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What was Voltaire's most well known ideas?
Key Points. Voltaire was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit, his attacks on the established Catholic Church, and his advocacy of freedom of religion, freedom of expression, and separation of church and state.
What are the 3 main ideas that Voltaire is most famous?
Known by his nom de plume M. de Voltaire (/vɒlˈtɛər, voʊl-/; also US: /vɔːl-/; French: [vɔltɛːʁ]), he was famous for his wit, and his criticism of Christianity—especially the Roman Catholic Church—and of slavery. Voltaire was an advocate of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and separation of church and state.
What novel is Voltaire most well known for now?
Candide, satirical novel published in 1759 that is the best-known work by Voltaire. It is a savage denunciation of metaphysical optimism—as espoused by the German philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz—that reveals a world of horrors and folly.
What is Voltaire's best work?
Today, Candide is Voltaire's best-known work, and it is one of many such 'philosophical tales' that he penned. Read more…
What were Voltaire's major achievements?
Fellow of the Royal SocietyVoltaire / AwardsFellowship of the Royal Society is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathematics, engineering science, and medical science". Wikipedia
What books did Voltaire write?
Candide1759Zadig or Destiny1747Treatise on Tolerance1763Micromégas1752Letters on the English1733L'Ingénu1767Voltaire/Books
What is the best book to read about Voltaire?
The Best Voltaire BooksVoltaire Almighty: A Life in Pursuit of Freedom. by Roger Pearson.A Pocket Philosophical Dictionary. by John Fletcher (translator) & Voltaire.The Newton Wars and the Beginning of the French Enlightenment. ... Candide. ... Reinventing Voltaire: The Politics of Commemoration in Nineteenth-Century France.
What Voltaire said about God?
Contrary to the popular myth, Voltaire wasn't an atheist at all, while it was true that he opposed religious fanaticism. It is no accident that one of his favorite sayings was the aphorism, "If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him" ('Si Dieu n'existait pas, il faudrait l'inventer').
Which book of Voltaire should I read?
A satire on prevailing philosophical thought of its time, Candide is Voltaire's most enduring and well-read work. Its relevance, arguably, has faded but its place in history will surely see it continue to endure.
What are 3 facts about Voltaire?
10 Things You Should Know About VoltaireThe origins of his famous pen name are unclear. ... He was imprisoned in the Bastille for nearly a year. ... He became hugely wealthy by exploiting a flaw in the French lottery. ... He was an extraordinary prolific writer. ... Many of his most famous works were banned.
What is the main theme of Candide?
The message of Candide is that all is not for the best and that this is not the best of all possible worlds. Voltaire argues that evil serves no teleological purpose and that optimism is absurd.
What are 3 facts about Voltaire?
10 Things You Should Know About VoltaireThe origins of his famous pen name are unclear. ... He was imprisoned in the Bastille for nearly a year. ... He became hugely wealthy by exploiting a flaw in the French lottery. ... He was an extraordinary prolific writer. ... Many of his most famous works were banned.
What were Voltaire's ideas and beliefs?
Voltaire championed freedom of thought He pleaded for a socially involved type of literature. Meanwhile, he rejected everything irrational and incomprehensible and championed freedom of thought. His rallying cry was “écrasez l'infâme” (“let us crush the evil thing”), referring to religious superstition.
What happened to Voltaire in 1726?
In early 1726, the aristocratic chevalier de Rohan-Chabot taunted Voltaire about his change of name, and Voltaire retorted that his name would win the esteem of the world, while de Rohan would sully his own. The furious de Rohan arranged for his thugs to beat up Voltaire a few days later. Seeking redress, Voltaire challenged de Rohan to a duel, but the powerful de Rohan family arranged for Voltaire to be arrested and imprisoned without trial in the Bastille on 17 April 1726. Fearing indefinite imprisonment, Voltaire asked to be exiled to England as an alternative punishment, which the French authorities accepted. On 2 May, he was escorted from the Bastille to Calais and embarked for Britain.
What did Voltaire do when he left school?
By the time he left school, Voltaire had decided he wanted to be a writer, against the wishes of his father, who wanted him to become a lawyer. Voltaire, pretending to work in Paris as an assistant to a notary, spent much of his time writing poetry. When his father found out, he sent Voltaire to study law, this time in Caen, Normandy. But the young man continued to write, producing essays and historical studies. Voltaire's wit made him popular among some of the aristocratic families with whom he mixed. In 1713, his father obtained a job for him as a secretary to the new French ambassador in the Netherlands, the marquis de Châteauneuf [ fr], the brother of Voltaire's godfather. At The Hague, Voltaire fell in love with a French Protestant refugee named Catherine Olympe Dunoyer (known as 'Pimpette'). Their affair, considered scandalous, was discovered by de Châteauneuf and Voltaire was forced to return to France by the end of the year.
