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Elements of the Philosophy of Newton, published by Voltaire

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soumya1989
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Elements of the Philosophy of Newton, published by Voltaire [#permalink] New post   16 Feb 2016, 00:31
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Elements of the Philosophy of Newton, published by Voltaire in 1738, was an early attempt to popularize the scientific ideas of Isaac Newton. In the book’s frontispiece, Voltaire is seen writing at his desk, and over him a shaft of light from heaven, the light of truth, passes through Newton to Voltaire’s collaborator Madame du Châtelet; she reflects that light onto the inspired Voltaire. Voltaire’s book commanded a wide audience, according to Feingold, because “he was neither a mathematician nor a physicist, but a literary giant aloof from the academic disputes over Newtonian ideas.” In other words, Voltaire’s amateurism in science “was a source of his contemporary appeal, demonstrating for the first time the accessibility of Newton’s ideas to nonspecialists.”

Consider each of the choices separately and select all that apply.


8. Which of the following statements about Voltaire’s Elements of the Philosophy of Newton can be inferred from the passage?

A. Voltaire’s literary stature helped secure a large audience for this attempt to popularize Newton’s ideas.
B. Voltaire’s status as a nonscientist was an advantage in this effort to bring Newtonian science to the attention of the general public.
C. The frontispiece of the book implies that Voltaire’s understanding of Newton’s ideas was not achieved without assistance.

Show: :: OA
A,B,C


9. Select the sentence that describes an allegory for Voltaire’s acquisition of
knowledge concerning Newton’s ideas.

Show: :: OA
sentence 2 (“In the book’s . . . Voltaire”) is the correct choice.



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Re: Elements of the Philosophy of Newton, published by Voltaire [#permalink] New post   16 Feb 2016, 00:33
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Explanation:


8. All three choices are correct.
Choice A is correct: the paragraph states that one of the reasons Voltaire’s book commanded a wide audience is that he was “a literary giant.” Choice B is correct: the paragraph states that Voltaire’s amateurism in science demonstrated that nonspecialists could also understand Newton’s ideas. Choice C is correct: the paragraph refers to Voltaire’s collaborator, Madame du Châtelet. In the image described, she serves as the intermediary between Newton and Voltaire, conveying Newton’s ideas to Voltaire.

9. In the image described in the second sentence, Voltaire acquires his knowledge of Newton through Madame du Châtelet, who conveys Newton’s ideas — his “light of truth” —
to Voltaire. The only other sentence that contains figurative language is the next sentence, in which Voltaire is described as “a literary giant aloof . . . from disputes.” However,
this image refers not to Voltaire’s acquisition of knowledge of Newtonian ideas, but rather to his attitude regarding Newtonian ideas. Therefore sentence 2 (“In the
book’s . . . Voltaire”) is the correct choice.
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Re: Elements of the Philosophy of Newton, published by Voltaire [#permalink] New post   25 Feb 2018, 23:04
What does allegory mean ?
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Re: Elements of the Philosophy of Newton, published by Voltaire [#permalink] New post   12 Aug 2019, 23:35
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Pratap325 wrote:
What does allegory mean ?


noun: a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.
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Re: Elements of the Philosophy of Newton, published by Voltaire [#permalink] New post   27 Apr 2020, 14:11
Man , there is a very thin line between A&B and fell in to the trap , crossed off B while finally selecting.

Both of them says that the Voltaire's status has been responsible for his success of the book. However , the success was due to literature and not just a non-scientist , I mean anybody could write a book being a non-scientis on a scientist but would that be an over-night success?
That's why I crossed off B, what do you think?
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Re: Elements of the Philosophy of Newton, published by Voltaire [#permalink] New post   27 Apr 2020, 14:36
Flashinthepan wrote:
Man , there is a very thin line between A&B and fell in to the trap , crossed off B while finally selecting.

Both of them says that the Voltaire's status has been responsible for his success of the book. However , the success was due to literature and not just a non-scientist , I mean anybody could write a book being a non-scientis on a scientist but would that be an over-night success?
That's why I crossed off B, what do you think?


