Diderot, the Mechanical Arts, and the Encyclopédie: In Search of the Heritage of Technology Education

Through the Encyclopédie, Diderot attempted to disseminate specialized knowledge in the mechanical arts organized by his own rational method. Furthermore, he included this knowledge in his “general system of human knowledge” (ENCYCLOPÉDIE, Vol. 5, p. 643A), but he did not achieve an in- tegrated view of the mechanical arts and society. His legacy, which has influ- enced subsequent representations of technology, is a challenge for technology educators as they seek to teach the integration of technology and society while avoiding such a single-model ideology.