Lorsque, vers 1850, le phénomène du « tournage de tables » suscita l'intérêt de l'Europe et annonça d'autres phénomènes connus depuis sous le nom de « spiritisme », Allan Kardec devina rapidement la nature réelle de ces phénomènes, comme preuve de l'existence d'un ordre de relations jusqu'alors soupçonné plutôt que connu, à savoir celles qui unissent les mondes visible et invisible. Prévoyant l'importance considérable, pour la science et la religion, d'un tel élargissement du champ d'obser...

The first two volumes of the Correspondance générale d'Helvétius inspired international acclaim. Now the third volume offers us further insight into a variety of aspects of life in eighteenth-century France.Claude-Adrian Helvétius (1715-71) was a wealthy and high-ranking member of French society. He was acquainted with the leading political and social figures of his time and, through family, with the court and government which he occasionally served in a diplomatic capacit...

This volume is the first of three in a complete critical edition of the letters of Claude-Adrien Helvétius (1715-71) and his wife, née Anne Catherine de Liginville (1722-1800).Though rank and wealth, Helvétius was acquainted with the leading political and social figures of his time, and, through family, with court and government which he occasionally served in a diplomatic capacity. Philosopher and author of the explosive De l'esprit, Helvétius corresponded with the great ...

This second volume of the Correspondance générale d'Helvétius covers the period of the publication and reception of Helvétius' controversial first work, De l'Esprit (1758). It begins with a letter of January 1757, in which Helvétius recounts the attempt by Damiens on the life of Louis XV, and ends in December 1760 when the author, having been attacked on the stage of the Théatre-Francais but eulogized in foreign journals, is contemplating voluntary exile.In the me...

This fifth and final volume completes the critical edition of the letters of French philosopher Claude Adrien Helvétius (1715-1771), author of the controversial De l'Esprit (1758), and of his wife, née Anne Catherine de Ligniville (1722-1800), who ran her own salon in Auteuil after her husband's death. The essential component in this last volume is the detailed index – an indispensable instrument for researchers who wish to make full use of the correspondence. The volume also incl...

This is the fourth of five volumes of the letters of the French philosopher Claude Adrien Helvétius (1715-1771), author of the controversial De l'Esprit (1758). Featuring the correspondence of Mme Helvétius, née Anne Catherine de Ligniville (1722-1800), in the years following her husband's death, this volume also includes letters by and to Helvétius discovered since the publication of the first three volumes.Mme Helvétius enjoyed an active widowhood, welcoming to her salon...