I believe the last sentence of the passage was a deal-breaker in selection B.

"Voltaire’s amateurism in science “was a source of his contemporary appeal, demonstrating for the first time the accessibility of Newton’s ideas to nonspecialists."

It is implied that because of Voltaire's aloofness, he appealed to laymen and thus promoted Newton's ideas to the general public.
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Re: Elements of the Philosophy of Newton, published by Voltaire [#permalink] New post   28 Apr 2020, 23:35
Quote:
The frontispiece of the book implies that Voltaire’s understanding of Newton’s ideas was not achieved without assistance.

Where is it mentioned that he seeked the help of a collaborator in understanding Newton's ideas? The allegory only alludes to the fact that she was a mediator, but is that enough for us to translate it into "he seeked external help to understand Newton's ideas?" I crossed off C because we are not supposed to use outside knowledge or common sense but only take information from the passage, and it doesn't mention anywhere in the passage that he needed her to understand Newton's ideas, perhaps she was there for another purpose, like translation or sorting work?
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Re: Elements of the Philosophy of Newton, published by Voltaire [#permalink] New post   29 Apr 2020, 12:32
Zohair123 wrote:
Quote:
The frontispiece of the book implies that Voltaire’s understanding of Newton’s ideas was not achieved without assistance.

Where is it mentioned that he seeked the help of a collaborator in understanding Newton's ideas? The allegory only alludes to the fact that she was a mediator, but is that enough for us to translate it into "he seeked external help to understand Newton's ideas?" I crossed off C because we are not supposed to use outside knowledge or common sense but only take information from the passage, and it doesn't mention anywhere in the passage that he needed her to understand Newton's ideas, perhaps she was there for another purpose, like translation or sorting work?



"she reflects that light onto the inspired Voltaire", so based on this, yes, it is enough to infer this. In the frontpiece, Voltaire would not have enlightened with Newton's ideas if it wasn't for her.
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Re: Elements of the Philosophy of Newton, published by Voltaire [#permalink] New post   08 Jan 2021, 23:49
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Zohair123 wrote:
Quote:
The frontispiece of the book implies that Voltaire’s understanding of Newton’s ideas was not achieved without assistance.

Where is it mentioned that he seeked the help of a collaborator in understanding Newton's ideas? The allegory only alludes to the fact that she was a mediator, but is that enough for us to translate it into "he seeked external help to understand Newton's ideas?" I crossed off C because we are not supposed to use outside knowledge or common sense but only take information from the passage, and it doesn't mention anywhere in the passage that he needed her to understand Newton's ideas, perhaps she was there for another purpose, like translation or sorting work?


I agree with you. Shining a light for someone does not seem close enough to helping someone understanding physics theories.
I can link up Voltaire with Newton and finance the biography without knowing a thing about physics, but perhaps be convinced that physics is beneficial to the world.
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Re: Elements of the Philosophy of Newton, published by Voltaire [#permalink] New post   10 Jan 2021, 07:02
wide audience means broad range of audience and it doesnt mean large umber of audience..So option A is incorrect.
Can someone clarify
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Elements of the Philosophy of Newton, published by Voltaire [#permalink] New post   21 Mar 2022, 07:00
soumya1989 wrote:

Explanation:


Choice B is correct: the paragraph states that Voltaire’s amateurism in science demonstrated that nonspecialists could also understand Newton’s ideas. Choice C is correct: the paragraph refers to Voltaire’s collaborator, Madame du Châtelet. In the image described, she serves as the intermediary between Newton and Voltaire, conveying Newton’s ideas to Voltaire.


I didn't select B and then saw answer key has all 3 choices. This is how I interpreted the passage

- Voltaire was a big fan of Newton
- Book front drawing shows flow of facts as -> Newton -> Madame du Châtelet -> Voltaire
- Voltaire was not a scientific person (i.e. he didn't understand Newton's ideas) but a big time literary guy, was famous. This allowed him a big audience.
- Voltaire was amateur.

