Paris: the centre of new ideas

Funding and feedback by salon patrons encouraged philosophers to put their ideas on paper.

• In 1748, Montesquieu published Spirit of the Laws, which advocated a separation of governmental powers.
• In 1751, Diderot helped create the Encyclopédie, among the first modern, general-purpose encyclopedias.
• In 1759, Voltaire published Candide, a sarcastic novella banned for its criticisms of religious and political institutions.
• In 1762, Rousseau published The Social Contract, a censored work which argued that laws should reflect the "will of the people" and that monarchs have no "divine right" to rule.