Diderot the Metatheist

This chapter provides an interpretation of Diderot as a metatheist, that is a thinker that went through atheism and attempted to move past his own atheism. Diderot, whose prose lends itself particularly well to the dialectic movement between various positions, embraced atheism as a young man, only to find it too limiting to summarise his own philosophical and religious position later in life. By a careful analysis of the various interpretations of Diderot in the current literature, the chapter shows that Diderot’s atheism is itself very unorthodox, not excluding very specific versions of divine existence – such as a purely materialist deity consubstantial with the universe, a position known as hylozoism. Diderot’s politics also follows this subtle distinction. It is both materialist and full of esprit (spirit), radical and engaging with the old régime with his visit to Catherine the Great’s Russia, revolutionary and attempting to preserve. His speculations of evolutionary theory, his fascination with technological change and advancement in the Encyclopaedia all testify to the great work of the philosopher.