In existographies, Leo Tolstoy (1829-1910) (IQ:180|#108) [RGM:43|1,500+] (Murray 4000:10|WL) (Gottlieb 1000:34) (WorldCat 100:24) (GLAE:#) (CR:41), was a Russian literature philosopher, and free thinker, noted for
Overview
In 1869, Tolstoy, in his epic novel War and Peace, comments on the inconsistent views of man in regards to his own nature as being supposedly different from the nature of other particles: [1]
“A particle of matter cannot tell us that it is unconscious of the laws of attraction and repulsion and that the law is not true; but man, who is the subject of history, says bluntly: I am free, and am therefore not subject to laws.”
Tolstoy was said to have learned of the human particle view of people (or human molecule view) from Henry Buckle. [2]
Schopenhauer
Tolstoy, according to Sudanese-born American philosopher Monydit Malieth, was an ardent reader of Arthur Schopenhauer. [3]
Quotes | By
The following are quotes by Tolstoy:
“Freethinkers are those who are willing to use their minds without prejudice and without fearing to understand things that clash with their own customs, privileges, or beliefs. This state of mind is not common, but it is essential for right thinking.”
— Leo Tolstoy (1862), War and Peace (Ѻ)
“Schopenhauer takes us as far as philosophy can.”
— Leo Tolstoy (c.1890) [3]
“One may say with one’s lips: ‘I believe that god is one, and also three’ – but no one can believe it, because the words have no sense.”
— Leo Tolstoy (1902), What is Religion [4]
References
1. Tolstoy, Leo N. (1869). War and Peace, trans. R. Edmunds (1969), Vol. 2, pg. 1,404. Penguin, Harmondsworth.
2. Ball, Philip. (2004). Critical Mass - How One Thing Leads to Another (quote, pg. 75). Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
3. Malieth, Monydit (aka Tonnerre). (2013). The Future Affects the Past (Tolstoy, pg. 54). Red Lead Books.
4. Haught, James A. (1996). 2000 Years of Disbelief: Famous People with the Courage to Doubt (§: Tolstoy, pgs. 152-55). Prometheus.
Further reading
● Popova, Maria. (2014). “Tolstoy’s Reading List: Essential Books for Each Stage of Life” (Ѻ), BrainPickings.org, Nov 30.
External links
● Leo Tolstoy – Wikipedia.