How did Voltaire influence historiography?
Voltaire had an enormous influence on the development of historiography through his demonstration of fresh new ways to look at the past. Guillaume de Syon argues:
How did Voltaire return to France?
After two and a half years in exile , Voltaire returned to France, and after a few months in Dieppe, the authorities permitted him to return to Paris. At a dinner, French mathematician Charles Marie de La Condamine proposed buying up the lottery that was organized by the French government to pay off its debts, and Voltaire joined the consortium, earning perhaps a million livres. He invested the money cleverly and on this basis managed to convince the Court of Finances of his responsible conduct, allowing him to take control of a trust fund inherited from his father. He was now indisputably rich.
How many books did Voltaire write?
He wrote more than 20,000 letters and 2,000 books and pamphlets.
Why did Voltaire reject the Adam and Eve story?
According to William Cohen, like most other polygenists, Voltaire believed that because of their different origins, blacks did not entirely share the natural humanity of whites. According to David Allen Harvey, Voltaire often invoked racial differences as a means to attack religious orthodoxy, and the Biblical account of creation.
Where did Voltaire meet Frederick?
In September Voltaire and Frederick (now King) met for the first time in Moyland Castle near Cleves and in November Voltaire was Frederick's guest in Berlin for two weeks, followed by a meeting in September 1742 at Aix-la-Chapelle.
Who Was Voltaire?
Voltaire established himself as one of the leading writers of the Enlightenment. His famed works include the tragic play Zaïre, the historical study The Age of Louis XIV and the satirical novella Candide. Often at odds with French authorities over his politically and religiously charged works, he was twice imprisoned and spent many years in exile. He died shortly after returning to Paris in 1778.
What did Voltaire believe in?
Embracing Enlightenment philosophers such as Isaac Newton, John Locke and Francis Bacon, Voltaire found inspiration in their ideals of a free and liberal society, along with freedom of religion and free commerce.
How old was Voltaire when his mother died?
When Voltaire was just seven years old, his mother passed away. Following her death, he grew closer to his free-thinking godfather. In 1704, Voltaire was enrolled at the Collége Louis-le-Grand, a Jesuit secondary school in Paris, where he received a classical education and began showing promise as a writer.
Why was Voltaire exiled?
In 1716, Voltaire was exiled to Tulle for mocking the duc d'Orleans. In 1717, he returned to Paris, only to be arrested and exiled to the Bastille for a year on charges of writing libelous poetry. Voltaire was sent to the Bastille again in 1726, for arguing with the Chevalier de Rohan.
What was Voltaire's most famous work?
Voltaire established himself as one of the leading writers of the Enlightenment. His famed works include the tragic play Zaïre, the historical study The Age of Louis XIV and the satirical novella Candide. Often at odds with French authorities over his politically and religiously charged works, he was twice imprisoned and spent many years in exile.
What was the name of the dictionary that embraced the Enlightenment?
In 1764, he published another of his acclaimed philosophical works, Dictionnaire philosophique, an encyclopedic dictionary that embraced the concepts of Enlightenment and rejected the ideas of the Roman Catholic Church.
How many volumes of Voltaire's works are there?
It was later announced that The Oxford Complete Works of Voltaire, the first exhaustive annotated edition of Voltaire’s novels, plays and letters, would expand to 220 volumes by 2020.
What is Voltaire's name?
There are various theories about the name Voltaire chose for himself. The most obvious is that it is an anagram of “Arouet le jeune” (“Arouet the Younger”). It works like this: AROUET L (e) J (eune). You have to remember that in the 18th-century French alphabet, as in Latin, ‘I’ and ‘J’ along with ‘U’ and ‘V’ were interchangeable. So, replacing those letters, you get “AROVET L I”, or VOLTAIRE.
How did Voltaire become famous?
