Read Catherine & Diderot: The Empress, the Philosopher, and the Fate of the Enlightenment

Catherine & Diderot: The Empress, the Philosopher, and the Fate of the Enlightenment

Robert Zaretsky

4.9/5 (18852 ratings)

Description:A dual biography crafted around the famous encounter between the French philosopher who wrote about power and the Russian empress who wielded it with great aplomb.In October 1773, after a grueling trek from Paris, the aged and ailing Denis Diderot stumbled from a carriage in wintery St. Petersburg. The century's most subversive thinker, Diderot arrived as the guest of its most ambitious and admired ruler, Empress Catherine of Russia. What followed was unprecedented: more than forty private meetings, stretching over nearly four months, between these two extraordinary figures. Diderot had come from Paris in order to guide--or so he thought--the woman who had become the continent's last great hope for an enlightened ruler. But as it soon became clear, Catherine had a very different understanding not just of her role but of his as well. Philosophers, she claimed, had the luxury of writing on unfeeling paper. Rulers had the task of writing on human skin, sensitive to the slightest touch.Diderot and Catherine's series of meetings, held in her private chambers at the Hermitage, captured the imagination of their contemporaries. While heads of state like Frederick of Prussia feared the consequences of these conversations, intellectuals like Voltaire hoped they would further the goals of the Enlightenment.In Catherine & Diderot, Robert Zaretsky traces the lives of these two remarkable figures, inviting us to reflect on the fraught relationship between politics and philosophy, and between a man of thought and a woman of action.We have made it easy for you to find a PDF Ebooks without any digging. And by having access to our ebooks online or by storing it on your computer, you have convenient answers with Catherine & Diderot: The Empress, the Philosopher, and the Fate of the Enlightenment. To get started finding Catherine & Diderot: The Empress, the Philosopher, and the Fate of the Enlightenment, you are right to find our website which has a comprehensive collection of manuals listed.
Our library is the biggest of these that have literally hundreds of thousands of different products represented.

Pages: —

Format: PDF, EPUB & Kindle Edition

Publisher: —

Release: —

ISBN: 0674737903

Description: A dual biography crafted around the famous encounter between the French philosopher who wrote about power and the Russian empress who wielded it with great aplomb.In October 1773, after a grueling trek from Paris, the aged and ailing Denis Diderot stumbled from a carriage in wintery St. Petersburg. The century's most subversive thinker, Diderot arrived as the guest of its most ambitious and admired ruler, Empress Catherine of Russia. What followed was unprecedented: more than forty private meetings, stretching over nearly four months, between these two extraordinary figures. Diderot had come from Paris in order to guide--or so he thought--the woman who had become the continent's last great hope for an enlightened ruler. But as it soon became clear, Catherine had a very different understanding not just of her role but of his as well. Philosophers, she claimed, had the luxury of writing on unfeeling paper. Rulers had the task of writing on human skin, sensitive to the slightest touch.Diderot and Catherine's series of meetings, held in her private chambers at the Hermitage, captured the imagination of their contemporaries. While heads of state like Frederick of Prussia feared the consequences of these conversations, intellectuals like Voltaire hoped they would further the goals of the Enlightenment.In Catherine & Diderot, Robert Zaretsky traces the lives of these two remarkable figures, inviting us to reflect on the fraught relationship between politics and philosophy, and between a man of thought and a woman of action.We have made it easy for you to find a PDF Ebooks without any digging. And by having access to our ebooks online or by storing it on your computer, you have convenient answers with Catherine & Diderot: The Empress, the Philosopher, and the Fate of the Enlightenment. To get started finding Catherine & Diderot: The Empress, the Philosopher, and the Fate of the Enlightenment, you are right to find our website which has a comprehensive collection of manuals listed.
Our library is the biggest of these that have literally hundreds of thousands of different products represented.

Special Offer | $0.00

Special Offer! | $0.00

Catherine & Diderot: The Empress, the Philosopher, and the Fate of the Enlightenment

Catherine & Diderot: The Empress, the Philosopher, and the Fate of the Enlightenment

More Books

A Life Worth Living: Albert Camus and the Quest for Meaning

A Life Worth Living: Albert Camus and the Quest for Meaning

The Subversive Simone Weil: A Life in Five Ideas

The Subversive Simone Weil: A Life in Five Ideas

From Homesteader to Art Collector: The Life and Times of Jacob Greenberg

From Homesteader to Art Collector: The Life and Times of Jacob Greenberg

Albert Camus: Elements of a Life

Albert Camus: Elements of a Life

The Philosophers' Quarrel: Rousseau, Hume, and the Limits of Human Understanding

The Philosophers' Quarrel: Rousseau, Hume, and the Limits of Human Understanding

Boswell’s Enlightenment

Boswell’s Enlightenment

France and Its Empire Since 1870

France and Its Empire Since 1870

[The Philosophers' Quarrel: Rousseau, Hume, and the Limits of Human Understanding] [Author: Zaretsky, Robert] [March, 2009]

[The Philosophers' Quarrel: Rousseau, Hume, and the Limits of Human Understanding] [Author: Zaretsky, Robert] [March, 2009]

Victories Never Last: Reading and Caregiving in a Time of Plague

Victories Never Last: Reading and Caregiving in a Time of Plague