Louis de Jaucourt - Wikipedia Louis de Jaucourt From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search French scholar This article includes a list of general references, but it remains largely unverified because it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (November 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Louis de Jaucourt Born (1704-09-16)16 September 1704 Paris, France Died 3 February 1779(1779-02-03) (aged 74) Compiègne, France Nationality French Occupation Physician, philosophe, writer Known for Encyclopédie Chevalier Louis de Jaucourt (French: [də ʒokuʁ]; 16 September 1704 – 3 February 1779) was a French scholar and the most prolific contributor to the Encyclopédie. He wrote about 18,000 articles on subjects including physiology, chemistry, botany, pathology, and political history, or about 25% of the entire encyclopaedia, all done voluntarily.[1] In the generations after the Encyclopédie's, mainly due to his aristocratic background, his legacy was largely overshadowed by the more bohemian Denis Diderot, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and others, but by the mid-20th century more scholarly attention was being paid to him. Contents 1 Biography 2 The Encyclopédie 3 References 4 Sources 5 External links Biography[edit] Jaucourt was born in Paris, the youngest son of an aristocratic family. As he could not entirely rely on inheritance or status to support himself, Jaucourt became a scholar. He studied theology in Geneva, natural sciences at the University of Cambridge, and medicine in Leiden. Upon returning to France, he spent the next 20 years writing the Lexicon medicum universalis, a six-volume work on anatomy. He sent it to be published in Amsterdam to avoid French censorship but the ship carrying the sole manuscript sank, and 20 years of labour was lost. He also wrote a biography of Leibniz.[2] He practised medicine and was a Fellow of the Royal Society in London and member of the academies of Berlin, Stockholm (elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1756), and Bordeaux. The Encyclopédie[edit] Jaucourt volunteered to work on the Encyclopédie, recruited by publisher Michel-Antoine David starting with the second volume of the work. He began modestly, with only a few articles in each of the next several volumes, but gradually became more and more involved. Between 1759 and 1765 he wrote on average 8 encyclopaedia articles per day, for a total of 17,266 out of 71,818 articles (or about 25%), making him by far the single most prolific contributor to Encyclopédie. His contributions come to some 4,700,000 words. He was especially active in the later volumes, writing between 30% and 45% of the articles in volumes 10 to 17. This earned him the nickname l'esclave de l'Encyclopédie (the slave of the Encyclopedia). By the publication of the eighth volume, Diderot saw fit to thank his collaborator for his tireless dedication to the project, stating: "If we have raised a shout of joy like the sailor when he espies land after a sombre night that has kept him midway between sky and flood, it is to M. de Jaucourt that we are indebted for it. What has he not done for us, especially in these latter times? With what constancy has he not refused all the solicitations, whether of friendship or of authority, that sought to take him away from us? Never has sacrifice of repose, of health, of interest been more absolute and more entire."[3] Unlike other editors, Jaucourt was independently wealthy and asked for no payment for his full-time labours. He employed a group of secretaries, out of his own pocket, to help with the effort and to take his dictation.[4] Most of his works consisted of summarising full books and other longer works into encyclopaedia articles, with much content copied verbatim from existing sources, earning him the derision of some contributors that favored more original thought.[5] Jaucourt did not consistently create original articles expressing his own opinions and views of his subjects, but rather implicitly showed his personal beliefs through the careful cultivation of certain passages, emphasis and reiteration, and even word choice.[6] The authors he selected also show how he chose which messages to disseminate under the broader context of each article. For example, in his article on "Government" Jaucourt draws nearly verbatim from the writings of John Locke.[7] Given the politically incendiary tone of the works Jaucourt copied and paraphrased from, he concealed the names and publication information of much of his source material. Often to avoid censure, the writer would misattribute quotations, such as when he borrowed a fellow philosophe's quote decrying tyranny and attributed it to Tacitus.[8] He wrote mainly on the sciences, especially medicine and biology. He took a firmly mechanist approach to the subject. This is in sharp contrast to the other major contributor in this area, Ménuret de Chambaud, who had a firmly vitalist view. While his main focus was on science and biology, he also covered a wide array of other subjects. It is in his works on history and society that his political and philosophical views become clearly evident. He wrote articles of central importance on war, monarchy, people, and Muhammad. His writing is never as openly political as other contributors such as Diderot and Voltaire, but it is clear that he possessed deeply held views. Some of his works, such as those on historical subjects clearly contain radical and anti-clerical messages through implied comparisons between the ancient past and modern France, such as in his article "Paris". Presenting criticisms through these parallels allowed Jaucourt to both bypass the censors that plagued most contributors to the Encyclopédie and to allow his commentaries on society in a less overt but still impactful way.[6] Jaucourt also criticized Divination and superstition, following Francis Bacon in interpreting superstition primarily as an intellectual error.