The Encyclopédistes () (also known in British English as Encyclopaedists, or in U.S. English as Encyclopedists) were members of the , a French writers' society, who contributed to the development of the ''

Encyclopédie ''Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers'' (English: ''Encyclopedia, or a Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts, and Crafts''), better known as ''Encyclopédie'', was a general encyclopedia publis ...

'' from June 1751 to December 1765 under the editors

Denis Diderot Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the '' Encyclopédie'' along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a promi ...

and

Jean le Rond d'Alembert Jean-Baptiste le Rond d'Alembert (; ; 16 November 1717 – 29 October 1783) was a French mathematician, mechanician, physicist, philosopher, and music theorist. Until 1759 he was, together with Denis Diderot, a co-editor of the '' Encyclopéd ...

History

The composition of the 17 volumes of text and 11 volumes of plates of the ''Encyclopédie'' was the work of over 150 authors belonging, in large part, to the intellectual group known as the philosophes. They promoted the advancement of science and secular thought and supported tolerance, rationality, and open-mindedness of the Enlightenment. More than a hundred encyclopédistes have been identified. They were not a unified group, neither in ideology nor social class.Frank A. Kafker, ''The Encyclopedists as a Group: A Collective Biography of the Authors of the Encyclopédie'' (Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, 1996). Below some of the contributors are listed in alphabetical order, by the number of articles that they wrote, and by the identifying "signature" by which their contributions were identified in the ''Encyclopédie''. Beyond the known collaborators – at least in name – many articles are not signed and certain authors expressed a desire to remain anonymous. Other authors, Allard or Dubuisson for example, remain a mystery to us. Moreover, the sporadic research into the quotations, borrowings, and plagiarisms in the ''Encyclopédie'' – the illustrations as well as the text – illuminate a group of "indirect" collaborators. A machine-generated and incomplete list of authors sorted by number of posts can be found at the project ''ARTFL''. There are lists by frequency and by letter.

Contributors

Denis Diderot

Diderot had just finished the translation of ''A Medicinal Dictionary'' by Robert James when the publicist André le Breton charged him, on 16 October 1747, to resume the project of translating the English ''Cyclopaedia'' that Jean Paul de Gua de Malves could not successfully complete. Diderot undertook the history of ancient philosophy, wrote the ''Prospectus'' and the ''System of Human Knowledge'', and, with D'Alembert, revised all the articles.

Le chevalier de Jaucourt

Louis de Jaucourt Chevalier Louis de Jaucourt (; 16 September 1704 – 3 February 1779) was a French scholar and the most prolific contributor to the ''Encyclopédie''. He wrote about 18,000 articles on subjects including physiology, chemistry, botany, patholog ...

is little known in other respects but was one of the principal authors in the disciplines of economics, literature, medicine, and politics.

D'Alembert

is the author of the ''Preliminary Discourse'' and of several articles. In 1752 d'Alembert, who was tired of the mocking, cries of indignation, and religious persecution against the ''Encyclopédie'', retired from the encyclopedic undertaking. Subsequently, his contributions were limited to the subject of mathematics, a sensible topic in the eyes of censors.

Alphabetical

* Antoine-Joseph Dezallier d'Argenville * Antoine-Gaspard Boucher d'Argis * Arnulphe d'Aumont * Jacques-Nicolas Bellin * Jacques-François Blondel * Claude Bourgelat *

Jean-François-Henri Collot Jean-François-Henri Collot (Pont-d’Arches, near Charleville-Mézières 26 January 1716 – October 1804 in Mesnil, near Châlons-sur-Marne) was an 18th-century French homme de lettres and encyclopédiste. Collot devoted to the cultivation of l ...

Étienne Noël Damilaville Étienne Noël Damilaville (21 November 1723 – 13 December 1768) was an 18th-century French man of letters, friend of Voltaire, Diderot and d'Alembert. He served in various military and administrative functions of the Ancien Régime. He was a me ...

* Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton *

* César Chesneau Du Marsais * Marc-Antoine Eidous * Jean-Baptiste de La Chapelle * Guillaume Le Blond * André le Breton * Georges-Louis Le Sage * Antoine Louis *

Baron d'Holbach Paul-Henri Thiry, Baron d'Holbach (; 8 December 1723 – 21 January 1789), was a French-German philosopher, encyclopedist, writer, and prominent figure in the French Enlightenment. He was born Paul Heinrich Dietrich in Edesheim, near L ...

Edmé-François Mallet Edmé-François Mallet, also abbé Mallet, (29 January 1713, Melun – 25 February 1755, Châteaurenard) was an 18th-century French theologian and encyclopédiste. Biography Edmé-François Mallet first received his education by the country pri ...

Paul-Jacques Malouin Paul Jacques Malouin (27 June 1701 – 3 January 1778) was a French physician and chemist. Career Born in Caen, Malouin graduated in medicine in 1730 against the wishes of his father (a legal official from Caen) who had sent him to Paris to study ...

Jean-François Marmontel Jean-François Marmontel (11 July 1723 – 31 December 1799) was a French historian, writer and a member of the Encyclopédistes movement. Biography He was born of poor parents at Bort, Limousin (today in Corrèze). After studying with ...

Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (; ; 18 January 168910 February 1755), generally referred to as simply Montesquieu, was a French judge, man of letters, historian, and political philosopher. He is the principal ...

* Adrien Quiret de Margency * Jean-Baptiste-Pierre le Romain *

Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...

