Reading the articles in Diderot's Encylopedia is one of the best ways to understand the French Enlightenment. It shows the attitudes of the philosophes toward everything from Islam to Women to Intolerance to History. While the online translation of the Encylopedia articles does not include the wonderful illustrations of the orginal, you will probably still find much of interest.Browse to an article on a topic of interest to you. Comment on what you found particularly interesting in that article.
This art of pleasing, this desire to please everyone, this desire to please above all else, this silence of the heart, this disturbance of the mind, this continual dishonesty called coquetry, seems to be in women a primitive characteristic, which, born from their naturally subordinated condition, unjustly servile, is extended and fortified by education, and can only be weakened by a exertion of reason, and destroyed by a great intensity of sentiment: one could even compare this characteristic to a sacred fire which is never extinguished.
ReplyDeleteI really find this quote interesting and true. I think all women have a natural instinct to please people, even before ourselves. I personally have this problem. I like making others happy, sometimes putting my own interests aside. Is this good? No, not always, but I really think it is a characteristic many women depict. I can't say I don't defend myself because I will be the first to stick up for myself, but if someone has not hurt me or angered me, I will most definately see their interests to heart. I find this quote quite interesting and I immediately was certain I needed to post about it.
Deavonnie Spadoni-
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love Greek myths, so I read a few articles on some of the Greek gods. The one that interested me the most was the one about hermaphrodite, I thought that he/she was born as a hermaphrodite, but really hermaphrodite started out as a male and a nymph named Salmacis wanted to be with him but he did not want her so she asked the gods that their bodies be conjoined as one.
"All men are one in their desire for happiness. Nature has made happiness a law of our being, and all that is not happiness is alien to our disposition. It alone has unmistakable power over our hearts, it attracts us all through an instant inclination, a powerful charm, and an irresistible attraction. Happiness is the charm and perfection of Nature and she has indelibly engraved it on our hearts."
ReplyDelete-I thought this was interesting in that it is still revelant in today's society. Everyone is trying to do something that will make them happy. Whether it be a certain job or certain material items, most are trying to find this 'happiness' that is so hard to find. And as it said it is ingraved on our hearts. People will stop at nothing to reach their happiness in life. I thought this passage on "Happiness" was a particularly revelant one in society today.
--Haley Zerr
"Tickling, a kind of nonsexual sensation that is pleasurable at first, but that becomes painful when extreme. Tickling causes laughter; taken too far it becomes unbearable; it can even be fatal, if some stories are to be believed."
ReplyDelete- As I started to read this, a smile formed, because tickling is very fun to do, but as I read on, that smile became a frown. It can be fatal? How in the world can tickling be fatal? This entry caught my eye, because it just seemed so bizarre to me. I read on and it explains how tickling varies with how you do it and where, but still went back to fatality and being unbearable. Whenever I think of tickling, all I think about is fun, not something as crazy as death. :) Some of these entries are quite interesting to read and makes me chuckle. :)
-Kimberly Wiekamp
I read about paternal authority. I found that there is ways to give up those rights that are equally shared by the mother and the father. But if the father abuses the child or prostitues them out they give up their rights. Also if they give up a child and the son is adopted the also they give up any of the emancated rights such as property of the child. I thought this was interesting. I like searching out different topics because it gave some very different view points
ReplyDeleteMichelle Gunn
I read the article on adultery, which was entirely interesting. The parts of which I found most interesting was that he states that adultery is categorized right below homocide. This is fascinating because it seems that this idea has become lost among us today. People are comitting aultery over and over in the society which we live in today, even though it is such a horrible thing that not only is in the bible but is listed as such an evil by Diderot himself so many years ago.
ReplyDeleteJeb Clay