This talk with Joanna R. Stalnaker, Associate Professor of French, Columbia University and Visiting Associate Professor of French, Princeton University (Spring 2018) will approach the question of the Enlightenment’s legacy from a historical perspective, by asking what philosophes and salonnières like Diderot, Rousseau, Voltaire, and Deffand believed they were leaving behind when they died. A closer look at the French Enlightenment’s testamentary moment reveals a new and unfamiliar perspective on the philosophy of this period.
