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Diderot

by Ben Scott-Brandt

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about

Diderot was a philosopher who didn’t believe in God. He was an editor of L'Encyclopédie, one of the first encyclopedias, and he snuck in articles that challenged how people think. This was an important moment -- knowledge about the world could belong to everyone, it didn’t only come from church or state control.

He invented art criticism and the “fourth wall” in theatre. He wrote books and plays. People were entertained. Diderot was known to have many ideas, and to think quickly. He loved to talk and ask questions. He talked so much that he often didn’t need others around, and would just write down his conversations with himself.

He kept his atheist ideas secret, but wrote about all of them. He was scared to go to jail again, or be killed for his ideas. After he died, people found his ideas, and were very impressed. Diderot did a lot of cool things during his life and is famous for helping people understand the world in a new way.

lyrics

Diderot
A secular hero
Diderot
D-D-Diderot

Denis Diderot
Born 300 years ago
Raised in rural France
He found his way to Paris with the riff raff

Abandoning the Catholic Church
To struggle as a translator
He tries to make ends meet
But everything keeps pointing to philosophy

Up he climbs, inside his mind
Up he climbs inside…

Up in his attic room
He’s chasing his thoughts, chasing him
Diderot’s mind zooms
The manuscripts pile up, pile up

Diderot realized
Knowledge should be publicized
Not owned by church or state
Truth belongs to everyone the same

It wasn’t all fun and games
Living in the threat of chains
L’Encyclopédie
BAM! C’est revolutionary!

Writing was a playful way
For Diderot to question things
But the pope and king got mad
They burned his books, all crumpled up in ashes

And so he made a secret plan
To keep his new books hidden
And long after his death
His big ideas keep everyone impressed

credits

released October 16, 2019
Portrait of Denis Diderot (1713-1784) by Louis Michel Van Loo (1707-1771). All music and words by Ben Scott-Brandt in 2019. I wrote this song for my Honors Senior Project, after reading Diderot and the Art of Thinking Freely by Andrew S. Curran. Thank you to Dr. David Eick for the opportunity.

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Ben Scott-Brandt Grand Rapids, Michigan

A multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and creative collaborator.

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