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 promine ...

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 ''Encyclopédie ...

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

philosophe The ''philosophes'' () were the intellectuals of the 18th-century Enlightenment.Kishlansky, Mark, ''et al.'' ''A Brief History of Western Civilization: The Unfinished Legacy, volume II: Since 1555.'' (5th ed. 2007). Few were primarily philosophe ...

s. 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 André François le Breton (2 September 1708 – 5 October 1779) was a French publisher. He was one of the four publishers of the ''Encyclopédie'' of Diderot and d'Alembert, along with Michel-Antoine David, Laurent Durand, and Antoine-Claude ...

charged him, on 16 October 1747, to resume the project of translating the English ''Cyclopaedia'' that

Jean Paul de Gua de Malves Jean Paul de Gua de Malves (1713, Malves-en-Minervois (Aude) – June 2, 1785, Paris) was a French mathematician who published in 1740 a work on analytical geometry in which he applied it, without the aid of differential calculus, to find the tange ...

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 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 ''Antoine-Gaspard Boucher d'Argis'' (3 April 1708 in Lyon – 25 January 1791 in Paris) was a French lawyer. Advisor to the Supreme Council of Dombes in 1753 then at the Grand Châtelet, Châtelet in Paris Boucher d'Argis wrote a number of legal t ...

Arnulphe d'Aumont Arnulphe d'Aumont (27 December 1720 – 8 August 1800) was a French doctor. His name is also spelled Daumont. He was born in Grenoble and died in Valence. After receiving his doctorate in 1744, he became royal professor at the University of Vale ...

Jacques-Nicolas Bellin Jacques Nicolas Bellin (1703 – 21 March 1772) was a French hydrographer, geographer, and member of the French intellectual group called the philosophes. Bellin was born in Paris. He was hydrographer of France's hydrographic office, member of t ...

Jacques-François Blondel Jacques-François Blondel (8 January 1705 – 9 January 1774) was an 18th-century French architect and teacher. After running his own highly successful school of architecture for many years, he was appointed Professor of Architecture at the Acad ...

Claude Bourgelat Claude Bourgelat (27 March 1712 – 3 January 1779) was a French veterinary surgeon. He was a founder of scientifically informed veterinary medicine, and he created one of the earliest schools for training professional veterinarians. Life a ...

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 m ...

Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton Louis Jean-Marie Daubenton (29 May 1716 – 1 January 1800) was a French naturalist and contributor to the ''Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers''. Biography Daubenton was born at Montbard, Côte-d' ...

* César Chesneau Du Marsais * Marc-Antoine Eidous * Jean-Baptiste de La Chapelle * Guillaume Le Blond *

Georges-Louis Le Sage Georges-Louis Le Sage (; 13 June 1724 – 9 November 1803) was a Genevan physicist and is most known for his theory of gravitation, for his invention of an electric telegraph and his anticipation of the kinetic theory of gases. Furthermore, he ...

Antoine Louis Antoine Louis (; 13 February 1723, Metz – 20 May 1792) was an 18th-century French surgeon and physiologist. He was originally trained in medicine by his father, a sergeant major at a local military hospital. As a young man he moved to Paris, ...

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 Land ...

* Louis de Jaucourt *

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 stu ...

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 th ...

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 princip ...

* 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 – ...

François-Vincent Toussaint François-Vincent Toussaint (21 December 1715 - 22 June 1772) was a French writer most famous for ''Les Mœurs'' (The Manners). The book was published in 1748 and banned the same year; it was prosecuted and burned by the French court of justice. ...

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 Urbain de Vandenesse (? – 1753, Paris) was an 18th-century French physician and Encyclopédiste. Life After he presented six thesis at the Faculté de médecine de Paris, he was received with the title ''docteur-régent'' in 1742.Williams, E ...

Gabriel François Venel Gabriel François Venel (23 August 1723, Tourbes – 29 October 1775, Pézenas) was a French chemist, physician and a contributor to the ''Encyclopédie'', (673 items; In 1742 he obtained his doctorate in medicine from the University of Montpellie ...

* Suzanne Verdier *

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

Claude Yvon The Abbé Claude Yvon (15 April 1714 – November 1791) was a French encyclopédiste, a savant who contributed to the ''Encyclopédie'' edited by Denis Diderot Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art cri ...

Number of articles

*37,870 – XXX (unsigned or undetermined) *17,288 – Louis de Jaucourt *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 ''Encyclopédie ...

*994 –

*720 – Guillaume Le Blond *707 –

*693 –

*541 – Antoine-Joseph Dezallier d'Argenville *482 –

*449 –

*428 – Marc-Antoine Eidous *414 –

*388 –

*344 –

*337 –

*227 –

*214 – Jean-Baptiste de La Chapelle *199 –

*192 –

*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 –

*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