The exhilarating brilliance of Diderot's ideas combined with the intractable difficulties we encounters in his writings place him among the most challenging and controversial of the philosophes . This book puts forward a clearer understanding of Diderot's perplexities by taking into account the dynamics of his thought processes, especially the mode, peculiar to him, of thinking via contrarieties. Uniquely among the philosophes , Diderot has the irregular habit of letting his ideas capsize and go into reverse, 'pro' ...
Read More
The exhilarating brilliance of Diderot's ideas combined with the intractable difficulties we encounters in his writings place him among the most challenging and controversial of the philosophes . This book puts forward a clearer understanding of Diderot's perplexities by taking into account the dynamics of his thought processes, especially the mode, peculiar to him, of thinking via contrarieties. Uniquely among the philosophes , Diderot has the irregular habit of letting his ideas capsize and go into reverse, 'pro' turning into 'contra', 'yea' becoming 'nay' - without the author bothering to notice (much less to inform the reader) that he has completely changed his mind. The phenomenon is frequent; in a number of instances, it is impossible to 'make sense' of Diderot's writings unless we are alert to this even when it occurs, that is, alert the dynamics of contrariety. This feature of Diderot's mental processes has received little attention from scholars - for good reasons: contrarieties suggest that the movement of Diderot's thought is often neither logical nor even rational, that frequently his concepts do not remain fixed and stable, or add up along straight lines. The existence of contrarieties implies that, as Diderot wrote, his ideas proceed in discrete stages, creating an evolution of concepts whose values are not only changing, but often contradicting their previous meanings. Finally, contrarieties play against the principle, sacred to scholars of literature, that the ideas of work of art must have cogerence in order to be comprehensible. Accepting these challenges to tradition as the basis of his argument, Professor Rex proposes radically new analyses of almost all of Diderot's major works (the only significant omission, La Religieuse , has been extensively treated by Professor Rex elsewhere). In sum, this perception of the dynamics of Diderot's thought promises not only to alter fundamentally our understanding of his 'philosophy', but also to give a new sense of his importance in the Enlightenment.
Read Less
Add this copy of Diderot's Counterpoints: the Dynamics of Contrariety in to cart. $24.87, good condition, Sold by Books From California rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Simi Valley, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1998 by Voltaire Foundation.
Edition:
1998, Voltaire Foundation in Association with Liverpool University Press
Add this copy of Diderot's Counterpoints: the Dynamics of Contrariety in to cart. $25.96, very good condition, Sold by Plum Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Roseville, MN, UNITED STATES, published 1998 by Voltaire Foundation.
Edition:
1998, Voltaire Foundation in Association with Liverpool University Press
Publisher:
Voltaire Foundation in Association with Liverpool University Press
Published:
1998
Language:
English
Alibris ID:
12792468023
Shipping Options:
Standard Shipping: $4.99
Trackable Expedited: $9.99
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
SIGNED by author with personalized inscription. Hardcover, clean, crisp, tight in dust jacket that has 1/2 inch tear and minor wear. Penciled price erasure on endpaper. INV#J-20 VG/VG.
Add this copy of Diderot's Counterpoints: The Dynamics of Contrariety in to cart. $29.95, good condition, Sold by School Haus Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Saginaw, MI, UNITED STATES, published 1998 by Voltaire Foundation.
Edition:
1998, Voltaire Foundation in Association with Liverpool University Press
Publisher:
Voltaire Foundation in Association with Liverpool University Press
Published:
1998
Language:
English
Alibris ID:
11076782893
Shipping Options:
Standard Shipping: $4.99
Trackable Expedited: $9.99
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Good. No dust jacket. Ex-library. 1998 hardcover/no jacket/ex-library with usual markings/clean & unmarked text. 318 p. Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century, 363.
Add this copy of Diderot's Counterpoints: the Dynamics of Contrariety in to cart. $50.00, very good condition, Sold by Orca Knowledge Systems, Inc rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Novato, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1998 by Voltaire Foundation.
Edition:
1998, Voltaire Foundation in Association with Liverpool University Press
Publisher:
Voltaire Foundation in Association with Liverpool University Press
Published:
1998
Language:
English
Alibris ID:
18082494675
Shipping Options:
Standard Shipping: $4.99
Trackable Expedited: $9.99
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very Good jacket. Unread. Author was the previous owner of this book. It was part of a collection of over 800 books that once belonged to Prof. Rex. Prof. Walter E. Rex (1927-2010), Emeritus Professor of French Literature, University of California, Berkeley. In 1975, Prof. Rex was offered for the first time, together with Professor Daniel Heartz of the Music Department, an interdisciplinary course on music and literature in the French 18th century (especially concerned with Rousseau and Diderot). A brilliant cel.
Add this copy of Diderot's Counterpoints: the Dynamics of Contrariety in to cart. $50.00, very good condition, Sold by Argosy Book Store rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from New York, NY, UNITED STATES, published 1998 by Voltaire Foundation.
Edition:
1998, Voltaire Foundation in Association with Liverpool University Press
Publisher:
Voltaire Foundation in Association with Liverpool University Press
Published:
1998
Language:
English
Alibris ID:
10925273281
Shipping Options:
Standard Shipping: $4.99
Trackable Expedited: $9.99
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Near fine in near fine jacket. With a few b/w illustrations. xvi, 318pp. 8vo, blue cloth, d.w. Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, 1998. Previous owner's inscriptions on front free endpaper, still a near fine copy in a near fine dust wrapper. Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century, 363.
Add this copy of Diderot's Counterpoints: the Dynamics of Contrariety in to cart. $74.96, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1998 by Voltaire Foundation.
Edition:
1998, Voltaire Foundation in Association with Liverpool University Press
Add this copy of Diderot's counterpoints: The dynamics of contrariety in to cart. $111.51, like new condition, Sold by GreatBookPrices rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Columbia, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1998 by Voltaire Foundation in Association with Liverpool University Press.
Edition:
1998, Voltaire Foundation in Association with Liverpool University Press
Publisher:
Voltaire Foundation in Association with Liverpool University Press
Published:
1998
Language:
English
Alibris ID:
17901443534
Shipping Options:
Standard Shipping: $4.99
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Fine. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 363 p. Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.