1751–1772Reputable sourceWell documented
Diderot's Encyclopédie
On the timeline · around 1751–1772 ·
What happened
Denis Diderot and a team of contributors produced the Encyclopédie, a vast reference work aiming to gather all human knowledge and, in Diderot's words, to 'change the way people think.' Its articles championed reason and science and slipped in pointed criticism of the church and the old order, defying censorship.
Why it matters
The Encyclopédie was the great collaborative monument of the Enlightenment, spreading its ideas across Europe and embodying the movement's confidence that knowledge, freely shared, could improve the human condition.
Sources
- World History Encyclopedia. Denis Diderot · Reputable source