Who Were the Philosophes?

In 18th-century France, the word philosophe described a writer who used reason to criticize society and promote reform, rather than a professional philosopher building a system. The philosophes wrote plays, novels, satires, histories and dictionary articles to reach a broad public. Several conditions helped them: the death of Louis XIV in 1715 loosened royal control, a growing reading public bought books and journals, and admiration for English liberty and Newtonian science offered models. They disagreed on much.

Voltaire was a deist who believed in a creator but attacked church power, Baron d'Holbach and Denis Diderot leaned toward materialism and atheism, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau broke with his friends over the value of civilization itself. They shared a dislike of censorship, persecution and arbitrary power. Royal censors and church authorities banned many of their works, yet some officials quietly protected them, showing that the old regime itself was divided.