A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 06 — Themes and Context

The Anatomy of Happiness

Voltaire's entry on happiness is a model of analytical precision. He defines happiness as an abstract idea composed of various pleasures, but immediately warns against conflating a moment of pleasure with a state of happiness. Pleasure is transient; happiness requires continuity; felicity is prolonged happiness. The philosopher then dismantles the classical dictum that no one should be called happy before death. He argues that if a person has been consistently happy from birth to the last hour, they deserve the title, even if they die miserably. Socrates, he suggests, might have been the happiest of Greeks despite being poisoned at seventy. Voltaire grounds his argument in the constitution of our organs, the elements, and mankind—forces that make constant happiness a kind of philosopher's stone. The entry is less a definition than a skeptical inquiry into how language shapes our understanding of well-being.

Imagination: Faculty or Storehouse?

Voltaire treats imagination not as a single faculty but as a set of operations performed by the same being. He distinguishes three types: the imagination that arranges events and characters in a poem or drama, requiring deep judgment; the imagination that gives appropriate eloquence to each character; and the imagination in expression, where every word paints an image without overwhelming. He insists that we do not create images—we only collect and combine them from memory. The most imaginative person is the one who stores the most images. Voltaire warns against profuse combination without selection, citing the extravagant visions of the Thousand and One Nights as examples that border on the lunatic. His examples from Virgil—remigium alarum, velorum pandimus alas—showcase the picturesque expression he admires.

The Limits of Knowing

Throughout the excerpts, Voltaire returns to the question of what we can know about the mind. He rejects the notion of distinct, separate organs for perception, memory, imagination, and judgment. Instead, he posits a single being that performs all these operations, known only by their effects. When Descartes claims that objects are painted in the fancy, Voltaire asks: what is the fancy, and how are objects painted in it? His answer is blunt: 'How can I tell' is the appropriate response to all questions about first principles. This epistemological modesty extends to the idea of God: we form the idea only after long dwelling on images of something more powerful than ourselves. Nothing enters the understanding without an image, and we cannot create a single idea ex nihilo.

Structure and Movement Between Entries

The volume's alphabetical arrangement belies a dynamic internal structure. Entries are not isolated; they build on each other. The discussion of happiness, for instance, introduces the problem of defining abstract terms—a problem that recurs in the entry on imagination, where Voltaire distinguishes between passive and active imagination. The movement from happiness to imagination is not arbitrary: both entries grapple with the relationship between language, experience, and mental operations. Voltaire also shifts between philosophical argument and literary illustration, using Virgil, Ariosto, and the Thousand and One Nights as evidence. This interplay between abstract reasoning and concrete example is a hallmark of the Dictionary's method. The reader is invited to follow the thread of a single question—how do we know what we know?—across seemingly disparate topics.

Readers approaching Volume VI should attend to the way Voltaire uses the dictionary form not as a neutral reference but as a vehicle for argument. Each entry is a miniature essay that challenges received ideas, often by redefining terms or exposing logical contradictions. The volume rewards those who read across entries, tracing how concepts like happiness and imagination illuminate each other. Voltaire's voice—skeptical, precise, occasionally wry—is consistent throughout, but the structure allows for surprising juxtapositions that deepen the philosophical inquiry.