António Nunes Ribeiro Sanches António Nunes Ribeiro Sanches (7 March 1699, – 14 October 1783) was an 18th-century Portuguese physician, philosopher and encyclopédiste. He was a '' cristão novo'' of Jewish descent, probably a practising Jew. He studied at the univers ...

Pierre Tarin Pierre Tarin (1725–1761) was a French doctor, writer, and translator, born in Courtenay. He is best known for his contributions to ''Encyclopédie'' by Diderot and D'Alembert Jean-Baptiste le Rond d'Alembert (; ; 16 November 1717 – 2 ...

* François-Vincent Toussaint *

Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, Baron de l'Aulne ( ; ; 10 May 172718 March 1781), commonly known as Turgot, was a French economist and statesman. Originally considered a physiocrat, he is today best remembered as an early advocate for economic libe ...

* Urbain de Vandenesse * Gabriel François Venel *

Suzanne Verdier Suzanne Verdier (1745 – 1813) was a French writer. She was a contributor to the Encyclopédie. Biography Suzanne Allut was born in 1745, in Montpellier. At the age of 20, along with her brother Antoine, she collaborated on the Encyclopédie. In ...

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778) was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher. Known by his '' nom de plume'' M. de Voltaire (; also ; ), he was famous for his wit, and his criticism of Christianity—e ...

* Claude Yvon

Number of articles

*37,870 – XXX (unsigned or undetermined) *17,288 –

*5,394 –

*4,268 – Boucher d'Argis *1,925 –

*1,309 –

Jean Le Rond d'Alembert Jean-Baptiste le Rond d'Alembert (; ; 16 November 1717 – 29 October 1783) was a French mathematician, mechanician, physicist, philosopher, and music theorist. Until 1759 he was, together with Denis Diderot, a co-editor of the '' Encyclopéd ...

*994 – Jacques-Nicolas Bellin *720 – Guillaume Le Blond *707 – Gabriel François Venel *693 – Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton *541 – Antoine-Joseph Dezallier d'Argenville *482 – Jacques-François Blondel *449 – Antoine Louis *428 – Marc-Antoine Eidous *414 –

*388 – François-Vincent Toussaint *344 –

*337 –

*227 – Claude Bourgelat *214 – Jean-Baptiste de La Chapelle *199 – Urbain de Vandenesse *192 – Arnulphe d'Aumont *129 – César Chesneau Du Marsais *119 – Cahusac *108 – Le Roy *107 – Landois *91 – Beauzée *78 – Paul-Jacques Malouin *70 – Jean-Baptiste-Pierre le Romain *61 – Louis-Jacques Goussier, also supervisor of the engraved plates *56 – Malouin *45 – Lenglet Du Fresnoy *41 – Daubenton, Diderot *39 – Claude Yvon *39 – Daubenton, Vandenesse *32 – Boucher d'Argis *26 – de La Chapelle, d'Alembert *26 – Voltaire *25 – Diderot, Mallet *23 – Daubenton, Jaucourt *22 – Daubenton, le Subdelegue *21 – Barths *20 – Mallet, Diderot *20 – Formey *20 – Daubenton, Jaucourt *14 – Rousseau, d'Alembert *14 – Beauzee *13 – Watelet *13 – Boucher d'Argis *12 – Douchet et Beauzee *12 – Daubenton, d'Argenville *11 – Diderot, Vandenesse *10 – Jacques-François de Villiers *10 – Marmontel *10 – Forbonnais *9 – Papillon *9 – Mallet, d'Alembert *9 – Daubenton, Daubenton, le Subdelegue *8 – Faiguet *7 – d'Argenville, Diderot *7 – Tarin *7 – Pestr *7 – Jaucourt *7 – Bellin, Bellin *6 – Vandenesse, Diderot *6 – Toussaint, Mallet *6 – Durival *6 – Beauzee et Duchet *5 – d'Aubenton *5 – d'Alembert, Diderot *5 – Yvon, Diderot *5 – Venel, Venel *5 – Menuret *5 – Mallet, Mallet *5 – Diderot, Daubenton *5 – Daubenton, d'Argenville, Vandenesse *5 – Daubenton, Vandenesse, Diderot *5 – C. D. J., Jaucourt *4 – d'Alembert, Mallet *4 – Romilly *4 – Rallier *4 – Louis, Diderot *4 – Blondel, Diderot

By letter

In the ''Encyclopédie'', the authors are identified by a letter at the end of an article. *(A) – Boucher d'Argis *(a) – Lenglet Du Fresnoy *(B) – Cahusac *(b) – Venel *(C) – Pestré *(c) – Daubenton, le Subdélégué *(D) – Goussier *(d) – d'Aumont *(E) – de La Chapelle *(e) – Bourgelat *(F) – Dumarsais *(f) – de Villiers *(G) – Mallet *(g) – Barthès *(H) – Toussaint *(h) – Morellet *(I) – Daubenton *(K) – d'Argenville *(L) – Tarin *(M) – Malouin *(m) – Ménuret de Chambaud *(N) – Vandenesse *(O) – d'Alembert *(P) – Blondel *(Q) – Le Blond *(R) – Landois *(S) – Rousseau *(T) – Le Roy *(V) – Eidous *(X) – Yvon *(Y) – Louis *(Z) – Bellin *(*) – Diderot *(D.J.) – de Jaucourt *(—) – d'Holbach *(V.D.F.) – Forbonnais *(E.R.M.) – Douchet and Beauzée

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Encyclopedistes Age of Enlightenment 18th-century French writers Encyclopedism