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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philosophes

The pattern was set in the late 18th century, when the philosophes argued that reason could remake society and the revolutionaries took them at their word.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2026

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

Many of the most famous and important philosophes were indeed French, but there were major English, Scottish, and Prussian figures as well.

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

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