Essay to interpret synthetically Diderot's philosophy in his last years. Intercultural reading of his Elements de physiologie

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25370364
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: European literature
• Research Institution: Nagoya City University
• Principal Investigator: Terada Motoichi 名古屋市立大学, 大学院人間文化研究科, 教授 (90188681)
• Research Collaborator: STENGER Gerhardt ナント大学, 文学人文学部, 准教授
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: ディドロ / 『生理学要綱』 / ハラー / 生理学 / 間テクスト的読解 / 典拠 / ストア主義 / 『セネカ論』

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In Diderot's Elements de physiologie, we showed for the first time that influences given by Haller, physiologist, especially by the second French tradition (1769) of the Primae lineae are decisive. We discovered moreover some unknown sources of the Elements, for example, a Swiss physiologist, Laroche's work. Concerning Diderot's conception of generation, an epigenetic interpretation is dominent, but we proved that in his Elements he approaches rather to the preexistence of germs admitting epigenetic changeabilities, in other words, to that of Haller. In the conclusion of the Elements, we admit with G. Stenger a 17th century Netherlandish humanist, Heinsius' influences, whose small dissertation Oratio de Stoica Philosophia, which we newly discovered, was found to have the possibility to unite Diderot's two main works: the Elements and the Essai sur Seneque and to open a new direction of research in order to interpret synthetically his philosophy in his last years.

Free Research Field

18世紀フランス思想