Pensées philosophiques
Anonyme (Denis Diderot) Paris, 1746
1746 saw the anonymous publication of Diderot’s first original work, Pensées philosophiques. In this book, a response to Blaise Pascal’s (1623–1662) Pensées, Diderot toys somewhat inconclusively with deism and atheism: “I should be expected to seek the truth, but not to find it”. Diderot’s free-ranging and incisive thoughts are couched in small short dialogues. Diderot rejected dogmatism in all its forms:
“As I looked for proofs, I found problems. The books that motivated me to believe also gave me reasons to disbelieve. They were an arsenal of arguments for both. In these works, I saw deists arm themselves against atheists; deists and atheists lambast Jews; atheists, deists and Jews castigate Christians; Christian, deists, atheists and Jews pillory Moslems; a multitude of Christian sects attacking Christians; and sceptics alone against them all….
The book was banned.