Voltaire

Voltaire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Voltair...
Voltaire
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Franois-Marie Arouet (French: [f .swa ma.i a.w]; 21 November 1694 30 May 1778), known by his nom de plume Voltaire (pronounced: [vl.t]), 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. Voltaire was a versatile writer, producing works in almost every literary form, including plays, poems, novels, essays, and historical and scientic works. He wrote more than 20,000 letters and more than 2,000 books and pamphlets. He was an outspoken advocate, despite the risk this placed him in under the strict censorship laws of the time. As a satirical polemicist, he frequently made use of his works to criticize intolerance, religious dogma, and the French institutions of his day.
Voltaire
Detail of portrait by Maurice Quentin de
Contents
1 Biography 1.1 The name "Voltaire" 1.2 Great Britain 1.3 Chteau de Cirey 1.4 Sanssouci 1.5 Geneva and Ferney 1.6 Death and burial 2 Writings 2.1 History 2.2 Poetry 2.3 Prose 2.4 Letters 3 Philosophy 3.1 Religion 3.1.1 Bible 3.1.2 Islam 3.1.3 Christianity 3.1.4 Hinduism 3.2 Anti-semitism 3.3 Religious tolerance 3.4 Race and slavery 4 Legacy 5 Chronology 6 Works 6.1 Philosophical works 6.2 Plays 6.3 Historical 7 See also 8 References
La Tour Born Franois-Marie Arouet 21 November 1694 Paris, France Died Pen name 30 May 1778 (aged 83) Paris, France Voltaire playwright Nationality French
Occupation Writer, philosopher,
1 of 25
2014-04-14 11:47
9 Further reading 9.1 In French 9.2 Primary sources 10 External links
Biography
Franois-Marie Arouet was born in Paris, the youngest of the ve children [1] (three of whom survived) of Franois Arouet (1650 1 January 1722), a lawyer who was a minor treasury ocial, and his wife, Marie Marguerite d'Aumart (ca. 1660 13 July 1701), from a noble family of the province of Poitou. Some speculation surrounds his date of birth, which Voltaire always claimed to be 20 February 1694. Voltaire was educated by the Jesuits at the Collge Louis-le-Grand (17041711), where he learned Latin and Greek; later in life he became uent in Italian, Spanish [2] and English. 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. Nevertheless, he continued to write, producing essays and historical studies. Voltaire's wit made him popular among some of the aristocratic families with whom he mixed. His father then obtained a job for him as a secretary to the French ambassador in the Netherlands, where Voltaire fell in love with a French Protestant refugee named Catherine Olympe Dunoyer. Their scandalous elopement was foiled by Voltaire's father and he was forced to return to France.[3] Most of Voltaire's early life revolved around Paris. From early on, Voltaire had trouble with the authorities for even mild critiques of the government and religious intolerance. These activities were to result in numerous imprisonments and exiles. One satirical verse about the Rgent led to [4] his imprisonment in the Bastille for eleven months. While there, he wrote his debut play, dipe. Its success established his reputation.
The name "Voltaire"

The name "Voltaire", which the author adopted in 1718, is an anagram of "AROVET LI," the [5] The Latinized spelling of his surname, Arouet, and the initial letters of "le jeune" ("the young"). name also echoes in reverse order the syllables of the name of a family chteau in the Poitou region: "Airvault". The adoption of the name "Voltaire" following his incarceration at the Bastille is seen by many to mark Voltaire's formal separation from his family and his past. Richard Holmes supports this derivation of the name, but adds that a writer such as Voltaire would have intended it to also convey its connotations of speed and daring. These come from associations with words such as "voltige" (acrobatics on a trapeze or horse), "volte-face" (a spinning about to face one's enemies), and "volatile" (originally, any winged creature). "Arouet" was not a noble name t for his growing reputation, especially given that name's resonance with " rouer" ("to be broken on the wheel" a form of torture then still prevalent) and "rou" (a "dbauch"). In a letter to Jean-Baptiste Rousseau in March 1719, Voltaire concludes by asking that, if Rousseau wishes to send him a return letter, he do so by addressing it to Monsieur de Voltaire. A postscript explains: "J'ai t si malheureux sous le nom d'Arouet que j'en ai pris un autre surtout pour n'tre plus confondu avec le pote Roi", (I was so unhappy under the name of Arouet that I have taken another, primarily so as to cease to be confused with the poet Roi.) [7] This probably refers to Adenes le Roi, and the 'oi' diphthong was then pronounced like modern 'ouai', so the similarity to
[6]
2 of 25
2014-04-14 11:47
'Arouet' is clear, and thus, it could well have been part of his rationale. Indeed, Voltaire is [8] additionally known to have used at least 178 separate pen names during his lifetime.
