Denis Diderot(1713-84)was one of the most significant figures of the French Enlightenment.His political writings cover the period from the first volume of the Encyclopedie(1751),of which he was principal editor,to the third editon of Raynal's Histionre des Deux Indes(1780),one of the most widely read books of the per-revolutionalry period.This volume contains the most important of Diderot's articles for the Encyclopedie,a substantial number of his contributions to the Histoire and the complete texts of his Supplement au Voyage de Bougainville,one of his most visionary works,and his Observations surle Nakaz,a precise and detailed political work translated here in English for the first time.
The editor's introduction sets these works in their context and shows the underlying coherence of Diderot's thought.A chronology of events and a list of further reading are included as aids to the reader.

在政治理論領域，“劍橋政治思想史原著繫列”作為主要的學生教科叢 書，如今已牢固確立了其地位。本叢書旨在使學生能夠獲得從古希臘到20世 紀初期西方政治思想史方面所有最為重要的原著。它囊括了所有著名的經典 原著，但與此同時，它又擴展了傳統的評價尺度，以便能夠納入範圍廣泛、 不那麼出名的作品。而在此之前，這些作品中有許多從未有過現代英文版本 可資利用。隻要可能，所選原著都會以完整而不刪節的形式出版，其中的譯 作則是專門為本叢書的目的而安排。每一本書都有一個評論性的導言，加上 歷史年表、生平梗概、進一步閱讀指南，以及必要的詞彙表和原文注解。 本叢書的最終目的是，為西方政治思想的整個發展脈絡提供一個清晰的 輪廓。

Foreword
Introduction
Chronology
Further reading
Articles from the Encyclopedie
The Supplement au Voyage de Bougainville
Observations sur le Nakaz
Extracts from the Histoire des Deux Indes
Index