Being a philosopher in the French Lights: on Du Marsais’ "The Truthful Philosopher"

Abstract

In the 18^th century, at the origin of Enlightenment, and more precisely, in the underworld of manuscripts and clandestine books, a text explaining in detail what is being a truthful philosopher – rather, in the given context, what is being an Enlightenment philosopher –, had many readers, and this fact caught the attention of many important intellectuals from that time, among them, D’Alembert and Voltaire. Due to its celebrity, the text gained a second version, this one condensed, but legalized. It is the text from the grammarian, lawyer and encyclopedist César Chesneau Du Marsais (1676-1756), or Dumarsais, entitled The Truthful Philosopher, which became popular as The Philosopher. Conceived in 1730 and published in 1743, the text was posthumously transformed, in 1765, in the entry "Philosopher" from the Encyclopedia of Diderot and D’Alembert until receiving the last version in 1796. It is about this document from French Lights that received fewer comments from us, but which was very well known in Absolutist France, particularly in which concerns its conception of philosopher, that this article deals with, and properly speaking, it is a challenge to think what is being an Enlightenment thinker in the 21^st century.