Diderot, the embattled philosopher
By: [by] Lester G. Crocker.
Publisher: Free Press
Published: 1966
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 420
Subjects: Diderot, Denis, -- 1713-1784
Description: As a philosopher Diderot speculated on free will and held a completely materialistic view of the universe; he suggested all human behavior is determined by heredity. He therefore warned his fellow philosophers 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. In his opinion, the aim of progressing through technology was doomed to fail. He founded his philosophy on experiment and the study of probabilities. He wrote several articles and supplements concerning gambling, mortality rates, and inoculation against smallpox for the Encyclopédie.
Notes: First published in 1954 under title: The embattled philosopher.