Editing Denis Diderot (section)

===Controversies===
Diderot's work, however, was mired in controversy from the beginning; the project was suspended by the courts in 1752. Just as the second volume was completed, accusations arose regarding seditious content, concerning the editor's entries on religion and natural law. Diderot was detained and his house was searched for manuscripts for subsequent articles: but the search proved fruitless as no manuscripts could be found. They had been hidden in the house of an unlikely confederate—[[Guillaume-Chrétien de Lamoignon de Malesherbes|Chretien de Lamoignon Malesherbes]], who originally ordered the search. Although Malesherbes was a staunch absolutist, and loyal to the monarchy—he was sympathetic to the literary project.<ref>Andrew S. Curran, Diderot and the Art of Thinking Freely, Other Press, 2019, pp. 161–164</ref> Along with his support, and that of other well-placed influential confederates, the project resumed. Diderot returned to his efforts only to be constantly embroiled in controversy.

These twenty years were to Diderot not merely a time of incessant drudgery, but harassing persecution and desertion of friends. The ecclesiastical party detested the ''Encyclopédie'', in which they saw a rising stronghold for their philosophic enemies. By 1757, they could endure it no longer—the subscribers had grown from 2,000 to 4,000, a measure of the growth of the work in popular influence and power.<ref name="EB1911"/> Diderot wanted the ''Encyclopédie'' to give all the knowledge of the world to the people of France. However, the ''Encyclopédie'' threatened the governing social classes of France (aristocracy) because it took for granted the justice of [[religious tolerance]], [[freedom of thought]], and the value of science and industry.<ref>Lyons, Martyn. "Books: A Living History". Getty Publishing, 2011,  p. 107.</ref> It asserted the doctrine that the main concern of the nation's government ought to be the nation's common people. It was believed that the ''Encyclopédie'' was the work of an organized band of conspirators against society, and that the dangerous ideas they held were made truly formidable by their open publication. In 1759, the ''Encyclopédie'' was formally suppressed.<ref name="EB1911"/> The decree did not stop the work, which went on, but its difficulties increased by the necessity of being clandestine. [[Jean le Rond d'Alembert]] withdrew from the enterprise and other powerful colleagues, including [[Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune]], declined to contribute further to a book that had acquired a bad reputation.{{sfn|Morley|1911}}