Un abrégé de la « vie philosophique » de Jacques-André Naigeon

Jacques-André Naigeon (1735-1810), long neglected, can no longer be underestimated as an interpreter of the Enlightenment. The aim of this article is to briefly outline some avenues of research on Naigeon, focusing on the second part of his life. Between unshakeable atheism and widespread materialism, he was the protagonist of some fundamental undertakings of the philosophical century and, unlike the “Maitre” Diderot and his “colleague” d’Holbach, he witnessed the French Revolution and was therefore able, until 1810, to confront new cultural possibilities and to try to accredit himself as a “public” philosopher, even though he felt somewhat rejected by this new cultural system, of which he was, in a certain sense, also part.