About this ebook
Diderot's voice in this early work does not yet carry the full thrum of his later atheism, but it hums with an unmistakable friction against dogma. Already, Diderot was in open conflict with his overly religious brother, whom he openly hated, driving his philosophy towards an unanchored Materialism. Diderot's Philosophical Thoughts, written between Good Friday and Easter Monday of 1746, earned him 50 louis, intended for his companion Madam de Puisieux, whose demands spurred his productivity. Condemned to burning by Parliament in July 1746, the work's first edition (adorned with an elegant frontispiece of Truth unmasking a fallen Superstition) survived symbolically, as authorities often burned substitutes.
It sparked immediate controversy, resurfacing in altered forms: a 1757 edition titled New Year's Gifts to Free Thinkers, falsely attributed editions (including one to Voltaire), and international reprints with dubious notes or appendices, like the 1777 bilingual edition paired with a fictional dialogue.
This edition contains a new Afterword by the translator, a short biography, a glossary of Philosophical Terms used by Diderot, a chronology of his core life and works, and a summary index of all of Diderot's works.
