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

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 brainchild of two major French philosophes, the Encyclopedia was a full-scale attempt to catalog, categorize, and explain all of human knowledge.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2020

Frederick so impressed the French philosophes that Voltaire came to live at his palace for two years until the two of them had a falling out.

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