Conversations On The Plurality Of Worlds By Fontenelle

Throughout the Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds, many themes and ideas pluck at the reader’s interest. With the use of many analogies and metaphors, Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle is able to easily seduce the audience in to a philosophic lull, which is only amplified through the use of a female student figure, the Marquise. It is speculated that in a time where such writings were much disesteemed, the use of the Marquise as the student took on many meanings. Such that Fontenelle was able to introduce a very flirtatious environment which, gave him the ability to state that this was merely a work of fiction. Another reason could very well be that, given the book was in French, that any French audience could read and understand the literature

This explanation begins on page twelve and directly follows the intimate environment which was set just before and pulls the audience into a more somber and enlightening mood. This begins with his first statement of the second passage, about the nature of philosophy being about two things and two things only. Fontenelle states; All philosophy is based on two things, and two things only: curiosity and poor eyesight. He then goes on to explain how philosophy can only be based on the two things. It could be said that his comment about poor eyesight could really be a jab intended for the Aristotelian community, as this book comes after Galileo Galilei’s observations of the moon, with a telescope that had been greatly altered to see great distances like that of the moon. Only when these observations came about did one truly begin to question the preciseness of the Aristotelian world view and the church. Through even this first sentence we can see how Fontenelle uses literary devices to hide his true meaning and put his readers in their own philosophical daze surrounding his book and the nature of the