Description Julien Offray de La Mettrie was one of the earliest French Enlightenment materialists. Exiled from France after publishing a book (A Natural History of the Soul) arguing that psychical phenomena could be explained by […]
Tag Archives: physics
The Paradox of the Automaton: From Diderot to Cybernetics
Description A concise and provocative history of the idea of automata from Diderot to the present. She argues that the automaton is the cornerstone of modern knowledge and its powers. Creator Martineau, Julie Publisher Montréal: […]
La Mettrie’s L’Homme Machine
Description Vartanian establishes the authoritative French text of La Mettrie’s L’Homme Machine, and several essays on its background, claims, its materialism, and its place in 18th Century science. Creator Vartanian, Aram Publisher Princeton: Princeton University […]
Nature: Course Notes from the College de France
Description Merleau-Ponty, one of the greatest 20th Century thinkers of perception, the body, and its operation in the natural world, gives a course on the history of nature and its relationship with human freedom and […]