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 , better known as ''Encyclopédie'' (), was a general encyclopedia published in France between 1751 and 1772, with later supplements, revised editions, and translations. It had many writers, known as the Encyclopédistes. It was edited by Denis ...

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

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 ''Encyclopé ...

, and only Diderot from 1765 to 1772.

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 philosophes. They promoted the advancement of science and secular thought and supported the 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 charged him, on 16 October 1747, to resume the project of translating the English ''Cyclopaedia'' that Jean Paul de Gua de Malves 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 * Arnulphe d'Aumont * Jacques-Nicolas Bellin * Jacques-François Blondel *

Claude Bourgelat Claude Bourgelat (27 March 1712 – 3 January 1779) was a French veterinary surgeon. He was a founder of scientifically informed veterinary medicine Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, me ...

* Jean-François-Henri Collot * Étienne Noël Damilaville *

Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton Louis Jean-Marie Daubenton (; 29 May 1716 – 1 January 1800) was a French natural history, naturalist and contributor to the ''Encyclopédie, Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers''. Biography Daubent ...

* César Chesneau Du Marsais * Marc-Antoine Eidous * Jean-Baptiste de La Chapelle * Guillaume Le Blond * André le Breton * Georges-Louis Le Sage * Antoine Louis *

Baron d'Holbach Paul Thiry, Baron d'Holbach (; ; 8 December 1723 – 21 January 1789), known as d'Holbach, was a Franco-German philosopher, encyclopedist and writer, who was a prominent figure in the French Enlightenment. He was born in Edesheim, near Landau ...

* Louis de Jaucourt * Jacques-Raymond Lucotte * Philippe-Antoine Magimel * Edmé-François Mallet * Sara Espada Bernardos * Paul-Jacques Malouin * Jean-François Marmontel * Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu * Adrien Quiret de Margency * Jean-Baptiste-Pierre le Romain *

Jean-Jacques Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Republic of Geneva, Genevan philosopher (''philosophes, philosophe''), writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment through ...

* António Nunes Ribeiro Sanches * Pierre Tarin *

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. Sometimes considered a physiocrat, he is today best remembered as an early advocate for economic liber ...

* Urbain de Vandenesse * Gabriel François Venel * Suzanne Verdier *

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 ...

* Claude Yvon

Number of articles

71,818 articles in 17 volumes: *37,870 – XXX (unsigned or undetermined) *17,288 – Louis de Jaucourt *5,394 –

*4,268 – Boucher d'Argis *1,925 – Edmé-François Mallet *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 ''Encyclopé ...

*994 – Jacques-Nicolas Bellin *720 – Guillaume Le Blond *707 – Gabriel François Venel *693 –

*541 – Antoine-Joseph Dezallier d'Argenville *482 – Jacques-François Blondel *449 – Antoine Louis *428 – Marc-Antoine Eidous *414 –

*388 –

*344 –

*337 – Pierre Tarin *227 –

*214 – Jean-Baptiste de La Chapelle *199 – Urbain de Vandenesse *192 – Arnulphe d'Aumont *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 – Claude Yvon *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