Voltaire

Goldy Levy and Adrian Seidner

__ Voltaire __

Biography Teachings and Ideas
 * Paris, France
 * 21 November, 1694
 * Was educated by the Jesuits at the College Louis-le-Grand (1704-1711)
 * Latin, Greek, Italian, Spanish, English
 * Freedom of Expression/Religion/Political
 * Rationality as a means to stating an authoritative system
 * Separation of Church and state (against Church). **Note: he was against the Church not so much because of belief in God or because he was an atheist (it is unclear whether he was an atheist or not), but because he believed that the practices of the Church, tied as they were to tradition, traditional interpretations of the Bible by church authorities and church authorities only, and to the Pope as the sole source of human authority, Voltaire held that all this undermined people's use of reason, discouraging mankind from thinking for himself.**
 * Replace ignorance and superstitions with knowledge and rational thought
 * Monarchy and Philosophers should be in power

School of Philosophy Key Works Quotation Connection “A man has free choice to the extent that he is rational” Influence –French Constitution and Declaration of Rights
 * Enlightenment
 * Playwright (Satire)
 * //The Age of Louis XIV// (1751)
 * //Essay on the Customs and the Spirit of the Nations// (1756)
 * //Fanaticism//, or Mahomet (play)
 * //Candide//
 * “Our religion is without a doubt the most ridiculous, the most absurd, and the most blood-thirsty ever to infect the world.”
 * “All murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.”
 * Socrates
 * Aristotle
 * Diogenes
 * Thomas Aquinas
 * Machiavelli
 * French Revolution
 * U.S. Constitution
 * Vanguard movement Dada
 * Pierre Teilhard de Chardin


 * Less philosopher than writer and commentator, Voltaire used his influence as a writer of plays and essays to change the thinking of a nation and much of the world.**