Voltaire | Author and Philosopher Francois Marie Arouet (pen name Voltaire) was born on November 21, 1694 in Paris. Voltaire’s intelligence, wit and style made him one of France’s greatest writers and philosophers. Young Francois Marie received his education at “Louis-le-Grand,” a Jesuit college in Paris where he said he learned nothing but “Latin and the Stupidities.” In 1726, Voltaire insulted the powerful young nobleman, “Chevalier De Rohan,” and was given two options: imprisonment or exile. At the invitation of a highly-intelligent woman friend, “Marquise du Chatelet,” Voltaire moved into her “Chateau de Cirey” near Luneville in eastern France. In 1759, Voltaire purchased an estate called “Ferney” near the French-Swiss border where he lived until just before of his death. Voltaire returned to a hero’s welcome in Paris at age 83. If you are aware of books, movies, databases, web sites or other information sources about Voltaire or related subjects, or if you would like to comment, please contact us. Resource Menu
Waking Life (Philosophical Films) PHILOSOPHICAL ISSUES: Personal identity, free will, appearance/reality CHARACTERS: Unnamed lead character (Wiley Wiggins); other major characters listed below in discussion questions OTHER FILMS BY DIRECTOR RICHARD LINKLATER: Slacker (1991), Dazed and Confused (1993), Before Sunrise (1995), Suburbia (1996), The Newton Boys (1998) SYNOPSIS: “Waking Life” is an animated story about a nameless young man, played by Wiley Wiggins, who finds himself trapped in a continuous series of dreams. He walks or levitates from one scene to another, listening to a range of theories by philosophers, intellectuals and crackpots. The text commentary to the film states that “Waking life features a complex interweaving of conversations with professors, artists, writers and performers. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. Director Richard Linklater has created a masterpiece of philosophy and film with Waking Life.
Baruch Spinoza 17th century philosopher Baruch (de) Spinoza (;[14][15] Dutch: [baːˈrux spɪˈnoːzaː]; Portuguese: [ðɨ ʃpiˈnɔzɐ]; born Baruch Espinosa; later as an author and a correspondent Benedictus de Spinoza, anglicized to Benedict de Spinoza; 24 November 1632 – 21 February 1677[17][18][19][20]) was a Dutch philosopher of Portuguese Sephardi origin.[12][21][22] One of the early thinkers of the Enlightenment[23] and modern biblical criticism,[24] including modern conceptions of the self and the universe,[25] he came to be considered one of the great rationalists of 17th-century philosophy. Inspired by the groundbreaking ideas of René Descartes, Spinoza became a leading philosophical figure of the Dutch Golden Age. Spinoza's given name, which means "Blessed", varies among different languages. In Hebrew, his full name is written ברוך שפינוזה. In the Netherlands he used the Portuguese name Bento. Biography[edit] Family and community origins[edit] 17th-century Netherlands[edit] Early life[edit] Death[edit]
en.m.wikipedia 19th-century German composer, pianist and organist A grandson of the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, Felix Mendelssohn was born into a prominent Jewish family. He was brought up without religion until the age of seven, when he was baptised as a Reformed Christian. Felix was recognised early as a musical prodigy, but his parents were cautious and did not seek to capitalise on his talent. Mendelssohn enjoyed early success in Germany, and revived interest in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, notably with his performance of the St Matthew Passion in 1829. Life[edit] Childhood[edit] The family moved to Berlin in 1811, leaving Hamburg in disguise in fear of French reprisal for the Mendelssohn bank's role in breaking Napoleon's Continental System blockade. Surname[edit] Abraham Mendelssohn renounced the Jewish religion prior to Felix's birth; he and his wife decided not to have Felix circumcised, in contravention of the Jewish tradition. Career[edit] Musical education[edit] Early maturity[edit]
Voltaire French writer, satirist, the embodiment of the 18th-century Enlightenment. Voltaire is remembered as a crusader against tyranny and bigotry. Compared to Rousseau's (1712-1778) rebelliousness and idealism, Voltaire's world view was more skeptical, but both of their ideas influenced deeply the French Revolution. Voltaire disliked Rousseau and wrote to him in 1761: "One feels like crawling on all fours after reading your work." "Liberty of thought is the life of the soul." (from Essay on Epic Poetry, 1727) François-Marie Arouet de Voltaire was born in Paris into a middle-class family. Voltaire did not support the dogmatic theology of institutional religions, his religiosity was anticlerical. In 1716 Voltaire was arrested and exiled from Paris for five months. At his 1726 stay at the Bastille, Voltaire was visited by a flow of admirers. "In general, the art of government consists in taking as much money as possible from one class of citizens to give to the other." Selected works:
American Philosophy The term “American Philosophy,” perhaps surprisingly, has been somewhat vague. While it has tended to primarily include philosophical work done by Americans within the geographical confines of the United States, this has not been exclusively the case. For example, Alfred North Whitehead came to the United States relatively late in life. On the other hand, George Santayana spent much of his life outside of the United States. Table of Contents 1. 17th Century Though many people, communities and nations populated the area that is now the United States long before the U.S.A. became a nation-state, and they all wrestled with universal philosophical questions such as the nature of the self, the relationships between persons, their origins and destiny, most histories of American Philosophy begin with European colonization, especially from the time of the Puritans in New England. 2. 18th Century 3. 19th Century a. b.
