000			02732nam a2200253 a 4500
001			028447
005			20231009192533.0
008			190711s20192019nyu b 001 0beng d
020			_a9781590516706
050	0	0	_aB2016 _b.C87 2019
082	1		_a194 CUR _2
100	1		_aCurran, Andrew S.
245	1	0	_aDiderot and the art of thinking freely _c/ Andrew S. Curran
260			_aNew York _b: Other Press _c, 2019
300			_a520 p. _b: illus. _c; 24 cm
504			_aIncludes bibliographical references and index.
505	0		_aThe Abbot from Langres -- Leaving God -- A philosophe in prison -- The enlightenment bible -- The Encyclopédie hair shirt -- On virtue and vice -- On art : Diderot at the Louvre -- On the origin of species -- The sexologist -- On love -- A voyage to Russia, politics, philosophy, and Catherine the Great -- Last words : speaking to despots and American insurgents -- Walking between two eternities.
520			_aA biography of the prophetic and sympathetic philosopher who along with Voltaire and Rousseau built the foundations of the modern world, and travelled as far as Russia to enlighten the Tsarina Catherine the Great. Denis Diderot is often associated with the decades-long battle to bring the world's first comprehensive Encyclopedia into existence. But his most compelling and personal writing took place in the shadows. Thrown into prison for his atheism in 1749, Diderot decided to reserve his most daring books for posterity-for us, in fact. In the astonishing cache of unpublished writings that he left behind after his death, Diderot dreamed of natural selection before Darwin, the Oedipus complex before Freud, and genetic manipulation centuries before Dolly the Sheep was born. Even more audaciously, the writer challenged virtually all of his century's accepted truths, from the sanctity of monarchy, to the racial justification of slave trade, to the limits of human sexuality. He was also keenly aware of the dangers of absolute power, about which he wrote so persuasively that it led Catherine the Great not only to support him financially but also to invite him to St. Petersburg. In this thematically organized biography, Andrew Curran vividly describes Diderot's tormented relationship with Rousseau, his feud with Voltaire, his tortured marriage, his passionate affairs, and his often-paradoxical stand on art, morality, and religion. But what this book brings out most is how a man's character flaws and limitations are often the flip side of his genius and his ability to break taboos, dogmas, and conventions.
546			_aEnglish
600	1	4	_aDiderot, Denis _d(, 1713-1784)
650		4	_aPhilosophers _z-France _x-Biography
942			_cMO
999			_c241138 _d241138