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D'Argens' writings are extremely wide-ranging and include works on philosophy, such as ''La Philosophie du Bon-Sens'', along with French literature and drama, aesthetics, psychology and art criticism. He was an enthusiast of music, theater, opera and painting.

D'Argens' writings are extremely wide-ranging and include works on philosophy, such as ''La Philosophie du Bon-Sens'', along with French literature and drama, aesthetics, psychology and art criticism. He was an enthusiast of music, theater, opera and painting.

Although he is widely regarded as the author of the novel [[Thérèse Philosophe]] (1748) this is a spurious attribution that has been rejected in the most authoritative modern study of d'Argens. <ref> Julia Gasper, ''The Marquis d’Argens: A Philosophical Life,'' Lexington Books, Lanham USA, 2013</ref>

Although he is widely regarded as the author of the novel [[Thérèse Philosophe]] (1748) this is a spurious attribution that has been rejected in the most authoritative modern study of d'Argens.<ref>Julia Gasper, ''The Marquis d’Argens: A Philosophical Life,'' Lexington Books, Lanham USA, 2013</ref>

<ref>Julia Gasper, "The Marquis d'Argens and the Authorship of Therese Philosophe" https://www.academia.edu/5337042/The_Marquis_d_Argens_and_the_Authorship_of_Th%C3%A9r%C3%A8se_Philosophe</ref>

<ref>Julia Gasper, "The Marquis d'Argens and the Authorship of Therese Philosophe" https://www.academia.edu/5337042/The_Marquis_d_Argens_and_the_Authorship_of_Th%C3%A9r%C3%A8se_Philosophe</ref>

==Early Life==

==Early life==

D'Argens was born in [[Aix-en-Provence]], the eldest son of a magistrate who was made a marquis in 1720. He was given an intensive Catholic and classical education at the hands of the Jesuits, but became a skeptic and eventually a Deist. An arch-opponent of the Catholic Church, intolerance and religious oppression, his books were frequently denounced by the [[Inquisition]]. In 1724 he accompanied the French ambassador on a journey to [[Constantinople]], where he lived for a year. After an adventurous youth, he was disinherited by his father. He then settled for a time in [[Amsterdam]], where he wrote his Memoirs and the celebrated ''[[Jewish Letters (novel)|Lettres juives]]'' (The Hague, 6 vols, 1738-1742). It was followed by ''Lettres chinoises'' (The Hague, 6 vols, 1739-1742), and ''Lettres cabalistiques'' (2nd ed., 7 vols, 1769). Next came the ''Mémoires Secrets de la République des Lettres'' (7 vols, 1743-1478), afterwards revised and augmented as ''Histoire de l'esprit humain'' (Berlin, 14 vols, 1765-1768). He also wrote six novels, which are unjustly neglected.  

D'Argens was born in [[Aix-en-Provence]], the eldest son of a magistrate who was made a marquis in 1720. He was given an intensive Catholic and classical education at the hands of the Jesuits, but became a skeptic and eventually a Deist. An arch-opponent of the Catholic Church, intolerance and religious oppression, his books were frequently denounced by the [[Inquisition]]. In 1724 he accompanied the French ambassador on a journey to [[Constantinople]], where he lived for a year. After an adventurous youth, he was disinherited by his father. He then settled for a time in [[Amsterdam]], where he wrote his Memoirs and the celebrated ''[[Jewish Letters (novel)|Lettres juives]]'' (The Hague, 6 vols, 1738-1742). It was followed by ''Lettres chinoises'' (The Hague, 6 vols, 1739-1742), and ''Lettres cabalistiques'' (2nd ed., 7 vols, 1769). Next came the ''Mémoires Secrets de la République des Lettres'' (7 vols, 1743-1478), afterwards revised and augmented as ''Histoire de l'esprit humain'' (Berlin, 14 vols, 1765-1768). He also wrote six novels, which are unjustly neglected.