Dogmatism Character of Religion

“Plato’s Dream” is a short story written in 1756 by the French philosopher and satirist François-Marie Arouet who published under the name of Voltaire. This text is considered as one of the first work of the genre of science fiction. In this story, Voltaire explained the doctrine taught by Plato to his disciples. It is about Demiurgos, the creator of the infinite space, who wanted to test the geniuses of his supreme creatures. He gave each one a small piece of material to settle. Demogorgon, one of them received the earth. He worked on it and arranged it as well as we have it today. Because of the magnificence job he did, he believed he would receive the utmost praise from his brothers; instead, he was sarcasm and criticism because of his imperfection. Not only the work of Demogorgon had that note, but all of them found something to reproach about each other’s work. It was a chaos among them; finally, the eternal Demiurgos required peace; he analyzed their work and he found good and bad because they have a lot of knowledge and imperfection at the same time. He concluded and stated that he is the only one who can create perfection and has the power to give immortality. This story from Voltaire is a sharp philosophical criticism of religious doctrine, what he considered as a dream. He is known as a deist, which is a belief or doctrine that asserts the existence of a god and its influence in the creation of the universe, without relying on sacred texts or dependent of a revealed religion. “Plato’s Dream,” portrays the dogmatism character of religion, pleads for principles base on moral and concepts generally acceptable by everyone, and denounces what organized religions see as divine revelation and holy books, is none other than the...

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...o assured of God. It does not sponsor a blind belief in God in the darkness of its mysteries.

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Voltaire. “Plato’s Dream.” Trans. Literature a World of Writing: Stories, Poems, Plays, and Essays. Ed. David L. Pike and Ana M. Acosta. Boston: Pearson (2011). 429-430. Print.