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- Title
THE STYLE OF MATERIALIST SKEPTICISM: DIDEROT'S JACQUES LE EATALISTE.
- Authors
MANNIES, WHITNEY
- Abstract
Does fiction have unique philosophic potential? Can it help to make a re ader free or more moral? Diderot certainly thought so, and Jacques the Fatalist is his fictional attempt to create the possibility of freedom and morality even in a materially determined universe. In this avant-garde novel, Diderot forges a literary style informed by his materialist skepticism. Upending readers' expectations by confronting them with the most ordinary material reality, he provokes skeptical questioning and, ultimately, the independent use of one's reason. In this way, Jacques's unorthodox style and form are crucial for creating the potential for a free and moral existence.
- Subjects
SKEPTICISM; PHILOSOPHICAL analysis; SKEPTICS (Greek philosophy); ETHICS; EXPERIMENTAL fiction
- Publication
Philosophy & Literature, 2015, Vol 39, Issue 1A, pA32
- ISSN
0190-0013
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1353/phl.2015.0029