Eléments de la philosophie de Newton
Identifiers
CMV:
CMV32939
Repository:
Shelfmark:
MS 23
Title:
Eléments de la philosophie de Newton
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Content
People:
Incipit Diplomatic:
Je m’étais donné à la philosophie, croyant y trouver le repos, que Newton apelle reim proisus substantialent; mais je vis que la racine quarrée du cube des rèvolutions des planètes, et les quarrées de leurs distancés, faisoient encor des ennemis.
Incipit Modernised:
In Own Hand:
Brief Summary:
Transcript of the ‘Courte réponse aux longs discours d’un docteur Allemand’ at OCV, vol.15, ‘Rejoinders to critics’, p.756-62, l.1-138.
Detailed Summary:
Voltaire discusses his views on metaphysics in response to Louis-Martin Kahle (1712-1775), professor and dean of the Faculty of Philosophy in Göttingen and makes a brief mention his encounter with Sir Isaac Newton in England. Voltaire had published Métaphysique de Newton in 1740, a text which would later form the first part of his Elements de la philosophie de Newton. Voltaire writes that he had been much criticised by some German doctors and his ‘Courte réponse’ is a reply to this criticism. The text ends with a passage in English which quotes John Milton’s Paradise Lost: ‘and reason’d high / of providence, fore knowledge, will, and fate: / fix’t fate, free will, fore knowledge absolute: / And foud non end, &c’ (l.558-61).
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Physical Description
Material(s):
Extent:
4 ff.
Format:
Dimensions:
190 x 150 mm
Hands:
2
Watermark:
Countermark:
Both sheets of paper are countermarked with the initials ‘MS’.
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Additional Comments:
Along the foldline of both sheets of paper are small holes, suggesting that this text had been part of a bound collection at one time.
Materiality Keywords:
Decorations:
Undecorated
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Sections of the text have been underlined. Other words have been crossed out. A small note outlining the contents of the letter has been added to the top left-hand corner of p.1 in a separate hand.
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