Diderot’s declared aim was not only to produce a body of knowledge but to deliberately manufacture a change in the way men thought: pour changer la façon commune de penser.6 The publication of the Encyclopédie is itself a chapter in the history of ideas. First appearing in 1751, it took twenty years to appear in full, and was alternately welcomed and suppressed by the censors.7 Financially, it was very profitable for the publishers but Diderot was sent to prison more than once and several plates and articles were confiscated.