Joseph Johnson Joseph Johnson may refer to: Entertainment[edit] Joseph McMillan Johnson (1912–1990), American film art directorSmokey Johnson (1936–2015), New Orleans jazz musicianN.O. Joe (Joseph Johnson, born 1975), musician, producer and songwriter Politics[edit] Religion[edit] Others[edit] See also[edit] Heinrich Heine - Wikipedia German poet, journalist, essayist, and literary critic Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (German: [ˈhaɪnʁɪç ˈhaɪnə]; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was a German poet, writer and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of lieder (art songs) by composers such as Robert Schumann and Franz Schubert. Early life[edit] Childhood and youth[edit] Heinrich was the eldest of four children. Düsseldorf was then a small town with a population of around 16,000. Thus Heine's formative years were spent under French influence. Heine's parents were not particularly devout. In 1814 Heine went to a business school in Düsseldorf where he learned to read English, the commercial language of the time.[12] The most successful member of the Heine family was his uncle Salomon Heine, a millionaire banker in Hamburg. When he was 18 Heine almost certainly had an unrequited love for his cousin Amalie, Salomon's daughter. Universities[edit]
Candide Candide, ou l'Optimisme (/ˌkænˈdiːd/; French: [kɑ̃did]) is a French satire first published in 1759 by Voltaire, a philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment. The novella has been widely translated, with English versions titled Candide: or, All for the Best (1759); Candide: or, The Optimist (1762); and Candide: or, Optimism (1947).[5] It begins with a young man, Candide, who is living a sheltered life in an Edenic paradise and being indoctrinated with Leibnizian optimism (or simply Optimism) by his mentor, Pangloss.[6] The work describes the abrupt cessation of this lifestyle, followed by Candide's slow, painful disillusionment as he witnesses and experiences great hardships in the world. Voltaire concludes with Candide, if not rejecting optimism outright, advocating a deeply practical precept, "we must cultivate our garden", in lieu of the Leibnizian mantra of Pangloss, "all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds". Historical and literary background[edit] Creation[edit]
Robert Anton Wilson On Reality Millennialism Belief that a Golden Age or Paradise will occur prior to the final judgment Millennialism (from millennium, Latin for "a thousand years") or chiliasm (from the Greek equivalent), is a belief advanced by some religious denominations that a Golden Age or Paradise will occur on Earth prior to the final judgment and future eternal state of the "World to Come". Christianity and Judaism have both produced messianic movements which featured millennialist teachings—such as the notion that an earthly kingdom of God was at hand. These millenarian movements often led to considerable social unrest.[1] Similarities to millennialism appear in Zoroastrianism, which identified successive thousand-year periods, each of which will end in a cataclysm of heresy and destruction, until the final destruction of evil and of the spirit of evil by a triumphant king of peace at the end of the final millennial age. Judaism[edit] Christianity[edit] came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. Utopianism[edit]
www.counter-currents 3,117 words Richard Wagner (1813-1883) was the most influential composer of the nineteenth century and one of the most influential composers in the history of Western art music. A composer almost exclusively of operas, Wagner revolutionized the dramatic scope and staging of operas and greatly extended the harmonic language and formal structure of operatic music. Wagner’s greatest artistic achievement was his tetralogy of operas collectively known as Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung, 1848-1874), which includes (in order of performance) Das Rheingold (The Rhinegold, 1854), Die Walküre (The Valkyrie, 1856), Siegfried (1871), and Götterdämmerung (Twilight of the Gods, 1874). In normal parlance, this work is generally referred to as The Ring Cycle, or just The Ring. Even if you have never seen a live or video performance of a Wagner opera, you have undoubtedly been exposed to Wagner’s music. The Text Synopsis The Music Staging & Dramatic Representation