The Enlightenment not only propagated the ideas of equality and freedom and declared sensory experience as the sole source of knowledge: in France, it also revived the project of materialism and brought it to a new peak. Denis Diderot is one of the most radical and original representatives of this Enlightenment naturalism. He pursues the idea that man is nothing more than a part of a dynamic, changing natural world with remarkable openness and a passion for intellectual experimentation across all areas of philosophy. The volume contains Diderot's central philosophical writings and provides a concise introduction to his thinking.