I interpreted the following as author's sarcasm towards Voltaire. Thought author meant that Voltaire was a non-specialist who believed that he understood
Newton's ideas when he actually didn't.
"was a source of his contemporary appeal, demonstrating for the first time the accessibility of Newton’s ideas to nonspecialists."

How do I protect myself against such mistakes?
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Re: Elements of the Philosophy of Newton, published by Voltaire [#permalink] New post   21 Mar 2022, 10:08
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ChandanPednekar wrote:
soumya1989 wrote:

Explanation:


Choice B is correct: the paragraph states that Voltaire’s amateurism in science demonstrated that nonspecialists could also understand Newton’s ideas. Choice C is correct: the paragraph refers to Voltaire’s collaborator, Madame du Châtelet. In the image described, she serves as the intermediary between Newton and Voltaire, conveying Newton’s ideas to Voltaire.


I didn't select B and then saw answer key has all 3 choices. This is how I interpreted the passage

- Voltaire was a big fan of Newton
- Book front drawing shows flow of facts as -> Newton -> Madame du Châtelet -> Voltaire
- Voltaire was not a scientific person (i.e. he didn't understand Newton's ideas) but a big time literary guy, was famous. This allowed him a big audience.
- Voltaire was amateur.

I interpreted the following as author's sarcasm towards Voltaire. Thought author meant that Voltaire was a non-specialist who believed that he understood
Newton's ideas when he actually didn't.
"was a source of his contemporary appeal, demonstrating for the first time the accessibility of Newton’s ideas to nonspecialists."

How do I protect myself against such mistakes?



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Re: Elements of the Philosophy of Newton, published by Voltaire [#permalink] New post   26 Sep 2022, 15:38
donny wrote:
Zohair123 wrote:
Quote:
The frontispiece of the book implies that Voltaire’s understanding of Newton’s ideas was not achieved without assistance.

Where is it mentioned that he seeked the help of a collaborator in understanding Newton's ideas? The allegory only alludes to the fact that she was a mediator, but is that enough for us to translate it into "he seeked external help to understand Newton's ideas?" I crossed off C because we are not supposed to use outside knowledge or common sense but only take information from the passage, and it doesn't mention anywhere in the passage that he needed her to understand Newton's ideas, perhaps she was there for another purpose, like translation or sorting work?


I agree with you. Shining a light for someone does not seem close enough to helping someone understanding physics theories.
I can link up Voltaire with Newton and finance the biography without knowing a thing about physics, but perhaps be convinced that physics is beneficial to the world.



I so agree!
GRE has the whole thing about not making assumptions when it's not mentioned in the text, so I tried to not make any assumptions. So I tried to think of a situation that fulfils the context but doesn't necessarily mean that it was the understanding of Newton's ideas that Madame assisted with.

And I think if she were to recommend or introduce the book to Voltaire and someone else were to assist Voltaire with understanding, it would still make sense with the frontispiece and the truth of light.

Am I using the wrong tactic here?
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Re: Elements of the Philosophy of Newton, published by Voltaire [#permalink] New post   26 Sep 2022, 20:38
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In the inference questions as above, the correct strategy is just to read carefully and make the right inference.

Any other information from the real and outside world should be avoided

That is correct!
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Re: Elements of the Philosophy of Newton, published by Voltaire [#permalink] New post   23 May 2023, 18:54
For question 1, it was mentioned as non-scientist but in the passage its given "not a mathematician and not a physicist". Didn't mention about non-scientist. In last sentence "amateurism in science" doesn't mean he's not a scientist, is it?
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Re: Elements of the Philosophy of Newton, published by Voltaire [#permalink] New post   24 May 2023, 03:27
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Frankly speaking what you mean is difficult to grasp

In the 1st question is asked

Voltaire’s status as a nonscientist was an advantage in this effort to bring Newtonian science to the attention of the general public.

This means that Voltaire was NOT a scientist in the strict form but just an amateur. In other words, he was not a scholar. However, its role is essential because he created a link or made a connection from the purist world in which Newton's ideas was the norm (the field of studies, or the academic world) to a much more vast audience composed by NOR experts or connoisseurs
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