Showing results for "philosophes"

• plural of philosophe.

philosophes

Cultural  

1. A group of radical thinkers and writers in France in the eighteenth century, including Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The philosophes stressed the use of human reason and were especially critical of established religious and political practices in France.

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Example Sentences

His 1770s busts of Denis Diderot and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and especially his sculpture of a seated Voltaire, have influenced ever since how the French picture their philosophes.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 12, 2026

Roland had grown up reading the philosophes and was influenced by Diderot and Rousseau, among others.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 2, 2026

The noteworthy philosophes of the Enlightenment rarely attacked outright the social hierarchy that they were part of.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2020

The abuses of the church, the ignorance of the nobility, even the injustices of kings might be fair game for criticism, but none of the better-known philosophes called for the equivalent of a political revolution.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2020

As Adams explained it, the French philosophes had invented the word, which became a central part of their utopian style of thinking and a major tenet in their school of folly.”

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis