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. The finest and fairest skin is a kind of bristled