Recall from
my last post that I examined the authors’ preface but stopped before I arrived at
the method Diderot and d’Alembert used to organized the topics to be included
in L’Encyclopédie. I wanted to
reserve an entire post (and another corresponding post following this one) for
this subject because I find it to be very important and quite fascinating.
Knowledge is divided into three
categories: “memoire,” “raison,” and “imagination.” The related disciplines
within each subtopic are discussed at length in the Preface, and each is
summarized in the “Explication détaillée du système des connaissances humaines”
(Detailed explanation of the system of human knowledge). As the title
indicates, this section explores human knowledge and how its branches are both
distinct and interrelated.
Memoire, or memory, is associated with history, which is further
divided into religious history, societal history, and natural history. This
section is particularly important because in addition to covering the natural
sciences, it encompasses man’s “productions in the arts, trades, and
manufactures.” As I will discuss later, the explanation of arts and trades is a
primary focus for Diderot and d’Alembert in this project.
Raison, or reason, is what the authors call philosophy, and it is
split into the science of God, the science of man, and the science of nature.
While the authors state that philosophy is synonymous with science, it is not
“science” in the same connotation most commonly used today. Rather, it is
intended to be thought of as “a science of reflection,” a science of reasoning.
Imagination, which is a
cognate (means the same thing in French and in English), refers to poetry, or “that
which is fiction”: narrative, dramatic, or parabolic. Diderot and d’Alembert
describe poetry as “an imitation of historical beings.” Poetry is also related
to the arts of architecture, music, sculpture, and engraving, because the
masters of all of these arts “imitate and counterfeit nature.”
In the section that follows, Diderot
and d’Alembert address the fact that their division of the system of human
knowledge was inspired by
Chancellor Bacon’s work. They explain,
however, that the philosophical branch is completely their own, as it was not
included in Bacon’s work. According to the authors of
L’Encyclopédie, Bacon originally applied his divisions to theology
as well but later discarded this idea because it “appeared to be more ingenious
than solid” (page li).
Including Bacon’s theories in the
Encyclopedia, I believe, serves two main purposes. First, it further qualifies
the project by showing that the concept is not completely unprecedented but is
still providing an addition to the realm of knowledge. Second, it is not
unreasonable to imagine that having the name of a distinguished academic and scientist
tied to one’s work would be appealing both to readers and to the esteem of the
authors.
Something I’m finding to be puzzling
is the length of the last category, poetry (imagination). Even at the time of L’Encyclopédie’s publication, writing
and literature and poetry were well-established traditions worldwide. It seems
strange to me that this section is not longer because literature is such a vast field; so much could be included.
According to The European Graduate
School, while Diderot included the faculties of history and poetry in the work,
“the focus of [
L’Encyclopédie] was to
explicate varying technologies as to make them understood by anyone” (
EuropeanGraduate School, Denis Diderot).
It was intended to investigate the world of manufacturing, something that had
yet to be accomplished. A great deal of this focus on manufacturing and the
mechanical arts can be seen in the supplemental plate volumes, in which
drawings and engravings are included. This explains why reason and the
mechanical arts are the most thoroughly “worked-out” both in the map of human
knowledge and are most extensively covered throughout the work. While this rationalization
does shed some light on my confusion, I’m not quite satisfied and still do not
understand why poetry is
so much less
extensive than the history and philosophy sections. I hope to find more
clarification about this as I continue my research; if anyone knows the answer,
let me know!
In my next post, I will explore the
map of the system of human knowledge that accompanies the written explanation
of the system.
À bientôt,
Christina
As mentioned in previous posts, planches are the 11 volumes of plates
and drawings that accompany the 17 volumes of text, making for 28 total books
that make up L’Encyclopédie. The
benefit of the planches is obvious:
visual aids help readers understand and conceptualize ideas better. Naturally,
not every topic in the text has an accompanying planche drawing – it would be difficult to draw the soul, wouldn’t
it? The depictions included are those of material things, especially lots of
industrial machinery and the like. As is the case with the text of L’Encyclopédie, you can find a drawing
of pretty much anything, though. I flipped open to a page in the middle of the
book and found pages and pages of architectural drawings of elaborate buildings
and homes. Then, a few pages later, I found drawings of Art Militaire, or the Art of Military. Often included with the
drawings are short descriptions of what is being depicted and sometimes, when
applicable, instructions for its use. This particular book of planches (the first in the series) has
269 drawings. The first drawings are of agriculture, including everything from
drawings of people doing agriculture to drawings of the machines used. The planche concludes with drawings of artificier, or pyrotechnics, included in
the military section of this planche. The photo included above is of the table of contents which, as you can see, is quite extensive and detailed.
