Diderot's revolutionary stoicism in the Essai sur Seneque compared to his contributions to the Histoire des deux Indes. [Le stoicisme revolutionnaire de Diderot dans l'Essai sur Senèque par rapport a' la Contribution a' l'Histoire des deux Indes]

Diderot's later philosophical reflection concentrated on politics and physiology. The old philosopher's interest in an anthropology founded on medicine instead of metaphysics increased with his scientific reading, while his ideas on politics and the civil constitution became more radical and anti-tyrannical after his visit to Russia. The two versions of the Essai sur Sénèque (1778 and 1782) and the changes in his translations of Seneca reveal his secret aim of attacking all forms of authority or despotic power that infringe society's rights. Diderot replaces the classical conception of" lèse-majesté " with the notion of the violation of human rights and the resistance of the subject. While this aim remains hidden in the Essai, in his contributions to Raynal's Histoire des deux Indes reveal a transformation of Stoic elitism into an openly antidespotic philosophy. Diderot comes out openly against " the natural right to command " and extends the application of Stoic philosophical principles to the whole human race. This is one of the origins of the modern use of Roman thought by the revolutionaries of 1789.