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GLOSSARY

This page provides an explanation of some of the important words and ideas of Meslier's work. Most of the work is self-explanatory and since Meslier wrote a single work, there was not much discourse between him and other philosophers. However, some key ideas do exist and so are listed below.

  • God

    • An infinitely perfect, all-knowing, all-powerful, all-good being

 

  • Religion

    • Man-made as a way to serve the means of politicians to gain influence, power and wealth

 

  • Idolatry

    • Worshiping or praising some idol or deity

 

  • (Blind) Faith

    • Belief in something even if there is no proof or even a contradiction arising from reason or intellect

    • A primary principle in all religion

 

  • Proof

    • Something that must decisively confirm the truth of falsehood of something

 

  • First Being

    • Something that is eternal (always exists and always will) and independent of other causes

 

  • Materialism

    • The only thing that exists is matter and its movement and interaction

 

  • Place

    • A space or limited extension that contains a body

 

  • Space

    • A more spacious extension that constrains or can contain multiple bodies

 

  • Extension

    • In general, it is space without limits, without ends, which contains all begins, places and imaginable space

 

  • Matter,

    • The fundamental basis of the world from which all other things can be made

    • It can move in itself and only interact with itself and is the first being

 

  • Communalism

    • A type of living and governance where everything is owned by everyone, all goods are equally distributed, and all necessity is met

    • All people in the society provide utility to the community in different forms

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