'Procedes Huc': Voltaire, Newton, and Locke in Lettres Philosophiques.
In Lettres philosophiques, Letter XIII is devoted to Locke, as are Letters XIV-XVII to Newton. The ordering of these letters is not adequately explained by comparing the dates of birth or death of the two thinkers. For the Letter on Locke not only precedes but also 'frames' those on Newton, in the s...
| Published in: | Neophilologus Vol. 101; no. 1; pp. 15 - 29 |
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| Format: | Article |
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Springer Nature
Jan2017
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=120630502&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 120630502 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00282677 OK9 jtl: Neophilologus issn: 00282677 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Jan2017 vid: 101 iid: 1 pid: 237 pub: Springer Nature artinfo: ui: 120630502 10.1007/s11061-016-9501-9 ppf: 15 ppct: 14 formats: fmt: @attributes: type: P size: 406KB tig: atl: 'Procedes Huc': Voltaire, Newton, and Locke in Lettres Philosophiques. aug: au: Fowler, James affil: University of Kent , 5 South Canterbury Road Canterbury CT1 3LH UK su: Lettres Philosophiques (Book) Locke, John, 1632-1704 Newton, Isaac, 1642-1727 Letters Voltaire, 1694-1778 Theory of knowledge sug: subj: Lettres Philosophiques (Book) Locke, John, 1632-1704 Newton, Isaac, 1642-1727 Letters Voltaire, 1694-1778 Theory of knowledge keyword: Epistemology Lettres philosophiques Locke Natural philosophy Newton Voltaire ab: In Lettres philosophiques, Letter XIII is devoted to Locke, as are Letters XIV-XVII to Newton. The ordering of these letters is not adequately explained by comparing the dates of birth or death of the two thinkers. For the Letter on Locke not only precedes but also 'frames' those on Newton, in the sense that it provides the reader with a guide through the philosophical intricacies of Letters XIV-XVII. This works in two ways. On the one hand, in order to defend Newton against his detractors Voltaire broadly adopts Locke's perspective on the relation among words, ideas and things. On the other hand, he subtly and misleadingly grafts Locke's epistemology onto the Principia, though it differs from Newton's epistemology in significant respects. For Locke, unlike Newton, holds that we can identify fixed, permanent limits concerning what kind of thing humanity can know of matter and the universe. Voltaire presents Newton's ideas as though they respected Locke's limits. However, we can glimpse Voltaire's own attitude in the final words of Letter XV: 'Procedes huc, et non ibis amplius': Voltaire agrees more closely with Locke than Newton concerning the limits of epistemology. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Neophilologus is a copyright of Springer, 2017. All Rights Reserved. item: Neophilologus holder: Springer Nature dt: @attributes: year: 2017 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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