. "All across Europe, such writers and thinkers as Denis Diderot (1713-1784) and Jean La Rond d'Alembert (1717-1783) in France, Cesare Beccaria (1735?-1794) in Italy, and Gotthold Lessing (1729-1781) in Germany were speaking out about the need for rational solutions to problems and for freedom of thought and speech." . . .