La Mettrie Machine Man and Other Writings [Hardcover]

A fully annotated edition and translation of this important eighteenth-century materialist treatise.Julien Offray de La Mettrie (1709-51), author of Machine Man (1747), was the most uncompromising of the l8th century materialists. This edition presents a new English translation of the text together with the most important of La Mettrie's other philosophical works, translated into English for the first time.Julien Offray de La Mettrie (1709-51), author of Machine Man (1747), was the most uncompromising of the l8th century materialists. This edition presents a new English translation of the text together with the most important of La Mettrie's other philosophical works, translated into English for the first time.Julien Offray de La Mettrie (1709-51), author of Man a Machine (1747), was the most uncompromising of the materialists of the eighteenth century, and the provocative title of his work ensured it a succès de scandale in his own time. This fully annotated edition presents a new English translation of the text together with the most important of La Mettrie's other philosophical works, translated into English for the first time. Ann Thomson's introduction examines his aims and the scandalous moral consequences which he drew from his materialism.Foreword; Introduction; Chronology; Further reading; 1. Machine Man; 2. Treatise on the soul; 3. Man as Plant; 4. The System of Epicurus; 5. Anti-Seneca or the Sovereign Good; 6. Preliminary Discourse; Index. This is an excellent primary source text that should be included in any university library. It may easily be incorporated into any teaching context and is a valuable resource in French Enlightenment research. Jean-Pierre Schachter, Philosophy in Review The collection...well served by useful scholarly apparatus, such as a chronology of the life of La Mettrie, a listing of other works to consult, and a short history of the publication of each text. This collection okf La Mettrie's texts, which presents tl#)