Voltaire
(1694 – 1778)
French Enlightenment philosopher, writer and historian. He was a critic of Christianity and condemned injustice, clerical abuses, prejudice, and fanaticism. His works emerged at a time when freedom of thought and speech were permitted and encouraged, allowing for philosophers and free thinkers to challenge the established order.
He was a prolific writer and he produced works in almost every literary form, including plays, poetry, novels, essays, historical, philosophical and scientific works, pamphlets, and over 20,000 letters. His writing style was full of wit and elegance.
Voltaire’s philosophical ideas were influenced by the British skeptical empiricists, particularly John Locke. In terms of the history of ideas, his major achievement was to have helped introduce the thought of Newton and Locke to France.
He was a great advocate for religious liberty. He rejected formalized religion, which he saw as superstitious and irrational, and instead emphasized reason.
— However, for him, belief in God — as a necessary, eternal, supreme, and intelligent being — was not a matter of faith, but of reason.
— This view is called deism – a rationalistic theological view that holds that empirical reason and observation of the natural world are reliable and sufficient to determine God as the creator of the universe
— That is, the existence of God is based on rational thought, without the need to rely on revelation as a source of divine knowledge or religious authority.
Voltaire also advocated for the freedom of speech and was a critic of democracy.
— He saw democracy as propagating the “idiocy of the masses”.
— For him, the best form of government is an enlightened monarch, advised by philosophers. He believed that only a singular ruler could bring about change, if it was in the king’s rational interest to improve the power and wealth of the state.
His best known work, which is also considered his magnum opus, is his novella Candide (1759), which criticizes many events, thinkers and philosophies of his time.