Abstract

The writings of Diderot, even the most philosophical, are characterized by a poetic style, by the frequent use of figures of speech, especially metaphor. The metaphorical images like, the "great chain of being", the "swarm of bees" and the "sensitive harpsichord", are an expression of experimental philosophy that proceeds by "presentiments", by intuitions and not by concepts. The philosopher, from the experience of natural phenomena, forms an idea, though vague, of nature as a dynamic unity of parts, as the order in the making. Standing at the intersection of philosophy, poetics and life sciences, the metaphor suggests an image of the organic unity of nature and the human body, the continuous and gradual metamorphosis of every natural being