Roger Pearson gets the underlying facetiousness of his subject and perfectly captures the idea that Voltaire was always performing. Voltaire loved acting, especially in his own plays. This becomes increasingly true in later life as he becomes a celebrity. The name ‘Voltaire’ becomes hugely famous. All celebrities (to some extent) have to inhabit the structures that have been created for them. You wouldn’t say he was a victim of his celebrity—if only because he knows how to handle it. But he responds to celebrity by acting himself even more. Roger Pearson brings this out beautifully. In that sense, it’s the most amusing of the modern biographies, and also the most truthful.
Why was Voltaire elected to the Royal Society?
It’s because of this that Voltaire is made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1743, whereas he fails twice to get into the French Academy before he’s finally elected only in 1746. So, his first big academy is the Royal Society on the grounds that he had done all this work to promote Newton. At this point in his career, Voltaire tries to be a Newtonian natural philosopher, but this turns out to be a sort of a heroic failure. The summary of Newton’s thought is clearly a success, but his attempts at original scientific work are not. He just hasn’t got that sort of mind.
What was Voltaire's first play?
His first play is accepted by the Comédie-Française at the age of 24—so he becomes an instant star. And what is this first play? It’s about Oedipus killing his father. Now, Voltaire never really liked his own father, François Arouet—he was a lawyer at court. When this play is published, it’s the first time the name “Voltaire” is printed on a title page. So, his first big literary triumph is when he abandons his father’s name and invents a new name for himself. You don’t have to be a Freudian to think there’s something going on there.
Why do we underestimate Voltaire?
We underestimate Voltaire because we forget that actually, he created our modern narrative of the Enlightenment. You could have had another narrative: it’s not entirely true that empiricism was only current in England, and that there weren’t empiricists in France. There are French empiricists like Gassendi, but they don’t appear in this narrative. So, Voltaire has had to streamline quite a lot to produce this overarching line. But it was clever and it stuck.
What does the name Voltaire mean?
Now, this is plausible. Other theories say the name evokes a property his parents owned. Personally, I think the name ‘Voltaire’ is hugely evocative: voler means to fly, and volter means to leap about, making him sound like some character out of commedia dell’arte, leaping around the stage.
How many volumes of Voltaire are there?
You are General Editor of the Complete Works of Voltaire, which spans some 200 volumes. From epic poetry to historical treatises and philosophical tales, the breadth of Voltaire’s literary output is astonishing.
What did Voltaire do to help the Ferney economy?
Voltaire saw the enterprise as a way to prop up the Ferney economy , and he used his vast network of upper class contacts to find prospective buyers. Among others, he eventually succeeded in peddling his wares to the likes of Catherine the Great of Russia and King Louis XV of France. 10.
How did Voltaire become wealthy?
He became hugely wealthy by exploiting a flaw in the French lottery. In 1729, Voltaire teamed with mathematician Charles Marie de La Condamine and others to exploit a lucrative loophole in the French national lottery.
Why was Voltaire arrested?
He later endured another short stint in the Bastille in April 1726, when he was arrested for planning to duel an aristocrat that had insulted and beaten him.
Where did Voltaire start his watchmaking business?
9. He set up a successful watchmaking business in his old age. While living in Ferney, Switzerland, in the 1770s, Voltaire joined with a group of Swiss horologists in starting a watchmaking business at his estate.
Why did Voltaire run up against censorship?
Since his writing denigrated everything from organized religion to the justice system, Voltaire ran up against frequent censorship from the French government. A good portion of his work was suppressed, and the authorities even ordered certain books to be burned by the state executioner.
How many letters did Voltaire write?
Along the way, he also managed to squeeze in heaps of verse and a voluminous correspondence amounting to some 20,000 letters to friends and contemporaries. Voltaire supposedly kept up his prodigious output by spending up to 18 hours a day writing or dictating to secretaries, often while still in bed.
Why did Voltaire drop his pen name?
Possibly to show his rejection of his father’s values, he dropped his family name and adopted the nom de plume “Voltaire” upon completing his first play in 1718.
Why did Voltaire go to Frederick's court?
Despite their friendship, Voltaire still went to Frederick’s court in 1743 as a French spy to report back on Frederick’s intentions and capabilities with regards to the ongoing War of Austrian Succession. By the mid-1740s, Voltaire’s romance with the Marquise du Châtelet had begun to wind down.
Where did Voltaire publish La Henriade?
Instead, he and Rupelmonde journeyed to the Netherlands, where he secured a publisher in The Hague. Eventually, Voltaire convinced a French publisher to publish the poem, La Henriade, secretly. The poem was a success, as was his next play, which was performed at the wedding of Louis XV.
What happened to Voltaire in 1726?
