name of “progress”
If they did not give to create, hold Soare(Soar, Solis, Soleil) to computer tu understand, it would be my creation, humans understand as it created by God. Maybe but, transformation of Obelisk, into Ouroborous would be different or even do not united.
They both transform the natural universe into an artificial world by means of a form of alchemy in which luxury, the synonym of a civilization that has reached a peak of perfection, represents man’s ultimate triumph-a purely useless thing created solely for pleasure.
The word sets the final seal on anything that has been created. The moment in which a word is born comes at the end of the alchemical process whereby matter is gradually sifted until it becomes a symbol, this proving that it has been entirely clarified.
Le Soleil
Total mastery of language would after all, enable us to dominate the whole universe, since the mot juste, the right word, merges into the thing or object it describes, wich strictly speaking is only a word as far as man is concerned, his own word, indicating his subjective angle of vision.
This also throws light on the concept of the statue, which keeps on reccuring in this article. A statue is an unchanging effigy of a man who is not present here and now, but who is constantly present in the future by virtue of having been thus depicted.
Statue of Liberty
Roger Lewinter
translated by Vivienne Menkes
September 1, 2025
Diderot t'as changé le monde comme mon ex a changé le mien 🫦
July 24, 2013
I rate this book a 4.38 on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being best.
The entries are fun to read but not too many at a time please. Here are a couple of selections:
Art: "Place on one side of the balance the real benefits of the most exalted sciences and the most honored arts and on the other side those of the mechanical arts, and you will find that the esteem granted to both has not been distributed in the correct proportion of these benefits; and that people praised much more highly those men who were engaged in making us believe that we were happy, than those men actually engaged in doing so."
Conjured Bread: "...a trial bread made of barley meal that the English and the Saxons gave to a criminal who had not yet been convicted; he ate this bread after the priest had brought some curses upon it. For they were persuaded that if he were innocent, the bread would do no harm, but if he were guilty, he would not be able to swallow it, or after having swallowed it, he would choke."
The entries are fun to read but not too many at a time please. Here are a couple of selections:
Art: "Place on one side of the balance the real benefits of the most exalted sciences and the most honored arts and on the other side those of the mechanical arts, and you will find that the esteem granted to both has not been distributed in the correct proportion of these benefits; and that people praised much more highly those men who were engaged in making us believe that we were happy, than those men actually engaged in doing so."
Conjured Bread: "...a trial bread made of barley meal that the English and the Saxons gave to a criminal who had not yet been convicted; he ate this bread after the priest had brought some curses upon it. For they were persuaded that if he were innocent, the bread would do no harm, but if he were guilty, he would not be able to swallow it, or after having swallowed it, he would choke."
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews