In 1747, Diderot is imprisoned with the castle of Vincennes, because one recognizes in him the author of the philosophical Thoughts, of the Letter on the blind men, the indiscreet Jewels. Very tested by the misfortune which strikes his/her friend, Rousseau visits him and, on the road of Vincennes, he knows the famous illumination which the subject put at the contest by the academy of Dijon inspires to him.

Besides it is known that Diderot inspired certain passages of the Speech on sciences and arts, even if it is difficult to appreciate his influence. The editor of the Encyclopedia approves then the Speech on the origin of the inequality among the men, but it understands badly the desire of loneliness that Rousseau known as to test. When Diderot affirms, in the natural Son, that “the man of property is in the company, and that there is only the malicious one which is alone”, Rousseau is estimated aimed and is moved by the ease with which his/her friend answers him.

It is thus into 1757 that the two men start to move away, and the estrangement is accentuated until 1770, when Rousseau counts Diderot with the number of its enemies. Each one will describe the history of this relation on the tone of a sincere regret. As of the Letter in Alembert on the spectacles, Rousseau acknowledges its disappointment: “I had Aristarque severe and judicious, I do not have it any more, I do not want any more; but I will regret it unceasingly, and it misses much more still in my heart than with my writings”.

And in the Test on the reigns of Claude and Néron, Diderot Formula One a similar report: “Ask a lover misled the reason of his obstinate attachment for an infidel, and you will learn the reason from the obstinate attachment of a man of letters for a man of letters of a distinguished talent.”

More, consult the card on Denis Diderot.