What we’re about
"Those who can be made to believe absurdities can be made to commit atrocities."
- Voltaire
Come and join a friendly group of people in Fairfax, Virginia for monthly Sunday discussions of the ideas of the European Enlightenment, also known as the “Age of Voltaire.” These ideas include the following:
- A critical attitude toward religion
- A profound respect for reason and science as sources of knowledge
- The idea of individual rights and a free society
- The importance of freedom of speech for a free society
- Human happiness or flourishing as a moral standard
We’ll look at the writings of Voltaire and his contemporaries (such as Diderot, d’Alembert, and Paine), as well as much more recent writings that may fit into the Enlightenment tradition (including works by Steven Pinker and Richard Dawkins).
Our first project was a set of discussions on Steven Pinker’s book Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress.
The group host is Frederick Seiler, author of God Versus Nature: The Conflict Between Religion and Science in History.
Upcoming events
2
The Swerve: How the World Became Modern, cont'd
Panera Bread, 8365 Leesburg Pike, Vienna, VA, USThis is the second of two discussions on Stephen Greenblatt's Pulitzer-Prize-winning book The Swerve: How the World Became Modern.
In the winter of 1417, a short, genial, cannily alert man in his late thirties plucked a very old manuscript off a dusty shelf in a remote monastery, saw with excitement what he had discovered, and ordered that it be copied. He was Poggio Bracciolini, the greatest book hunter of the Renaissance. His discovery, Lucretius’ ancient poem On the Nature of Things, had been almost entirely lost to history for more than a thousand years.
It was a beautiful poem of the most dangerous ideas: that the universe functions without the aid of gods, that religious fear is damaging to human life, that pleasure and virtue are not opposites but intertwined, and that matter is made up of very small material particles in eternal motion, randomly colliding and swerving in new directions. Its return to circulation changed the course of history. The poem’s vision would shape the thought of Galileo and Freud, Darwin and Einstein, and—in the hands of Thomas Jefferson—leave its trace on the Declaration of Independence.
From the gardens of the ancient philosophers to the dark chambers of monastic scriptoria during the Middle Ages to the cynical, competitive court of a corrupt and dangerous pope, Greenblatt brings Poggio’s search and discovery to life in a way that deepens our understanding of the world we live in now.LINK
For this meeting, try to read chapters 7-11 (pages 155-263).NOTE ON THE LOCATION: As of October 26, Panera is closed for repairs. If Panera is still closed on Nov 23, I will move the meeting to Starbucks in the same shopping center.
I hope to see you there!
Fred
4 attendees
Robert Tracinski's book about Trump: Dictator from Day One
Panera Bread, 8365 Leesburg Pike, Vienna, VA, USWhile the Voltaire Book Club is generally focused on history and philosophy books, once in a while we will feature a book on a controversial political topic. This is one of those books.
The book is Dictator from Day One: How Donald Trump is Overthrowing the Constitution and How to Fight Back, by Robert Tracinski. Tracincki publishes an online newsletter titled The Tracinski Letter. (LINK)
In his short book, Tracinski argues that "the policies of Donald Trump’s second term in office are a political revolution against our constitutional order, concentrating all power in Trump’s hands and creating a system of one-man rule."Let's consider the main points Tracinski makes, and ask:
- Which are the strongest?
- Which are the weakest?
- And what other information would we need on these points to more fully evaluate them?
I hope to see you there!
Fred
4 attendees
Past events
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