The formation of the scientific identity of J. L. D'Alembert and his contribution to the development of literary genres of the XVIII century

Abstract

The article aims to analyze the reception of the personality of J. L. D'Alembert, a French educator, scientist and writer of the XVIII century, to identify the ways of formation of his multifaceted scientific identity. The name of J. L. D'Alembert belongs to science, philosophy and literature, the extraordinary biography of the scientist is considered in the socio-cultural context of the time, in close connection with the development of the humanities in France of the XVIII century. The question of the attitude of J. L. D'Alembert to encyclopedists who did not stand aside from the literary processes of their time is clarified. The appeal to the biographical method helps to identify the role of cultural and social factors in the formation of the personality of J. L. D'Alembert as a writer and creator of a number of literary genres. The scientific novelty of the work consists in a comprehensive analysis of the scientist's contribution to the development of scientific and literary genres of that time - preliminary reasoning, elogies, an encyclopedic article, which became a historical and literary phenomenon of the Enlightenment era. The study of the work of J. L. D'Alembert allows us to identify him as a versatile personality who possessed communicative leadership and encyclopedic dominance. It is interesting to study the reverse impact of the personality of J. L. D'Alembert on the socio-cultural situation of the period of his scientific and literary creativity. The result of the study is the identification of four "passionate phases" of the biography of J. L. D'Alembert, the stages of the formation of the scientist, which contributed to his self-identification as a person: achievements in mathematics and hydrodynamics, inclusion in the circle of the academic scientific elite, the creation of an "Encyclopedia" and cooperation with D. Diderot, literary activity and scientific and artistic understanding of science.