Voltaire Against the Jews, or the Limits of Toleration

ISBN-13: 9783031187117 / Angielski / Twarda / 2023 / 182 str.

Marco Piazza

Opis

This book challenges Voltaire’s doctrine of toleration. Can a Jew be a philosopher? And if so, at what cost? It seeks to provide an organic interpretation of Voltaire’s attitude towards Jews, problematising the issue against the background of his theory of toleration. To date, no monograph entirely dedicated to this theme has been written. This book attempts to provide an answer to the crucial questions that have emerged in the past fifty years through a process of reading and analysis that starts with the publication of Des Juifs (1756), and ends with the posthumous publication of the apocryphal article ‘Juifs’ in the Kehl edition of the Dictionnaire Philosophique (1784). 

Spis treści

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: The Irreverent Hermeneut

Chapter 3: The “Tolerated” The Aspiring Godfather Rabbi

Chapter 4: The Forgetful Genealogist

Chapter 5: The Aspiring Godfather

Chapter 6: Conclusion

Chapter 7: Epilogue: Did Voltaire Make an Exception for a Certain Jewish “Philosopher”?

O autorze

Marco Piazza is Associate Professor at the University of Roma Tre, Italy.

Blurb

This book challenges Voltaire’s doctrine of toleration. Can a Jew be a philosopher? And if so, at what cost? It seeks to provide an organic interpretation of Voltaire’s attitude towards Jews, problematising the issue against the background of his theory of toleration. To date, no monograph entirely dedicated to this theme has been written. This book attempts to provide an answer to the crucial questions that have emerged in the past fifty years through a process of reading and analysis that starts with the publication of Des Juifs (1756), and ends with the posthumous publication of the apocryphal article ‘Juifs’ in the Kehl edition of the Dictionnaire Philosophique (1784).

Marco Piazza is Associate Professor at the University of Roma Tre, Italy.