| Title: | Sociable, Urbane |
| Original Title: | Sociable, Aimable |
| Volume and Page: | Vol. 15 (1765), p. 251 |
| Author: | Louis, chevalier de Jaucourt (biography) |
| Translator: | Nelly S. Hoyt; Thomas Cassirer |
| Subject terms: |
French language
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| Original Version (ARTFL): | Link |
| Source: | Nelly S. Hoyt and Thomas Cassirer, trans., The Encyclopedia: Selections: Diderot, d'Alembert and a Society of Men of Letters (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1965). |
| Rights/Permissions: |
This text is protected by copyright and may be linked to without seeking permission. Please see http://quod.lib.umich.edu/d/did/terms.html for information on reproduction. |
| URL: | http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0000.175 |
| Citation (MLA): | Jaucourt, Louis, chevalier de. "Sociable, Urbane." The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert Collaborative Translation Project. Translated by Nelly S. Hoyt and Thomas Cassirer. Ann Arbor: Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library, 2003. Web. [fill in today's date in the form 18 Apr. 2009 and remove square brackets]. <http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0000.175>. Trans. of "Sociable, Aimable," Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, vol. 15. Paris, 1765. |
| Citation (Chicago): | Jaucourt, Louis, chevalier de. "Sociable, Urbane." The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert Collaborative Translation Project. Translated by Nelly S. Hoyt and Thomas Cassirer. Ann Arbor: Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.did2222.0000.175 (accessed [fill in today's date in the form April 18, 2009 and remove square brackets]). Originally published as "Sociable, Aimable," Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, 15:251 (Paris, 1765). |
Sociable, Urbane [1] These two words are no longer synonyms in our language.
The sociable man possesses the qualities required for the good of society, that is to say, a kind character, humanity, frankness that is not uncouth, a willingness to please without engaging in flattery, and above all a heart inclined to good deeds; in a word, the sociable man is truly a citizen of his country. See Sociability.
The urbane man, according to M. Duclos, [2] or in any case the type of man we call urbane today, is quite indifferent to the common good; he is most eager to make himself agreeable in any group into which he is thrown by chance or by choice, while he is unconcerned by the fate of an individual. He loves no one, is not loved by anyone, yet all find him agreeable. Often he is courted by the same people who despise him.
The individual relationships of the sociable man are bonds that link him ever more closely to the state, while those of the urbane man are only another form of dissipation by which he is diverted from his fundamental duties. The sociable man inspires us with the desire to share his life; the urbane man repels or at least should repel all upright citizens.
Notes
1. [The French word is aimable , which in the eighteenth-century context has some of the connotations of urbane, polite, agreeable, and ingratiating.]
2. [Ch. P. Duclos, Considérations sur les moeurs de ce siècle ; the first edition appeared in 1750.]