What did Malagrida think was the reason for the Lisbon earthquake? Did he predict that the metropolis would face more disasters? Can you locate any potential solutions to the city's misery in his pamphlet from which Lisbon citizens might have found solace?
Compare Malagrida's and John Wesley's perspectives on Lisbon's situation while keeping in mind the latter's Protestantism, of course. What did Wesley attribute as the earthquake's cause? Did he see any means of preventing such catastrophes? Do you notice any outlook differences between Malagrida and Wesley, despite their apparent differences?
What approach did Newton suggest for comprehending the real universe? What patterns did he discover ruling the material world? In what way did Newton’s ideas provide a governing theory to explain much of that physical world? Why might you expect those influenced by Newton to describe the physical world as a machine?
How does Pope Reflect traditional religion? What elements of sixteenth and seventeenth century scientific thought do you find in Pope? Most important, what role does God play in the world, according to the Pope? What effect does that divine role have on humankind?
What view of reason does the article offer to its readers? How does Buffon attempt to apply this vision in his discussion of earthquakes? What sort of casual pattern does he find for earthquakes, which is recognized today as incorrect, is there any room for a divine role in Buffon’s explanation of these disasters? Whose view do you identify with more closely, Buffon’s or Malagrida’s?
Contrast Voltaire’s poem with the account he had written earlier of Newton’s science. How had Voltaire’s point of view changed during this interval? How does Voltaire respond to the views of his friend Alexander Pope? What response does he have to the theological explanation of the earthquake? Do you detect a growing skepticism in the thought of the older Voltaire? If so, in what ways? What response to Voltaire does Jean-Jacques Rousseau make in his letter? What similarities in thinking with earlier selections do you find Rousseau?
Compare Voltaire’s skepticism about a divine role in the world with the position Hume takes in “The Essay on Miracles”. Also contrast Hume with Rousseau; how might intellectual differences have helped to cause their break? Where had Enlightenment skepticism, evident in Voltaire’s later thought, led Hume? What religious implications of the Enlightenment’s search to apply human reason to all issues do you find Hume’s work? Is any room left here for a divine role in the natural order?
Why did the Lisbon earthquake pose such an intellectual crisis for eighteenth century thinkers? How did theologians explain the disaster? How did Enlightenment thinkers explain it? In what direction was their thought on the physical world and its relationship to divine forces leading them?
