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Title: Philosophical Dictionary by Francois-Marie Arouet Voltaire, Peter Gay ISBN: 0-15-671750-6 Publisher: Harcourt Pub. Date: April, 1967 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $2.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.7 (10 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Even relevant now
Comment: I'm not your typical philosophe reader, being a high school girl who usually prefers rap music to any sort of book, but there is something about voltaire's writings that appeals to me. NOt also are there some great statements made in this book, but clues to what life was like back in his day(such as in "love" the pox he is talking about is syphilis, which back then was associated with being immoral and in "astrology" he refers to his son dying in his cradle which was common then). His writing is witty, yet rational and even though sometimes difficult to interperet in modern language, if you read in serveral times and refer to a dictionary often you will understand what he is saying. Although some of the ariticles are irrelevent for today's world they are useful in historical context and there are many articles that are and always will be revelvent. Don't pass this book off as old fashioned, Voltaire never goes out of style.
Rating: 5
Summary: Essential Reading for Thinking Readers
Comment: I have kept this book by my bedside at many points in my life. I should first acknowldege that I also refer to the Bible occasionally, so I tend to draw strength and inspiration from dispirate sources. Voltaire was one of the true intellectual giants of his age, as well-read, erudite and witty as any personage in literary history. This book represents a distillation of all his writings, his "encyclopedic" entries, his treatises, his histories, etc. Reading these musings, you will well understand his occasional need to flee France for more liberal principalities (Prussia and Geneva, primarily).
Voltaire (the pen-name for Francois-Marie Arouet (1694-1778), like Gibbon, is no champion of Christianity. As a case-in-point, the Emperor Julian, who attempted unsuccessfully to restore the ancient cults in early Byzantium, and opposed the newly state-sanctioned "cult" of Christ, was Voltaire's paragon. For those readers interested in an interesting account of Julian's rule and of this era, Gore Vidal's "Julian" is a very well-written, but slightly flawed (in terms of its scholarship) account of the 4th Century ruler.
I particularly love Voltaire's take on "enthusiasm,": "Or was that word enthusiasm, from disturbance of the entrails, first given to that Pythia who, on the tripod at Delphi, received the spirit of Apollo through a part which seems made only to receive bodies?...It is the rarest of thing to unite reason with enthusiasm." No doubt the religious wars and persecutions that were a part and parcel of his era and French history for the preceeding two centuries no doubt had some bearing on his analysis.
To me, Voltaire is the precursor of Nietsche. In fact, Nietsche, though he rarely acknowledges Voltaire, makes practically the identical points that Voltaire makes here in his "The Anti Christ" and "The Twilight of the Idols." They were definitely on the same page in defining faith, vs. skepticism. There are term-papers and research papers galore out there waiting to be explored in this area. In response to my erudite German friend, Nietsche does in fact speak in glowing terms of Voltaire and even goes as far to say that he is his most admired French philosopher, so my comparison is not inappropriate.
This is not the only area that Voltaire investigates in this wide-ranging book. Ever wonder about the account of Gog, Magog, of which you might be only vaguely familiar? Voltaire is here to explain it to you. World Religions, the "Chinese Catechism," "Miracles," "Anthropophages," "Liebniz," "the souls of animals," "the tower of Babel," "Apis," "The Great Flood," and "The Spanish Inquisition;" all are covered and much more. If you do not complete this book marvelling at how truly encyclopaedic a mind you are dealing with (who better, together with Diderot to compile the first truly meaningful one in the Western World?), then you might not be as open-minded as you think. Even though some of Voltaire's statements of fact are dubious in light of subsequent discoveries, one must still marvel at the range of his intellect and curiosity.
Rating: 5
Summary: Ever Evolving Dialogue
Comment: It is humbling and therefore difficult to even think about rating a piece of work by Voltaire. Nevertheless, it was an amazing experience revisiting this book recently after reading it some 10 years ago. Much has changed over such a decade -- my own life, our surroundings, my beliefs, and the ways I relate to literature. In that sense, it is not surprising THAT the same text would now take on rather different meanings. What fascinates me is HOW -- much of the text managed to touch me deeply both times, via totally different angles through the prism of life. It is interesting enough that the insights are somewhat "omnipotent" and evolve with one's personal development; what is even more amazing is that the ideology would also be applicable in an era nearly 300 years after the book was written -- it is not uncommon to find works that grasp certain generally applicable themes in the development of (wo)manhood; however, insights in the commonalities of societies that span many many generations and across the globe are what a classics is really all about.
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Title: The Portable Voltaire by Voltaire, Fran-Cois Maria Arouet De Voltaire, Ben Ray Redman ISBN: 0140150412 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 July, 1977 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
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Title: Candide (Penguin Classics) by Francois M. Voltaire ISBN: 0140440046 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 May, 1990 List Price(USD): $6.95 |
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Title: A Treatise on Toleration and Other Essays (Great Minds) by Voltaire, Joseph McCabe ISBN: 0879758813 Publisher: Prometheus Books Pub. Date: 01 May, 1994 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Candide and Other Stories (OXFORD WORLD'S CLASSICS) by Voltaire, Roger Pearson ISBN: 0192834266 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 01 June, 1998 List Price(USD): $5.95 |
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Title: Political Writings (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought) by Denis Diderot, John Hope Mason, Robert Wokler ISBN: 0521369118 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 01 November, 1992 List Price(USD): $23.00 |
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