In 1726, Voltaire became involved in a quarrel with a young nobleman who reportedly insulted Voltaire’s change of name. Voltaire challenged him to a duel, but the nobleman instead had Voltaire beaten, then arrested without a trial.
What did Voltaire learn?
From the age of ten until seventeen, Voltaire received classical instruction in Latin, rhetoric, and theology.
Why was Voltaire banned?
Because he did not get the approval of the official royal censor before publishing, and because the essays praised British religious freedom and human rights, the book was banned and Voltaire had to quickly flee from Paris.
Why did Voltaire return to France?
Thanks to participation in a plan to literally purchase the French lottery, along with an inheritance from his father, he quickly became incredibly rich. In the early 1730s, he began publishing work that showed his clear English influences. His play Zaïre was dedicated to his English friend Everard Fawkener and included praise of English culture and freedoms. He also published a collection of essays that praised British politics, attitudes towards religion and science, and arts and literature, called the Letters Concerning the English Nation, in 1733 in London. The next year, it was published in French, landing Voltaire in hot water again. Because he did not get the approval of the official royal censor before publishing, and because the essays praised British religious freedom and human rights, the book was banned and Voltaire had to quickly flee from Paris.
What were Voltaire's major accomplishments?
Key Accomplishments: Voltaire published significant criticism of the French monarchy. His commentary on religious tolerance, historiographies, and civil liberties became a key component of Enlightenment thinking.
What did Voltaire believe?
In religion, Voltaire believed that Christianity was good for tailors and chambermaids to believe in, but he advocated that the elite have a simple deism. He was against atheism and materialism as expressed by Helvétius and Holbach. His statement, “If God did not exist, he would have to be invented,” is well known.
How long did Voltaire stay in Lorraine?
Voltaire remained there for three years. In 1733, his Letters on the English Nation infuriated the French government and the church which forced him to escape to Lorraine. Voltaire stayed there for 15 years with Emile de Breteuil, his mistress.
What is Voltaire famous for?
Famous For: Advocating freedom of religion, expression, and separation of church & state. Voltaire was a French philosopher and historian. His birth name was François-Marie Arouet and he is considered to be one of the best Enlightenment writers because of his versatility as a writer and his ability to create works in nearly all literary forms, ...
How does Voltaire end Candide?
Voltaire ends Candide with an outright rejection of optimism while promoting more practical principles.
Why was Voltaire exiled?
Arrests and Exiles. Voltaire was exiled in 1715 to Tulle for making fun of the regent of Orleans. He returned to Paris in 1717 and was arrested again. This time he was sent to the Bastille for one year on libelous poetry charges. In 1726, he was once again sent to the Bastille.
How long was Voltaire in prison?
Voltaire’s activities resulted in several imprisonments and exiles. His satirical verse regarding the Régent resulted in his imprisonment for eleven months in the Bastille. When he was there, Voltaire wrote Œdipe, his debut play. Its success quickly established his reputation.
What did Voltaire think of the French bourgeoisie?
Voltaire thought the French bourgeoisie was not very effective, the aristocracy was too corrupt and parasitic, the masses too superstitious and ignorant, and that the church was only valuable as a counterbalance against the monarchy. He did not trust democracy, and he believed that it propagated the commoners’ idiocy.
What happens when stupidity is repeated?
The more often a stupidity is repeated, the more it gets the appearance of wisdom.
What is the art of medicine?
The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.
What is the power of the brain?
The human brain is a complex organ with the wonderful power of enabling man to find reasons for continuing to believe whatever it is that he wants to believe.
Who said "Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices?
Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices. "Questions sur les Miracles". Publication by Voltaire, 1765. The more often a stupidity is repeated, the more it gets the appearance of wisdom.
Who said "Many are destined to reason wrongly"?
Many are destined to reason wrongly; others, not to reason at all; and others, to persecute those who do reason. François Marie Arouet de Voltaire (1766). “The philosophical dictionary, from the French”, p.152. The most important decision you make is to be in a good mood.
Is a yawn polite?
A yawn may not be polite, but at least it is an honest opinion.
Is inequality the real misfortune?
It is not inequality which is the real misfortune, it is dependence.