[9] He also wrote important pieces on slavery, the slave trade, and black people, all strongly condemning slavery as counter to both natural rights and liberties.[citation needed][10] Alastair Davidson has stated that though not regarded today as one of the foremost contributors to Enlightenment theory or political thought, Jaucourt's writings demonstrate great dedication to many Enlightenment principles. As he delineates in his article "Traite des nègres," he believed that the commodification of human life is abhorrent and that every person has the fundamental right of freedom. He also rejected superstition and held that while superstition should be cast aside, even superstitions were preferable to beliefs instilled by coercion or force.[11] He died, aged 74, in Compiègne. References[edit] ^ Frank A. Kafker: Notices sur les auteurs des dix-sept volumes de « discours » de l'Encyclopédie. Recherches sur Diderot et sur l'Encyclopédie. 1989, Volume 7, Numéro 7, p. 144 ^ published with the pseudonym of L. de Neufville, Histoire de la vie, et des Ouvrages de Mr. Leibnitz, Amsterdam, 1734 ^ "Foreword, to volume VIII". quod.lib.umich.edu. Retrieved 1 December 2018. ^ Edelstein, Dan; Morrissey, Robert; Roe, Glenn (2013). "To Quote or not to Quote: Citation Strategies in the "Encyclopédie"" (PDF). Journal of the History of Ideas. 74 (2): 213–236. doi:10.1353/jhi.2013.0012. hdl:1885/12090. JSTOR 43291299. S2CID 144455523. ^ Fletcher, Dennis J. (1973). "The Chevalier de Jaucourt and the English Sources of the Encyclopedic Article "Patriote"". Diderot Studies. 16: 23–34. JSTOR 40372418. ^ a b Doolittle, James (1950). "Jaucourt's Use of Source Material in the Encyclopédie". Modern Language Notes. 65 (6): 391. doi:10.2307/2908748. JSTOR 2908748. ^ Edelstein, Dan; Morrissey, Robert; Roe, Glenn (2013). "To Quote or not to Quote: Citation Strategies in the "Encyclopédie"". Journal of the History of Ideas. 74 (2): 225. doi:10.1353/jhi.2013.0012. hdl:1885/12090. JSTOR 43291299. S2CID 144455523. ^ Edelstein, Dan; Morrissey, Robert; Roe, Glenn (2013). "To Quote or not to Quote: Citation Strategies in the "Encyclopédie"". Journal of the History of Ideas. 74 (2): 226. doi:10.1353/jhi.2013.0012. hdl:1885/12090. JSTOR 43291299. S2CID 144455523. ^ Josephson-Storm, Jason (2017). The Myth of Disenchantment: Magic, Modernity, and the Birth of the Human Sciences. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 53. ISBN 978-0-226-40336-6. ^ "Jaucourt, Encyclopédie, article Traite des nègres" (in French). Retrieved 1 December 2018. ^ Davidson, Alastair (1986). "Denis Diderot and the Limits to Reason". Diderot Studies. 22: 50. JSTOR 40372604. Sources[edit] Philip Blom, Enlightening the World: Encyclopédie, The Book That Changed the Course of History, London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. Luigi Delia, "Crime et châtiment dans l'Encyclopédie. Les enjeux de l'interprétation de Montesquieu par de Jaucourt", in "Dix-huitième siècle", n. 41, 2009, pp. 469–486. James Doolittle, "Jaucourt's Use of Source Material in the Encyclopédie", Modern Language Notes. Vol. 65, No. 6. The Johns Hopkins University Press, June 1950. Frank A. Kafker, "The Recruitment of the Encyclopedists", Eighteenth-Century Studies Vol. 6, No. 4. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Summer, 1973. Werner Raupp: JAUCOURT, Louis, Chevalier, in: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL), Vol. 36. Bautz: Nordhausen 2015, ( ISBN 978-3-88309-920-0), cols. 650–657 (with detailed bibliography). Richard N. Schwab, "The Extent of the Chevalier de Joucourt's Contribution to Diderot's Encyclopédie", Modern Language Notes. Vol. 72, No. 7. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Nov. 1957. External links[edit] (in French) L'Encyclopédie de L'Agora Authority control BIBSYS: 90511863 BNF: cb12247334f (data) CANTIC: a11036540 CiNii: DA07515064 GND: 119332388 ISNI: 0000 0000 8130 0232 LCCN: n79142699 NKC: av20191020346 NLA: 36049192 NLI: 000425054 NLP: A35742203 NTA: 070588651 PLWABN: 9810548292105606 RERO: 02-A000093631 SUDOC: 031215149 Trove: 1201874 VcBA: 495/28885 VIAF: 51744988 WorldCat Identities: lccn-n79142699 Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Louis_de_Jaucourt&oldid=997300428" Categories: 1704 births 1779 deaths 18th-century French physicians 18th-century French philosophers Scientists from Paris French science writers Leiden University alumni Alumni of the University of Cambridge University of Geneva alumni Contributors to the Encyclopédie (1751–1772) Fellows of the Royal Society Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences Anti-clericalism Enlightenment philosophers Age of Enlightenment Hidden categories: CS1 French-language sources (fr) Articles with short description Short description is different from Wikidata EngvarB from July 2017 Use dmy dates from July 2017 Articles lacking in-text citations from November 2010 All articles lacking in-text citations Articles with hCards All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from June 2018 Articles with French-language sources (fr) Wikipedia articles with BIBSYS identifiers Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Wikipedia articles with CANTIC identifiers Wikipedia articles with CINII identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with NKC identifiers Wikipedia articles with NLA identifiers Wikipedia articles with NLI identifiers Wikipedia articles with NLP identifiers Wikipedia articles with NTA identifiers Wikipedia articles with PLWABN identifiers Wikipedia articles with RERO identifiers Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers Wikipedia articles with Trove identifiers Wikipedia articles with VcBA identifiers Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Download as PDF Printable version In other projects Wikimedia Commons Languages Български Català Čeština Cymraeg Deutsch Español Français Italiano 日本語 Norsk bokmål Polski Português Русский Slovenščina Українська Edit links This page was last edited on 30 December 2020, at 22:10 (UTC). 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