When Diderot Met Catherine: Some Reflections on an Archetypic Event

Abstract

The paper deals with the meeting of Catherine ii and Denis Diderot in 1773–1774, which is interpreted as an archetypal event of the clash of Western Enlightenment with a country on the periphery of Western civilisation. Diderot was one of the few Enlightenment thinkers who saw the problems associated with the globalisation of Enlightenment ideas and practices. The problem of “enlightened despotism” is discussed; the suggestion is that it foreshadows the 20th century dictatorial regimes pursuing modernisation.