Great Britain
In 1726, Voltaire responded to an insult from the young French nobleman Chevalier de Rohan, whose servants beat him a few days later. Since Voltaire was seeking compensation, and was even willing to ght in a duel, the aristocratic Rohan family obtained a royal lettre de cachet, an often arbitrary penal decree signed by the French King (Louis XV, in the time of Voltaire) that was often bought by members of the wealthy nobility to dispose of undesirables. This warrant caused Voltaire [9] to be imprisoned in the Bastille without a trial and without an opportunity to defend himself. Fearing an indenite prison sentence, Voltaire suggested that he be exiled to England as an [10] This incident marked the alternative punishment, which the French authorities accepted. beginning of Voltaire's attempts to reform the French judicial system. From 1726 to 1728 he lodged in Maiden Lane, Covent Garden, now commemorated by a plaque at [11] Voltaire's exile in Great Britain lasted nearly three years, and his experiences 10 Maiden Lane. there greatly inuenced his thinking. He was intrigued by Britain's constitutional monarchy in contrast to the French absolute monarchy, and by the country's greater support of the freedoms of speech and religion. He was also inuenced by several neoclassical writers of the age, and developed an interest in earlier English literature, especially the works of Shakespeare, still relatively unknown in continental Europe. Despite pointing out his deviations from neoclassical standards, Voltaire saw Shakespeare as an example that French writers might emulate, since French drama, despite being more polished, lacked on-stage action. Later, however, as Shakespeare's inuence began growing in France, Voltaire tried to set a contrary example with his own plays, decrying what he considered Shakespeare's barbarities. He was present at the funeral of Isaac Newton, and praised the British for honoring a scientist of heretical religious beliefs with burial at Westminster Abbey. After almost three years in exile, Voltaire returned to Paris and published his views on British attitudes toward government, literature, and religion in a collection of essays in letter form entitled Letters Concerning the English Nation (London, 1733). In 1734, they were published in French as Lettres philosophiques in Rouen. A revised edition appeared in English in 1778 as Lettres philosophiques sur les Anglais (Philosophical Letters on the English). Most modern English editions are based on the one from 1734 and typically use the title Philosophical Letters, a direct translation of that version's title.[12] Because the publisher released the book without the approval of the royal censor and Voltaire regarded the British constitutional monarchy as more developed and more respectful of human rights (particularly religious tolerance) than its French counterpart, the French publication of Letters caused a huge scandal; the book was burnt. After the book was banned, Voltaire was forced [13] Later, this book was banned, and Voltaire had to ee to Paris. [14] again to ee.
Chteau de Cirey
Voltaire's next destination was the Chteau de Cirey, on the borders of Champagne and Lorraine. The building was renovated with his money, and here he began a relationship with the Marquise du Chtelet, Gabrielle milie le Tonnelier de Breteuil (famous in her own right as milie du Chtelet). Cirey was owned by the Marquise's husband, Marquis Florent-Claude du Chatelet, who sometimes visited his wife and her lover at the chateau. The relationship, which lasted for fteen years, had a signicant intellectual element. Voltaire and the Marquise collected over 21,000 books, an enormous number for the time. Together, they studied these books and performed experiments in the "natural sciences" in his laboratory. Voltaire's experiments included an attempt to determine the elements of re.
3 of 25
2014-04-14 11:47
Having learned from his previous brushes with the authorities, Voltaire began his habit of keeping out of personal harm's way, and denying any awkward responsibility. He continued to write plays, such as Mrope (or La Mrope franaise) and began his long research into science and history. Again, a main source of inspiration for Voltaire were the years of his British exile, during which he had been strongly inuenced by the works of Sir Isaac Newton. Voltaire strongly believed in Newton's theories, especially concerning optics (Newton's discovery that white light is composed of all the colours in the spectrum led to many experiments at Cirey), and gravity (Voltaire is the source of the famous story of Newton and the apple falling from the tree, which he had learned from Newton's niece in London and rst mentioned in his "Essai sur la posie pique", or "Essay on Epic Poetry"). Although both Voltaire and the Marquise were curious about the philosophies of Gottfried Leibniz, a contemporary and rival of Newton, they remained essentially "Newtonians", despite the Marquise's adoption of certain aspects of Leibniz's arguments against Newton.[citation needed] She translated Newton's Latin Principia in full, adjusting a few errors along the way, and hers remained the denitive French translation well into the 20th century. Voltaire's book Elments de la philosophie de Newton (Elements of Newton's Philosophy), which was probably co-written with the Marquise, made Newton accessible to a far greater public. The Marquise also wrote a celebratory review in the Journal des Savants.[13] It is often considered the work that nally brought about general acceptance of Newton's optical [15] and gravitational theories.
