A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 02
⚠️ Content warning
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- Clean text
- Extent:
- ~79,400 words · 377 passages
Cite this work
- APAVoltaire. (n.d.). A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 02. SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/voltaire/a-philosophical-dictionary-volume-02
- MLAVoltaire. "A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 02." SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/voltaire/a-philosophical-dictionary-volume-02.
- ChicagoVoltaire. A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 02. SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/voltaire/a-philosophical-dictionary-volume-02.
What it is about
Volume 2 of ten of the Philosophical Dictionary. Arius – Baptism. It contains the article on atheism, among the most debated in the collection.
Context and history
The form is the argument: a dictionary is consulted rather than read through, which made it impossible to refute as a whole and easy to circulate underground. Voltaire published it anonymously in 1764 and it was burned in Geneva and in Paris. A note on the edition: the catalogue holds TWO editions of the Philosophical Dictionary — this one in ten volumes and a single-volume Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary. They are not a duplicate: they are different selections and translations, and the articles do not correspond one to one. The original is French.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
One hundred and sixty-eight designs, comprising reproductions of rare old engravings, steel plates, photogravures, and curious fac-similes VOLUME VI E.R. DuMONT PARIS--LONDON--NEW YORK--CHICAGO _THE WORKS of VOLTAIRE_ _"Between two servants of Humanity, who appeared eighteen hundred years apart, there is a mysterious relation. * * * * Let us say it with a sentiment of profound respect: JESUS WEPT: VOLTAIRE SMILED. Of that divine tear and of that human smile is composed the sweetness of the present civilization."_ _VICTOR HUGO._ LIST OF PLATES--VOL. II THE BASTILLE--_Frontispiece_ AN ASTROLOGER A TYPE OF BEAUTY ALEXANDER'S TRIUMPH * * * * * VOLTAIRE A PHILOSOPHICAL DICTIONARY IN TEN VOLUMES VOL II. APPEARANCE--CALENDS * * * * * APPEARANCE. Are all appearances deceitful? Have our senses been given us only to keep us in continual delusion? Is everything error? Do we live in a dream, surrounded by shadowy chimeras? We see the sun setting when he is already below the horizon; before he has yet risen we see him appear. A square tower seems to be round. A straight stick, thrust into the water, seems to be bent. You see your face in a mirror and the image appears to be behind the glass: it is, however, neither behind nor before it. This glass, which to the sight and the touch is so smooth and even, is no other than an unequal congregation of projections and cavities.…