The Diderot Effect Trivia Quiz

Answer: Clergy

Professionals in law, religion, and medicine would have qualified as learned. Diderot had been educated at a Jesuit college, however, he abandoned a clerical future. Similarly, he abandoned studies at Paris Law Faculty. Diderot also managed to alienate his father further by marrying the 'wrong' woman; in particular, she was of low social status, fatherless, had no dowry, and was poorly educated.

Answer: Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Rousseau is best known for his works on political philosophy, particularly his treatises that inspired the leaders of the French Revolution. His book "Emile, or On Education" laid the groundwork for modern educational theory. He was also a pioneer of the autobiographical genre with his work "Confessions", considered one of the first modern autobiographies.

The relationship between the two men was complex. The friendship developed into an intellectual rivalry with differing views on materialism and idealism. They however each shaped the other's views. Rousseau contributed towards Diderot's project in the areas of music, political economy, philosophy, and education.

Answer: A peace treaty

The government had been unhappy with Diderot for some time. The 1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle created public resentment in France and the government acted to suppress its critics by imprisoning many of them. Diderot was one of these . Even though published anonymously, he was soon identified as the author of "Letter on the Blind" and a 'letter de cachet' was issued, resulting in imprisonment without trial.

The actions of friends gradually saw his conditions improve from solitary confinement to his release several months later.

Answer: Encyclopédie

Along with French mathematician Jean le Rond d'Alembert, Diderot co-created "Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers" ("Encyclopaedia, or a Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts and Craft") in 1751. Its secular tone angered the Catholic Church who banned it in 1758, followed by the government in 1759 for what it saw as seditious.

Some of the contributors were jailed. This resulted in many of the initial contributors leaving the project along with D'Alembert, leaving Diderot as the sole editor and main contributor.

He continued the project until 1765, writing some 7,000 articles.

Answer: Yes

Censorship came from two main sources. Briefly suspended by royal edict in 1752 and banned from sale, at the initiative of the Parlement of Paris, in 1759, this was in part due to the Enlightenment ideas expressed being seen as a threat to the establishment and as an appeasement to the religious authorities for the secular ideas promoted. Diderot countered this by having the first seven volumes printed outside France, although the title pages indicated Paris as the place of printing. It had enough powerful friends that work could continue in secret.

Diderot discovered that one printer, André le Breton, was doing his own editing. It appears that le Breton wanted to tone down some of the radical bits to avoid issues with the authorities. He missed out articles, changed phrases to change the meaning of the text and 'lost' the proofs. He had actually kept them, which amounted to 318 pages and is now known as the "18th volume". The unauthorised editing also caused problems with Diderot's contributors.

Answer: Atheism

Born to a Catholic family, Diderot received his initial education through the local Jesuit college. His writings show the development of his beliefs as he went from deism, a rationalistic theology with no place for revelation as a source of divine knowledge, to atheism. He approached things from a materialistic view which also took him down the path of natural evolution. He opposed the mysticism and occultism which were prevalent in France at the time.

His views were seen as a threat to traditional beliefs and moral order, so what views he published resulted in the ire of the religious authorities. Although he wrote about atheism, he tended to circulate his views amongst friends rather than argue them widely, or arranged to have them printed posthumously. No doubt he had the authorities in mind.

Answer: The Indiscreet Jewels

Written in 1748, his wife Antoinette Champion had just given birth, and his mistress at the time, writer and feminist Madeleine d'Arsant de Puisieux, was making financial demands on him. He made the claim to his mistress that writing a novel was trivial and she took him up on that.

The result was a bawdy book where a magical ring pointed at a woman induced her 'discreet jewels' to relate her sexual experiences. There was some commentary on philosophy, music, and literature, however, it was probably the bawdy nature of the work that made it financially rewarding for him.

Answer: French Revolution

The Encyclopédie was a powerful tool that helped to spread revolutionary ideas and foster a climate of intellectual and social change that ultimately contributed to the French Revolution. It was a major vehicle for disseminating Enlightenment thought, which emphasized reason, individualism, and skepticism of traditional authority.

It promoted the idea that education and knowledge were essential for progress and included discussions on political theories and governance. Thinkers like Jean-Jacques Rousseau, whose ideas were also featured, inspired revolutionary leaders and activists.

Answer: Catherine the Great

A supporter of Enlightenment, Catherine the Great of Russia bought his library of 3,000 volumes in 1766, and had him appointed as librarian for life at her court. When she heard that he had not received his annual fee for editing the encyclopaedia, she paid him his librarian salary 50 years in advance.

When poor health affected him in 1784, she had him moved into a luxurious apartment where he completed some of his final works in the last two weeks of his life.

Answer: Spiralling consumption

What is now known as the Diderot effect was first described in his 1769 essay. He received a gift of a fancy red dressing gown, which pleased him greatly. He, however, realised that most of his furniture and possessions failed to match this standard, and this left him dissatisfied.

He replaced his cane chair with a Moroccan leather-upholstered one, an expensive new writing desk took the place of his old desk, and so on. The result was that he ended up going into debt. The term was coined in 1986 by Grant McCracken, anthropologist, who has written on consumption patterns.