Project Gutenberg's Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary, by VoltaireThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and withalmost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away orre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License includedwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.orgTitle: Voltaire's Philosophical DictionaryAuthor: VoltaireRelease Date: June 12, 2006 [EBook #18569]Language: EnglishCharacter set encoding: ISO-8859-1*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VOLTAIRE'S PHILOSOPHICAL ***Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Lisa Reigel and the OnlineDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net[TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: Greek words in this text have been transliteratedand placed between +marks+.]Voltaire's Philosophical DictionaryNew YorkCARLTON HOUSEMANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA_PREFACE_This book does not demand continuous reading; but at whatever place oneopens it, one will find matter for reflection. The most useful books arethose of which readers themselves compose half; they extend the thoughtsof which the germ is presented to them; they correct what seemsdefective to them, and they fortify by their reflections what seems tothem weak.It is only really by enlightened people that this book can be read; theordinary man is not made for such knowledge; philosophy will never behis lot. Those who say that there are truths which must be hidden fromthe people, need not be alarmed; the people do ...
Project Gutenberg's Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary, by Voltaire
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary
Author: Voltaire
Release Date: June 12, 2006 [EBook #18569]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VOLTAIRE'S PHILOSOPHICAL ***
Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Lisa Reigel and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
[TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: Greek words in this text have been transliterated
and placed between +marks+.]
Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary
New York
CARLTON HOUSE
MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
_PREFACE_
This book does not demand continuous reading; but at whatever place one
opens it, one will find matter for reflection. The most useful books are
those of which readers themselves compose half; they extend the thoughts
of which the germ is presented to them; they correct what seems
defective to them, and they fortify by their reflections what seems to
them weak.
It is only really by enlightened people that this book can be read; the
ordinary man is not made for such knowledge; philosophy will never be
his lot. Those who say that there are truths which must be hidden from
the people, need not be alarmed; the people do not read; they work six
days of the week, and on the seventh go to the inn. In a word,
philosophical works are made only for philosophers, and every honest manmust try to be a philosopher, without pluming himself on being one.
This alphabet is extracted from the most estimable works which are not
commonly within the reach of the many; and if the author does not always
mention the sources of his information, as being well enough known to
the learned, he must not be suspected of wishing to take the credit for
other people's work, because he himself preserves anonymity, according
to this word of the Gospel: "Let not thy left hand know what thy right
hand doeth."
_CONTENTS_
PAGE
PREFACE BY VOLTAIRE 5
ADULTERY 11
ADVOCATE 16
ANCIENTS AND MODERNS 17
ANIMALS 21
ANTIQUITY 24
ARTS 27
ASTROLOGY 29
ATHEISM 32
AUTHORITY 46
AUTHORS 48
BANISHMENT 50
BANKRUPTCY 51
BEAUTY 53
BISHOP 55
BOOKS 57
BOULEVERD 60
BOURGES 61
BRAHMINS 62
CHARACTER 65
CHARLATAN 68
CIVIL LAWS 73
CLIMATE 74
COMMON SENSE 78
CONCATENATION OF EVENTS 80
CONTRADICTIONS 83
CORN 85
CROMWELL 88
CUSTOMS 94
DEMOCRACY 96
DESTINY 98
DEVOUT 102
ECCLESIASTICAL MINISTRY 103
EMBLEM 106
ENGLISH THEATRE, ON THE 110
ENVY 112
EQUALITY 114
EXPIATION 118
EXTREME 122
EZOURVEIDAM 125
FAITH 126FALSE MINDS 128
FATHERLAND 131
FINAL CAUSES 133
FRAUD 136
FREE-WILL 142
FRENCH 146
FRIENDSHIP 150
GOD 151
HELVETIA 156
HISTORY 157
IGNORANCE 163
IMPIOUS 166
JOAN OF ARC 168
KISSING 173
LANGUAGES 178
LAWS 184
LIBERTY 187
LIBRARY 191
LIMITS OF THE HUMAN MIND 194
LOCAL CRIMES 195
LOVE 197
LUXURY 200
MAN 203
MAN IN THE IRON MASK 204
MARRIAGE 210
MASTER 211
MEN OF LETTERS 214
METAMORPHOSIS 216
MILTON, ON THE REPROACH OF PLAGIARISM AGAINST 217
MOHAMMEDANS 220
MOUNTAIN 221
NAKEDNESS 222
NATURAL LAW 224
NATURE 227
NECESSARY 231
NEW NOVELTIES 236
PHILOSOPHER 237
POWER, OMNIPOTENCE 240
PRAYERS 245
PR�CIS OF ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY 247
PREJUDICES 251
RARE 255
REASON 257
RELIGION 259
SECT 267
SELF-ESTEEM 271
SOUL 273
STATES, GOVERNMENTS 294
SUPERSTITION 297
TEARS 299
THEIST 301
TOLERANCE 302TRUTH 305
TYRANNY 308
VIRTUE 309
WHY? 313
DECLARATION OF ADMIRERS, QUESTIONERS AND DOUBTERS 315
_ADULTERY_
NOTE ON A MAGISTRATE WRITTEN ABOUT 1764
A senior magistrate of a French town had the misfortune to have a wife
who was debauched by a priest before her marriage, and who since covered
herself with disgrace by public scandals: he was so moderate as to leave
her without noise. This man, about forty years old, vigorous and of
agreeable appearance, needs a woman; he is too scrupulous to seek to
seduce another man's wife, he fears intercourse with a public woman or
with a widow who would serve him as concubine. In this disquieting and
sad state, he addresses to his Church a plea of which the following is a
pr�cis:
My wife is criminal, and it is I who am punished. Another woman is
necessary as a comfort to my life, to my virtue even; and the sect of
which I am a member refuses her to me; it forbids me to marry an honest
girl. The civil laws of to-day, unfortunately founded on canon law,
deprive me of the rights of humanity. The Church reduces me to seeking
either the pleasures it reproves, or the shameful compensations it
condemns; it tries to force me to be criminal.
I cast my eyes over all the peoples of the earth; there is not a single
one except the Roman Catholic people among whom divorce and a new
marriage are not natural rights.
What upheaval of the rule has therefore made among the Catholics a
virtue of undergoing adultery, and a duty of lacking a wife when one has
been infamously outraged by one's own?
Why is a bond that has rotted indissoluble in spite of the great law
adopted by the code, _quidquid ligatur dissolubile est_? I am allowed a
separation _a mensa et thoro_, and I am not allowed divorce. The law
can deprive me of my wife, and it leaves me a name called "sacrament"!
What a contradiction! what slavery! and under what laws did we receive
birth!
What is still more strange is that this law of my Church is directly
contrary to the words which this Church itself believes to have been
uttered by Jesus Christ: "Whosoever shall put aw