4.0879 Responses: Voltaire; On Humanist (3/43)
Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Thu, 10 Jan 91 19:50:30 EST
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 4, No. 0879. Thursday, 10 Jan 1991.
(1) Date: Thu, 10 Jan 91 12:51:54 EST (11 lines)
From: Robert Hollander <bobh@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>
Subject: Re: 4.0873 Queries: Voltaire ...
(2) Date: Thu, 10 Jan 91 15:16 EST (18 lines)
From: Karl Van Ausdal <VANAUSDALK@APPSTATE.BITNET>
Subject: Voltaire query
(3) Date: Thu, 10 Jan 1991 8:47:37 CST (14 lines)
From: 1ECHAD@UTSA86.UTSA.EDU (Helen Aristar-Dry)
Subject: RE: 4.0861 Rs: On Humanist
(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 91 12:51:54 EST
From: Robert Hollander <bobh@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>
Subject: Re: 4.0873 Queries: Voltaire ...
Jamie Hubbard asks for the source of the remark attributed to Voltaire
("History is a pack of lies that we play on the dead."). I cannot help
except to confirm that my old teacher, Ira O. Wade, used to cite the
remark as Voltairean in the following form: "History is a pack of lies
the living play upon the dead." That used to set me musing that politics
was a pack of tricks the living play upon the living. [Sorry, it was
"tricks" and not "lies" that Wade used to say.]
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------22----
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 91 15:16 EST
From: Karl Van Ausdal <VANAUSDALK@APPSTATE.BITNET>
Subject: Voltaire query
Anthony Shipps (Indiana University) responded to the same Voltaire query
in the Winter 1986 issue of *RQ* (v. 27, no. 2, p. 149) He cited the
source as Will Durant's *The Story of Philosophy* (New York, Simon &
Schuster, 1926, p. 241), noting that Durant gave the context as one of
Voltaire's letters to a Mme. du Chatelet. The wording that Durant used
was:
"History is after all nothing but a pack of tricks which we play upon the
dead."
Karl Van Ausdal
Appalachian State University
Boone, NC 28607
704-262-2389
(3) --------------------------------------------------------------24----
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 1991 8:47:37 CST
From: 1ECHAD@UTSA86.UTSA.EDU (Helen Aristar-Dry)
Subject: RE: 4.0861 Rs: On Humanist
Just want to second Willard's remark that, as yet, we don't understand
the net-medium well enough to critique the ways we (are learning to)
use it. Not only do I like the sound common sense in that comment,
but also the co-operative spirit. One thing I like about the
scholarly community I access on Humanist is our apparent tolerance
and flexibility, and the way we help each other learn. (I say "apparent"
because I don't know how many tacky messages get suppressed by the
moderators--but I honestly doubt that it's many!)
Helen Aristar-Dry