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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
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Posted by sdb on February 25, 2008, at 10:01:22
Candide: Or, Optimism (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) (Paperback)
this is a great book that I read a long time ago. it is very funny.
voltaire is criticizing the deterministic view of famous Leibniz (people surely know him at least indirectly when doing analysis)
Posted by sdb on February 25, 2008, at 10:07:29
In reply to Candide: Or, Optimism (recommendation), posted by sdb on February 25, 2008, at 10:01:22
> Candide: Or, Optimism (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) (Paperback)
>
> http://www.amazon.com/Candide-Optimism-Penguin-Classics-Deluxe/dp/0143039423/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1203954469&sr=8-3
>
> this is a great book that I read a long time ago. it is very funny.
>
> voltaire is criticizing the deterministic view of famous Leibniz (people surely know him at least indirectly when doing analysis)
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leibniz(wikipedia) completely new for me...
Leibniz was perhaps the first major European intellect to take a close interest in Chinese civilization, which he knew by corresponding with, and reading other work by, European Christian missionaries posted in China. He concluded that Europeans could learn much from the Confucian ethical tradition. He mulled over the possibility that the Chinese characters were an unwitting form of his universal characteristic. He noted with fascination how the I Ching hexagrams correspond to the binary numbers from 0 to 111111, and concluded that this mapping was evidence of major Chinese accomplishments in the sort of philosophical mathematics he admired.
On Leibniz, the I Ching, and binary numbers, see Aiton (1985: 24548). Leibniz's writings on Chinese civilization are collected and translated in Cook and Rosemont (1994), and discussed in Perkins (2004).
not to forget:
Posted by Racer on April 9, 2008, at 8:26:13
In reply to Re: Candide: Or, Optimism (recommendation), posted by sdb on February 25, 2008, at 10:07:29
I enjoyed Candide, when I read it, many, many, many years ago. (I won't say how many -- I hate admitting I'm that old...)
Poor Dr Pangloss, he certainly suffered for it, didn't he? Quite a good book, and well worth reading. Voltaire is not one of my favorite writers -- I am not fond of translations, and don't read French -- but this would be on my list of 50 Books Everyone Should Read.
(My list, by the way, is not based on "oh, everyone should read them because they're things you need to know. It's based more on a sort of "these are 50 books that have added the most richness to my life, and I want to share that with as many people as possible." I hope no one is offended at the S-Word...)
Good suggestion, and I hope others read it, too.
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