Combative Philosophy: Selected Polemics

In his campaign to bring philosophy to the masses, Denis Diderot (1713-84) made many enemies. Through imprisonment, censorship, unfavorable royal decrees, police raids, he waged a multi-front battle against priests, rulers, and occasionally those on his own side.This collection showcases Diderot at his most irascible, at his most direct and vociferous, but also at his most poetic and insightful. It contains the following dialogues, poetry, and savage prose, many in their first English translations:-An Introduction to the Grand Principles-The Conversation of a Philosopher with the Maréchale of Broglie-The Speech of a Philosopher before a King-A letter on the “Examen de l'Essai sur les Préjugés", or, Pages against a Tyrant-To the American Insurgents-The Code of Denis (poetry)-The King of the Bean (poetry)-The Eleutheromaniacs (poetry)-A Defense against Rousseau-An Attack on La Mettrie