Overview
Writings
Voltaire had an enormous influence on the development of historiography through his demonstration of fresh new ways to look at the past. Guillaume de Syon argues:
Voltaire recast historiography in both factual and analytical terms. Not only did he reject traditional biographies and accounts that claim the work of supernat…
Early life
François-Marie Arouet was born in Paris, the youngest of the five children of François Arouet (1649–1722), a lawyer who was a minor treasury official, and his wife, Marie Marguerite Daumard (c. 1660–1701), whose family was on the lowest rank of the French nobility. Some speculation surrounds Voltaire's date of birth, because he claimed he was born on 20 February 1694 as the illegitimate …
Career
Voltaire's next play, Artémire, set in ancient Macedonia, opened on 15 February 1720. It was a flop and only fragments of the text survive. He instead turned to an epic poem about Henry IV of France that he had begun in early 1717. Denied a licence to publish, in August 1722 Voltaire headed north to find a publisher outside France. On the journey, he was accompanied by his mistress, Marie-M…
Religious and philosophical views
Like other key Enlightenment thinkers, Voltaire was a deist. He challenged orthodoxy by asking: "What is faith? Is it to believe that which is evident? No. It is perfectly evident to my mind that there exists a necessary, eternal, supreme, and intelligent being. This is no matter of faith, but of reason."
In a 1763 essay, Voltaire supported the toleration of other religions and ethnicit…
Views on race and slavery
Voltaire rejected the biblical Adam and Eve story and was a polygenist who speculated that each race had entirely separate origins. According to William Cohen, like most other polygenists, Voltaire believed that because of their different origins, Black Africans did not entirely share the natural humanity of white Europeans. According to David Allen Harvey, Voltaire often invoked racia…
Appreciation and influence
According to Victor Hugo: "To name Voltaire is to characterize the entire eighteenth century." Goethe regarded Voltaire as the greatest literary figure of modern times, and possibly of all time. According to Diderot, Voltaire's influence would extend far into the future. Napoleon commented that till he was sixteen he "would have fought for Rousseau against the friends of Voltaire, today it is the opposite ... The more I read Voltaire the more I love him. He is a man always reasonable, n…
Voltaire and Rousseau
Voltaire's junior contemporary Jean-Jacques Rousseau commented on how Voltaire's book Letters on the English played a great role in his intellectual development. Having written some literary works and also some music, in December 1745 Rousseau wrote a letter introducing himself to Voltaire, who was by then the most prominent literary figure in France, to which Voltaire replied with a polite response. Subsequently, when Rousseau sent Voltaire a copy of his book Discourse …
Who Was Voltaire?
Early Life
- Voltaire was born François-Marie Arouet to a prosperous family on November 21, 1694, in Paris, France. He was the youngest of five children born to François Arouet and Marie Marguerite d'Aumart. When Voltaire was just seven years old, his mother passed away. Following her death, he grew closer to his free-thinking godfather. In 1704, Voltaire was enrolled at the Collége Louis …
Beliefs and Philosophy
- Embracing Enlightenment philosophers such as Isaac Newton, John Locke and Francis Bacon, Voltaire found inspiration in their ideals of a free and liberal society, along with freedom of religion and free commerce. Voltaire, in keeping with other Enlightenment thinkers of the era, was a deist — not by faith, according to him, but rather by reason. He looked favorably on religious tolerance…
Major Works
- Voltaire wrote poetry and plays, as well as historical and philosophical works. His most well-known poetry includes The Henriade (1723) and The Maid of Orleans, which he started writing in 1730 but never fully completed. Among the earliest of Voltaire's best-known plays is his adaptation of Sophocles' tragedy Oedipus, which was first performed in 1718. Voltaire followed …
Arrests and Exiles
- In 1716, Voltaire was exiled to Tulle for mocking the duc d'Orleans. In 1717, he returned to Paris, only to be arrested and exiled to the Bastille for a year on charges of writing libelous poetry. Voltaire was sent to the Bastille again in 1726, for arguing with the Chevalier de Rohan. This time he was only detained briefly before being exiled to England, where he remained for nearly three y…
Death
- Voltaire moved to Prussia in 1750 as a member of Frederick the Great's court, and spent later years in Geneva and Ferney. By 1778, he was recognized as an icon of the Enlightenment's progressive ideals, and he was given a hero's welcome upon his return to Paris. He died there shortly afterward, on May 30, 1778.
Legacy
- In 1952, researcher and writer Theodore Besterman established a museum devoted to Voltaire in Geneva. He later set about writing a biography of his favorite subject, and following his death in 1976, the Voltaire Foundation was vested permanently at the University of Oxford. The foundation continued to work toward making the Enlightenment writer's prolific output available to the publi…