Rereading Diderot: the cynicism of The Rameau's Nephew
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3989/isegoria.2014.051.10Keywords:
Cynicism, Degradation, Corruption, Ideals, CultureAbstract
The starting point of this article is a psychoanalytic clinical assessment: the step previous to corruption is usually degradation. With this approach, I propose an updated reading of Diderot´s dialogue: the cynicism of the nephew of Rameau is the ethical position correlative to the degradation of institutions and politics. It is a logical response to the fall of the ideals of the time, but not the only one. Diderot shows caution, precisely, before that widespread degradation of all elements sustaining the symbolic order, and anticipates the consequences.
Downloads
References
Desné, R., Denis Diderot: Le Neveu de Rameau. Le Rêve de D’Alembert, messidor, Paris, 1984.
D’Hont, J., «Le cynisme de Rameau», Recherches sur Diderot et sur l’Encyclopédie, 36 (2004).
Diderot, D., El sobrino de Rameau, ed. Carmen Roig, Cátedra, madrid, 2003.
Diderot, D., OEuvres, ed. Laurent Versini, col «bouquins», Robert Laffont, Paris, 1994-1997, 5 vols.
Fabre, J., Denis Diderot: Le Neveu de Rameau, Droz, Ginebra, 1977.
Hartmann, P., «un si lumineux aveuglement : une étude sur Le Neveu de Rameau et la crise des Lumières», Diderot Studies, XXVI (1995).
Mirabeau, L’Ami des hommes ou Traité de la population, Gallica, édition électronique de la bnF, disponible en http://visualiseur.bnf.fr/CadresFenetre?O=numm-89089&m=notice.
Proust, J., «Le théorique et son autre», Lectures de Diderot, Armand Colin, Paris, 1974.
Sumi, Y., “Le Neveu de Rameau”: Caprices et logiques du jeu, France-tosho, tokyo, 1975.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2014 Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
© CSIC. Manuscripts published in both the printed and online versions of this Journal are the property of Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, and quoting this source is a requirement for any partial or full reproduction.All contents of this electronic edition, except where otherwise noted, are distributed under a “Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International” (CC BY 4.0) License. You may read here the basic information and the legal text of the license. The indication of the CC BY 4.0 License must be expressly stated in this way when necessary.
Self-archiving in repositories, personal webpages or similar, of any version other than the published by the Editor, is not allowed.
