A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 04
⚠️ Content warning
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- Clean text
- Extent:
- ~84,000 words · 399 passages
Cite this work
- APAVoltaire. (n.d.). A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 04. SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/voltaire/a-philosophical-dictionary-volume-04
- MLAVoltaire. "A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 04." SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/voltaire/a-philosophical-dictionary-volume-04.
- ChicagoVoltaire. A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 04. SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/voltaire/a-philosophical-dictionary-volume-04.
What it is about
Volume 4 of ten of the Philosophical Dictionary. Chinese Catechism – Curiosity. It continues the Chinese dialogue and reaches the country priest.
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 VIII 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. IV VOLTAIRE'S ARREST AT FRANKFORT _Frontispiece_ OLIVER CROMWELL TIME MAKES TRUTH TRIUMPHANT FRANCIS I. AND HIS SISTER * * * * * VOLTAIRE A PHILOSOPHICAL DICTIONARY IN TEN VOLUMES VOL. IV. COUNTRY--FALSITY * * * * * COUNTRY. SECTION I According to our custom, we confine ourselves on this subject to the statement of a few queries which we cannot resolve. Has a Jew a country? If he is born at Coimbra, it is in the midst of a crowd of ignorant and absurd persons, who will dispute with him, and to whom he makes foolish answers, if he dare reply at all. He is surrounded by inquisitors, who would burn him if they knew that he declined to eat bacon, and all his wealth would belong to them. Is Coimbra _his_ country? Can he exclaim, like the Horatii in Corneille: _Mourir pour la patrie est un si digne sort_ _Qu'on briguerait en foule, une si belle mort._ S