• Citer

L’Histoire des deux Indes et le Dictionnaire universel des sciences de Jean-Baptiste Robinet

par Collart, Muriel
Editeur scientifique Courtney, Cecil Patrick;Mander, Jenny
Référence Raynal’s Histoire des deux Indes: colonialism, networks and global exchange, Voltaire Foundation, Oxford, page (259-276)
Publication Publié, 2015-10-26

Publication dans des actes

• Accès en ligne
• Détails
• Contenu
• Statistiques

Résumé :

This article investigates the use of the Histoire philosophique et politique des établissements et du commerce des Européens dans les deux Indes by Guillaume-Thomas Raynal and Denis Diderot as a source for the Dictionnaire universel des sciences (DUS) in the late eighteenth century. Through a systematic comparison of selected entries, it analyses the modes of textual borrowing, adaptation, and transformation involved in the transfer of knowledge from a major Enlightenment work into an encyclopedic format.The study shows that the DUS relies extensively on different editions of the Histoire des deux Indes, often reproducing passages verbatim while also combining materials from multiple editions. Jean-Baptiste-René Robinet and his collaborators adapt the source text through abridgement, reorganization, and selective omission. These interventions affect both the structure and the ideological content of the borrowed material.Particular attention is paid to omissions concerning political critique, religious intolerance, colonial violence, and slavery. The analysis highlights how the DUS mitigates or suppresses the most radical or controversial aspects of the original text, especially passages attributed to Diderot, in order to conform to the constraints of encyclopedic writing and broader intellectual and political contexts.More generally, the article sheds light on the processes of knowledge circulation and transformation in Enlightenment Europe, emphasizing the role of encyclopedias as mediators that reshape sources according to editorial, ideological, and practical considerations.