''Philosophical Thoughts'' () is a 1746 book composed by

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 along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a prominent figure during th ...

; it was his first original work.Bryan Magee. The Story of Philosophy. DK Publishing, Inc., New York: 1998. p. 124 In the book, Diderot argued that both reason and feeling (

emotion Emotions are physical and mental states brought on by neurophysiology, neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavior, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or suffering, displeasure. There is ...

) were required to establish harmony. He defended

deism Deism ( or ; derived from the Latin term '' deus'', meaning "god") is the philosophical position and rationalistic theology that generally rejects revelation as a source of divine knowledge and asserts that empirical reason and observation ...

and criticized both

atheism Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the Existence of God, existence of Deity, deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the ...

and

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

. He expressed his contempt for

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

s, and criticized all forms of self-torture (

self-harm Self-harm refers to intentional behaviors that cause harm to oneself. This is most commonly regarded as direct injury of one's own skin tissues, usually without suicidal intention. Other terms such as cutting, self-abuse, self-injury, and s ...

Content

In this book, Diderot argued for a reconciliation of reason with feeling so as to establish harmony. According to Diderot, without feeling there would be a detrimental effect on virtue and no possibility of creating any sublime work. However, since feeling without discipline can be destructive, reason was necessary to rein in feeling. At the time Diderot wrote this book he was a deist. Hence there is a defense of

in this book, and some arguments against atheism. The book also contains criticism of any kind of self-torture, including

self-flagellation Self-flagellation is the disciplinary and devotional practice of Flagellation, flogging oneself with whips or other instruments that inflict pain. In Christianity, self-flagellation is practiced in the context of the doctrine of the mortification ...

. For the 1770 edition of the work, Diderot included some additional material which contained even greater heresies; this included explicit criticism of Christianity, and contempt for theologians.

Reception

In July 1746, the

Parlement Under the French Ancien Régime, a ''parlement'' () was a provincial appellate court of the Kingdom of France. In 1789, France had 13 ''parlements'', the original and most important of which was the ''Parlement'' of Paris. Though both th ...

of Paris condemned the book and ordered it to be burned in public. This enhanced the book's popularity. Since the book was very well written, and since Diderot preferred not to reveal himself as its author, it was thought by both Diderot's friends and enemies that the work was of some established author like

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778), known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' Voltaire (, ; ), was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, philosopher (''philosophe''), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit ...

, La Mettrie, or Condillac.

Notes

References

{{Denis Diderot 1746 non-fiction books 1746 debut works Works by Denis Diderot Philosophy books Deism Books critical of atheism Books critical of Christianity Self-harm Censored books