The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• Voltaire a Philosophical Dictionary Vol. Iv — Part I
• Cannibals.
• Casting (in Metal).
• Cato. On Suicide, and the Abbe St. Cyran’s Book Legitimating Suicide.
• Celts.
• Ceremonies—titles—precedence.
• Certain—certainty.
• Chain of Created Beings.
• Chain Or Generation of Events.
• Changes That Have Occurred In the Globe.
• Character. [from the Greek Word Signifying Impression, Engraving.—it Is What Nature Has Engraved In Us.]
• Charity. Charitable and Beneficent Institutions, Almshouses, Hospitals, Etc.
• Charles IX.
• China.
• Christianity.
• Christmas.
• Chronology.
• Church.
• Church of England.
• Church Property.
• Cicero.
• Circumcision.
• Clerk—clergy.
• Climate.
• Coherence—cohesion—adhesion.
• Commerce.
• Common Sense.
• Confession.
• Confiscation.
• Conscience.
• Consequence.
• Constantine.
• Contradictions.
• Contrast.
• Convulsionaries.
• Corn.
• Councils. Meetings of Ecclesiastics, Called Together to Resolve Doubts Or Questions On Points of Faith Or Discipline.
• Voltaire a Philosophical Dictionary Vol. Iv — Part Ii
• Country.
• Crimes Or Offences.
• Criminal.
• Cromwell.
• Cuissage.
• Curate (of the Country).
• Curiosity.
• Customs—usages.
• Cyrus.
• Dante.
• David.
• Decretals.
• Deluge (universal).
• Democracy.
• Demoniacs.
• Destiny.
• Devotee.
• Dial. Dial of Ahaz.
• Dictionary.
• Diocletian.
• Dionysius, St. (the Areopagite), and the Famous Eclipse.
• Diodorus of Sicily, and Herodotus.
• Director.
• Disputes.
• Distance.
• Divinity of Jesus.
• Divorce.
• Dog.
• Dogmas.
• Donations.
• Drinking Healths.
• The Druids.
• Ease.
• Eclipse.
• Economy (rural).
• Economy of Speech— to Speak By Economy.
• Elegance.
• Elias Or Elijah, and Enoch.
• Eloquence.
• Emblems. Figures, Allegories, Symbols, Etc.
• Enchantment. Magic, Conjuration, Sorcery, Etc.
• End of the World.
• Enthusiasm.
• Envy.
• Epic Poetry.
• Epiphany. the Manifestation, the Appearance, the Illustration, the Radiance.
• Equality.
• Essenians.
• Eternity.
• Eucharist.
• Execution.
• Executioner.
• Expiation. Dieu Fit Du Repentir La Vertu Des Mortels.
• Extreme.
• Ezekiel. of Some Singular Passages In This Prophet, and of Certain Ancient Usages.
• Fable.
• Faction. On the Meaning of the Word.
• Faculty.
• Faith.
• Falsity.
• Falsity of Human Virtues.

FALSITY.

Falsity, properly speaking, is the contrary to truth; not intentional lying.

It is said that there were a hundred thousand men destroyed by the great earthquake at Lisbon; this is not a lie—it is a falsity. Falsity is much more common than error; falsity falls more on facts, and error on opinions. It is an error to believe that the sun turns round the earth; but it is a falsity to advance that Louis XIV. dictated the will of Charles II.

The falsity of a deed is a much greater crime than a simple lie; it is a legal imposture—a fraud committed with the pen.

A man has a false mind when he always takes things in a wrong sense, when, not considering the whole, he attributes to one side of an object that which belongs to the other, and when this defect of judgment has become habitual.

Falseheartedness is, when a person is accustomed to flatter, and to utter sentiments which he does not possess; this is worse than dissimulation, and is that which the Latins call simulatio.

There is much falsity in historians; error among philosophers. Falsities abound in all polemical writings, and still more in satirical ones. False minds are insufferable, and false hearts are horrible.