Diderot: Natural Philosopher (review)

While the more recent emphasis in Diderot studies has been to portray the editor of the Encyclopédie as a daring and somewhat marginalized innovator, Kurt Ballstadt provides something of a recentrage of Diderot's thought and influence, at least within the domain of scientific concerns: 'One counter to this view of Diderot "the radical" is that he actually interacted a great deal with mainstream science' (p. 222). The five chapters of Ballstadt's book—Mathematics, Experimental physics, Chemistry, Natural history, and Medicine—are devoted to Diderot's lifelong fascination with the scientific issues and debates of his day. The breadth and depth of his interests in scientific fields reflect 'Diderot's eclecticism and unusually broad range of passions' (p. 175) as well as his systematic approach to broader philosophical and religious issues. Thoroughly researched, Ballstadt's study E delves into texts by Diderot that are comparatively little known: Mémoires sur différents sujets de mathématiques (1748), Principes philosophiques sur la matière et le mouvement (1770), Éléments de physiologie (1770), Plan d'une université (1775). Through his close readings of such texts and of Diderot's sources, Ballstadt persuasively argues not only that 'by the late 1740s Diderot had become a very competent mathematician' (p. 16), but also that the field of mathematics constituted the linchpin of his overall concept of natural philosophy. In his other scientific studies, Diderot, while he never produced major discoveries, generally appeared to be astute, well-informed, and insightful. In the field of experimental physics, for instance, 'Diderot's philosophy eventually and ultimately puts more emphasis on force than on matter itself ' (p. 85). As regards his investigations into natural history, which was a highly active and contested field of research in the eighteenth century, Ballstadt finds that 'all the seeds of a full-blown theory of evolution seem to be contained within Diderot's thought' (p. 168). Diderot: Natural Philosopher supplies ample evidence that Diderot was no mere dabbler when it came to mathematics and science, and that his overall philosophical framework was based on in-depth studies of contemporary scientific disciplines. Diderot's philosophical consideration of materialism, for instance, as well as his view of a 'godless universe' (p. 218) were not merely the result of hypothetical formulations, but were elaborated within the context of considerable and continuous scientific inquiries. The established image of Diderot as a true polymath, with wide-ranging interests in history, literary aesthetics and art criticism, is further extended and refined by Ballstadt's impressively detailed study. In his conclusion, the author suggests further avenues for research, particularly regarding 'the linkage between the nature of Diderot's physical sciences and his interest in the social sciences' (p. 226). Ballstadt also offers brief insights into the potential links between Diderot's scientific activities and his better-known literary texts: 'Jacques le fataliste is the literary equivalent of Éléments de physiologie; both works portray Man as fundamentally unable to transcend his material composition' (p. 215–16). After reading this fascinating book, the only reproach that can be directed at the author is that he did not pursue his investigation into Diderot's more literary endeavours.