A Philosophe is any of the literary men, scientists, and thinkers of 18th-century France who were united, in spite of divergent personal views, in their conviction of the supremacy and efficacy of human reason.

A Philosophe is any of the leading philosophical, political, and social writers of the 18th-century French Enlightenment.

The Philosophes are the skeptical thinkers of the 18th‐century Enlightenment in France, who subjected the established institutions and beliefs of their time to rational criticism.

Overall, a Philosophe is a thinker in the 18th century who doubted the Enlightenment in France and were usually literary men, scientists, or other thinkers in that time period.