The philosophes (French for ‘philosophers’) were writers, intellectuals and scientists who shaped the French Enlightenment during the 18th century.
The best known philosophes were Baron de Montesquieu, Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Denis Diderot. Other lesser-known figures included the mathematician and political scientist Nicolas de Condorcet, religious critic Nicolas Boulanger and atheist writer Jacques-Andre Naigeon.
