Reading the articles in Diderot's Encylopedia is one of the best ways to understand the French Enlightenment. It shows the attitudes of the philosophes toward everything from Islam to Women to Intolerance to History. While the online translation of the Encylopedia articles does not include the wonderful illustrations of the orginal, you will probably still find much of interest.Browse to an article on a topic of interest to you. Comment on what you found particularly interesting in that article.
12 comments:
In the encyclopedia of Diderot, I looked up the term "chocolate." The definition surprised me. Diderot's encyclopedia said "[chocolate] becomes practically boring when one gets used to it..." ! because of the unimportance it has in Spain from its commonness. Diderot's encyclopedia also said that long ago chocolate was termed "milk of old people" because it was looked upon as nutritious and good for the stomach. I never dreamed that anyone would call chocolate "boring" or "the milk of old people" !
Kelli Gill
MWF 10:00
Many articles worth looking at; I settled on jealousy. The mention of (what I presume is) foot-binding in China is interesting. This is explained, in the article, by jealousy--though that idea may be inadequate, it does raise a perspective on the practice. It's unfortunate that the translations are still very piecemeal. Looking at the degree of detail on various subjects would make surveying the encyclopedia more possible.
~~Adam Achen
The article on raccoons describes them perfectly. If I wasn't from South Dakota and hadn't ever seen a raccoon before this would have given me an exact image of what they look like. I also liked how it went into great detail about how they eat eat their food. This article was a great definition of a raccoon.
Lea Nutley
Canada as told by the Diderot encyclopedia. Canada (New France) is a vast region in North America. It is home to several "savage nations" who have people who hunt and worship the sun and Great Spirit. It is an extremely cold nation covered with forests. There are also many french settlements in Canada, due to the fur trading.
Carrie Benda
MWF 11:00
The article I chose was on the "man." This was particularly interesting because Diderot says that the man is "A feeling, reflecting, thinking being, who FREELY walks the earth, who seems to be the HEAD of all other animals whom he dominates....etc." I found that particularly interesting becaue of how he says the man is the dominate and clearly states that.
Dustin Bonn
MWF 10:00
In the encyclopedia of Diderot, I looked up the word cheese. It doesn't have a weird definition. It goes on to explain how cheese is made. There are some interesting articles in this encyclopedia.
Kayla Roseland
MWF 11:00
In the encyclopedia of Diderot, I looked up the term, "Happiness". One of the most interseting lines was," It alone has unmistakable power over our hearts, it attracts us all through an instant inclination, a powerful charm, and an irresistible attraction. Happiness is the charm and perfection of Nature and she has indelibly engraved it on our hearts." I thought this was so powerful becuase happiness really comes from our heart. If our heart is happy then we are happy with ourselves.
Amber Brezden- MWF (9:00)
Wow looking at the different articles was neat and interesting. I first thought that when I looked at the artciles they would be written in some text or old language that I would not be able to understand. I checked out a few different articles,but found the marriage to be almost exciting to read. I thought how much could there actually be on this subject. However to my surprise more than less, I like how they explained one man, one woman was the correct way. Then it went on to talk about having more than one wife and how that was perceived. I like how they actually almost did the findings of the history. I wonder what it would all include today if the article was rewritten.
Tyhe Mischke
MWF 11am
I thought the encyclopedia was interesting to look over. Compare it to one now a days there are alot of differences. When i looked at the word "Popular" it talked about at the rate of which a disease spreads. Also i looked at the chocolate meaning, and founf that funny. It was very neat looking at, considering it was the first encyclopedia ver made.
-Mark Vande Haar
1000-1050
Actually, the French Encyclopedia wasn't the first. Chambers' Cyclopedia (published in London in 1728) is one earlier example.
--Harry
I looked up the word "friendship." It is weird how it is described as basically a conversation between two people. And then it goes on to saying, that friends is a little less than blood relations. It really does sum up what friends are and even goes more into depth than you could ever think of. It definetly makes you think about the different meanings of words.
Mel Arnold
0900
Since I am from California, I thought it would be interesting to see what the Encyclopedia of Duderot & d’Alembert states about it. It says that Califronia is a large peninsula in North America, north of the Southern Sea, inhabited by savages who worship the moon. Each family there lives as it pleases, without being subject to any form of government.
When someone asks me about California, I just can’t think of enough good things to say. I love California! The weather there is always nice, it has a nice atmosphere to it and there are always things to do. On top that, all my family lives there. My family is a very close nit family who all depends on and takes care of each other. One person doesn’t have higher authority then the other. And there are no savages that live in California or worship the moon, as far as I know anyways!
When you look at the government of California today, you see a very organized republic government. It is run by three different branches. These include the executive branch with the governor; the legislative branch with the state legislature which also has the assembly and the senate; and the judicial branch consisting of the Supreme Court and other lower courts.
As you can see, today is very different compared to many years ago when the French wrote the encyclopedia.
Stanley Kailahi
MWF 11:00AM
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