When Diderot Met Catherine: Some Reflections on Archetypic Event

Abstract

The article discusses a meeting in 1773–1774 Empress of Russia Catherine ΙΙ the Great and philosopher Denis Diderot, which is interpreted as the archetypal event of the collision of the Western Enlightenment with a country located on the periphery of Western civilization. Diderot was one of the few Enlightenment thinkers who recognized the challenges posed by the globalization of the ideas and practices of the Enlightenment. The article discusses the problem of "enlightened despotism", it is suggested that this problem anticipates the desire to modernize the dictatorial regimes of the 20th century