The Style Of Materialist Skepticism: Diderot’s Jacques le Fataliste

Abstract

Does fiction have unique philosophic potential? Can it help to make a reader free or more moral? Diderot certainly thought so, and Jacques the Fatalist is his fictional attempt to create the possibility of freedom and morality even in a materially determined universe. In this avant-garde novel, Diderot forges a literary style informed by his materialist skepticism. Upending readers’ expectations by confronting them with the most ordinary material reality, he provokes skeptical questioning and, ultimately, the independent use of one’s reason. In this way, Jacques ’s unorthodox style and form are crucial for creating the potential for a free and moral existence.