Editing Denis Diderot (section)

==Appreciation and influence==
[[File:Jean-Simon Berthélemy - Bildnis eines Herrn mit der Büste des Denis Diderot.jpg|thumb|[[Jean-Simon Berthélemy]], Young man admiring Denis Diderot's bust]]

[[Jean-François Marmontel|Marmontel]] and {{ill|Henri Meister|fr|Jacques-Henri Meister}} commented on the great pleasure of having intellectual conversations with Diderot.<ref name=AoV />{{rp|678}} [[André Morellet|Morellet]], a regular attendee at [[Baron d'Holbach#D'Holbach's salon|D'Holbach's salon]], wrote: "It is there that I heard...Diderot treat questions of philosophy, art, or literature, and by his wealth of expression, fluency, and inspired appearance, hold our attention for a long stretch of time."<ref name = "Wilson 1972 175">{{cite book|title=Diderot|url=https://archive.org/details/diderot0000wils|url-access=limited|author=Arthur M. Wilson|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/diderot0000wils/page/175 175] |year=1972}}</ref> Diderot's contemporary, and rival, [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau|Jean Jacques Rousseau]] wrote in his ''Confessions'' that after a few centuries Diderot would be accorded as much respect by posterity as was given to Plato and Aristotle.<ref name=AoV />{{rp|678}} In Germany, [[Goethe]], [[Schiller]], and Lessing<ref name=AoV />{{rp|679}} expressed admiration for Diderot's writings, Goethe pronouncing Diderot's ''[[Rameau's Nephew]]'' to be "the classical work of an outstanding man" and that "Diderot is Diderot, a unique individual; whoever carps at him and his affairs is a philistine."<ref name=AoV />{{rp|659}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hammer |first1=Carl Jr. |title=Goethe and Rousseau: Resonances of the Mind |date=2015 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |page=26}}</ref>

As atheism fell out of favor during the French Revolution, Diderot was vilified and considered responsible for the excessive persecution of the clergy.<ref>Andrew S. Curran, ''Diderot and the Art of Thinking Freely'', Other Press, 2019, pp. 395–397</ref>

In the next century, Diderot was admired by [[Honoré de Balzac|Balzac]], [[Eugène Delacroix|Delacroix]], [[Stendhal]], [[Émile Zola|Zola]], and [[Schopenhauer]].<ref>P. N. Furbank. ''Diderot: A Critical Biography.'' New York: Knopf, 1992. p. 446</ref> According to [[Auguste Comte|Comte]], Diderot was the foremost intellectual in an exciting age.<ref name=AoV />{{rp|679}} Historian [[Jules Michelet|Michelet]] described him as "the true Prometheus" and stated that Diderot's ideas would continue to remain influential long into the future. [[Karl Marx|Marx]] chose Diderot as his "favourite prose-writer."<ref>David McClellan. ''Karl Marx: His Life and Thought.'' New York: Harper & Row, 1973. p. 457</ref>