Author: Robert Zaretsky File Type: pdf A dual biography crafted around the famous encounter between the French philosopher who wrote about power and the Russian empress who wielded it with great aplomb.In October 1773, after a grueling trek from Paris, the aged and ailing Denis Diderot stumbled from a carriage in wintery St. Petersburg. The centurys most subversive thinker, Diderot arrived as the guest of its most ambitious and admired ruler, Empress Catherine of Russia. What followed was unprecedented more than forty private meetings, stretching over nearly four months, between these two extraordinary figures. Diderot had come from Paris in order to guideor so he thoughtthe woman who had become the continents last great hope for an enlightened ruler. But as it soon became clear, Catherine had a very different understanding not just of her role but of his as well. Philosophers, she claimed, had the luxury of writing on unfeeling paper. Rulers had the task of writing on human skin, sensitive to the slightest touch.Diderot and Catherines series of meetings, held in her private chambers at the Hermitage, captured the imagination of their contemporaries. While heads of state like Frederick of Prussia feared the consequences of these conversations, intellectuals like Voltaire hoped they would further the goals of the Enlightenment.InCatherine & Diderot, Robert Zaretsky traces the lives of these two remarkable figures, inviting us to reflect on the fraught relationship between politics and philosophy, and between a man of thought and a woman of action.**ReviewLively and engaging throughout, Zaretsky takes a fresh look at the relationship between Catherine and Diderot, seeing it through the searching eyes of the philosophe rightly described as one of the most provocative thinkers of the age.Simon Dixon, author of *Catherine the Great* A vivid, exceptionally readable narrative of Denis Diderots visit to Russia and his encounter with Catherine the Great. It also provides a lucid introduction to Diderots major works.David A. Bell, author of *Napoleon A Concise Biography* Catherine the great empress once told Diderot the great philosophe that while he had the luxury of writing on unfeeling paper, her profession required her to write on human skin, which was far more ticklish. How right she was! Yet for all their differences, the two enjoyed one of the most remarkable relationships of the Enlightenment age. Robert Zaretsky tells their story with elegance, wit, and insight in this delightful book.Willard Sunderland, author of *The Barons Cloak*About the Author bRobert Zaretskyb is a literary biographer and historian of France. He is Professor of Humanities at the Honors College, University of Houston, and the author of many books, including A Life Worth Living Albert Camus and the Quest for Meaning and Boswells Enlightenment. Zaretsky is the history editor for the Los Angeles Review of Books, a regular columnist for The Forward, and a frequent contributor to the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Foreign Policy, and Chronicle of Higher Education.

Author: Paul Dumouchel File Type: pdf First published in French in 1979, The Ambivalence of Scarcity was a groundbreaking work on mimetic theory. Now expanded upon with new, specially written, and never-before-published conference texts and essays, this revised edition explores Rene Girards philosophy in three sections economy and economics, mimetic theory, and violence and politics in modern societies. The first section argues that though mimetic theory is in many ways critical of modern economic theory, this criticism can contribute to the enrichment of economic thinking. The second section explores the issues of nonviolence and misrecognition (meconnaissance), which have been at the center of many discussions of Girards work. The final section proposes mimetic analyses of the violence typical of modern societies, from high school bullying to genocide and terrorist attacks. Politics, Dumouchel argues, is a violent means of protecting us from our own violent tendencies, and it can at times become the source of the very savagery from which it seeks to protect us. The books conclusion analyzes the relationship between ethics and economics, opening new avenues of research and inviting further exploration. Dumouchels introduction reflects on the importance of Rene Girards work in relation to ongoing research, especially in social sciences and philosophy.