Although in the thirties - when Newtonian science was triumphant - Voltaire announced Cartesianism’s death, in 1770 he was still engaged in fighting a battle against Descartes’ mistakes. This essay attempts to clarify this apparent inconsistency, only in part explicable as a reaction against Eloges de Descartes written in 1765 on the occasion of the academic prize announced by the Académie Française. Actually, Voltaire wanted to fight Spinozist results of Cartesian philosophy. According to Voltaire, Spinozism was, in fact, the very source of materialism and atheism.
Benché negli anni trenta del settecento, quando il newtonianismo era trionfante, Voltaire avesse annunciato la fine del cartesianismo, nel 1770 era ancora impegnata in una battaglia contro gli errori di Descartes. L'articolo cerca di chiarire questa apparente contraddizione, soltanto in parte spiegabile come una reazione contro gli Eloges de Descartes scritti nel 1765 in occasione del concorso bandito dall'Académie française. Di fatto Voltaire intendeva combattere lo spinozismo, inteso come risultato della filosofia cartesiana, considerandolo la vera fonte del materialismo e dell'ateismo.
Voltaire e Descartes / Borghero, Carlo. - In: GIORNALE CRITICO DELLA FILOSOFIA ITALIANA. - ISSN 0017-0089. - LXXXI:(2002), pp. 1-40.
Voltaire e Descartes
BORGHERO, Carlo
2002
Abstract
Although in the thirties - when Newtonian science was triumphant - Voltaire announced Cartesianism’s death, in 1770 he was still engaged in fighting a battle against Descartes’ mistakes. This essay attempts to clarify this apparent inconsistency, only in part explicable as a reaction against Eloges de Descartes written in 1765 on the occasion of the academic prize announced by the Académie Française. Actually, Voltaire wanted to fight Spinozist results of Cartesian philosophy. According to Voltaire, Spinozism was, in fact, the very source of materialism and atheism.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.