Llana J
Humanities & Languages Department, State University of New York, College at Old Westbury, NY 11568, USA.
J Hist Biol. 2000 Spring;33(1):1-25. doi: 10.1023/a:1004736103768.
The general popularity of natural history in the eighteenth century is mirrored in the frequency and importance of the more than 4,500 articles on natural history in the Encyclopedie. The main contributors to natural history were Daubenton, Diderot, Jaucourt and d'Holbach, but some of the key animating principles derive from Buffon, who wrote nothing specifically for the Encyclopedie. Still, a number of articles reflect his thinking, especially his antipathy toward Linnaeus. There was in principle a natural tie between encyclopedism, with its emphasis on connected knowledge, and the task of natural historians who concentrated on the relationships among living forms. Both the encyclopedists and the natural historians aimed at a sweeping overview of knowledge, and we see that Diderot's discussions of the encyclopedia were apparently informed by his reading of natural history. Most of the articles on natural history drew from traditional sources, but there are differences in emphasis and choice of subject, depending upon the author. Diderot's 300 contributions are often practical, interesting, and depend upon accounts from other parts of the world. Jaucourt, who wrote more articles on natural history than anyone else, followed in his foodsteps. Daubenton's 900 articles reflected a more narrow, professional approach. His contributions concluded for the most part with Volume 8, and Jaucourt carried on almost single-handedly after that. While staking out traditional ground (description, taxonomy) and advancing newer theoretical views linked with Buffon, natural history in the Encyclopedie avoided almost completely the sentimentalism concerning nature that developed after Rousseau.
18世纪博物学的广泛流行反映在《百科全书》中4500多篇关于博物学文章的数量和重要性上。博物学的主要贡献者有多邦东、狄德罗、雅库和霍尔巴赫，但一些关键的主导原则源自布丰，他并未专门为《百科全书》撰写文章。尽管如此，仍有一些文章反映了他的思想，尤其是他对林奈的反感。原则上，强调知识关联性的百科全书主义与专注于生物形态之间关系的博物学家的任务存在天然联系。百科全书编纂者和博物学家都旨在全面概述知识，我们可以看到狄德罗对百科全书的讨论显然受到了他对博物学阅读的影响。大多数关于博物学的文章都取材于传统资料，但根据作者不同，在重点和主题选择上存在差异。狄德罗的300篇稿件通常很实用、有趣，且依赖于来自世界其他地区的记载。雅库撰写的关于博物学的文章比其他任何人都多，他追随狄德罗的脚步。多邦东的900篇文章反映了一种更狭隘的专业方法。他的贡献大多在第8卷结束，之后几乎是雅库独自继续相关工作。在占据传统领域（描述、分类学）并推进与布丰相关的更新的理论观点的同时，《百科全书》中的博物学几乎完全避免了卢梭之后发展起来的对自然的感伤主义。
