Premise Course: How can we judge something’s value? Diderot’s Rameau’s Nephew

(Learn about Premise classes here: https://www.premiseinstitute.com/premisefaq)

We love to make value judgments: we argue about the quality of a TV show, the morality of a politician, the appropriateness of a tweet. Rameau’s Nephew, the secret classic by encyclopedic master of the French Enlightenment, Denis Diderot, is an incisive and honest consideration of how we might judge something as beautiful or good in the modern world. This whirlwind of a dialogue moves from music to virtue and education, crime, money, and on and on. Diderot presents himself as a thoughtful and upright intellectual, unconvinced by religion, supporting the latest science, and open to reforming society on new principles. But the real star of the show is Rameau (nephew of the famous composer also named Rameau) whose insightful wit and stark immorality challenge both the narrator and reader. We are left uncertain how to respond.

Diderot tells us of Rameau’s nephew: “If such a character makes his appearance in some circle, he is like a grain of yeast that ferments and restores to each of us a part of his native individuality. He shakes and stirs us up, makes us praise or blame, smokes out the truth, discloses the worth and unmasks the rascals.” By reading this inventive text, we should be able to ferment some lively conversation of our own.

The Barzun/Bowen translation published by Hackett is preferred, but any modern translation should be fine.

Learn more about Rameau’s Nephew on the Premise Goodreads page.

Instructor: Jacob Greenstine

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