In the frontispiece to Voltaire's book on Newton's philosophy, milie du Chtelet appears as Voltaire's muse, reecting Newton's heavenly insights down to Voltaire.
Voltaire and the Marquise also studied history, particularly those persons who had contributed to civilization. Voltaire's second essay in English had been "Essay upon the Civil Wars in France". It was followed by La Henriade, an epic poem on the French King Henri IV, glorifying his attempt to end the Catholic-Protestant massacres with the Edict of Nantes, and by a historical novel on King Charles XII of Sweden. These, along with his Letters on the English mark the beginning of Voltaire's open criticism of intolerance and established religions. Voltaire and the Marquise also explored philosophy, particularly metaphysics, the branch of philosophy that deals with being and with what lies beyond the material realm such as whether or not there is a God or souls, etc. Voltaire and the Marquise analyzed the Bible, trying to discover its validity for their time. Voltaire's critical views on religion are reected in his belief in separation of church and state and religious freedom, ideas that he had formed after his stay in England. In the fall of 1735, Voltaire was visited by Francesco Algarotti, preparing a book about Newton. In 1736 Frederick the Great started to write letters to Voltaire. Two years later Voltaire lived in Holland and became acquainted with Herman Boerhaave and 's Gravesande. In rst half of 1740 Voltaire lived in Brussels and met with Lord Chestereld. He went to see a dubious publisher Jan van Duuren in the Hague, because of the Anti-Machiavel, written by the crown prince, and ordered it back. Voltaire lived in Huis Honselaarsdijk belonging to his admirer. In September they met for the rst time in Moyland Castle near Cleve; in November Voltaire went to Rheinsberg Castle for two weeks; in August 1742 Voltaire and Frederick met in Aix-la-Chapelle. Voltaire was sent to Sanssouci by the French government, as an ambassador/spy and nd out more about Frederick plan's after the First Silesian War.[16] Though deeply committed to the Marquise, Voltaire by 1744 found life at the chteau conning. On
4 of 25
2014-04-14 11:47
a visit to Paris that year, he found a new lovehis niece. At rst, his attraction to Marie Louise [17] Much Mignot was clearly sexual, as evidenced by his letters to her (only discovered in 1937). later, they lived together, perhaps platonically, and remained together until Voltaire's death. [18] Meanwhile, the Marquise also took a lover, the Marquis de Saint-Lambert.
Sanssouci
After the death of the Marquise in childbirth in September 1749, Voltaire briey returned to Paris and in 1750 moved to Potsdam to [19] The king now gave meet Frederick the Great for the fth time. him a salary of 20,000 francs a year. Though life went well at rstin 1752 he wrote Micromgas, perhaps the rst piece of science ction involving ambassadors from another planet witnessing the follies of humankindhis relationship with Frederick the Great began to deteriorate and he encountered other diculties. An argument with Maupertuis, the president of the Berlin Academy of Science, provoked Voltaire's "Diatribe du docteur Akakia" ("Diatribe of Doctor Akakia"), which satirized some of Maupertuis' theories and his abuse of power in his persecutions of a mutual acquaintance, Johann Samuel Knig. This greatly angered Frederick, who had all copies of the document burned and Voltaire arrested at an inn where he was staying along his journey home.
Geneva and Ferney

Voltaire headed toward Paris, but Louis XV banned him from the city, so instead he turned to Geneva, near which he bought a large [20] Though he was received openly at estate (Les Dlices) in 1755. rst, the law in Geneva, which banned theatrical performances, and the publication of The Maid of Orleans against his will made him move at the end of 1758 across the French border to Ferney, where he had bought an even larger estate, and led to Voltaire's writing of Candide, ou l'Optimisme (Candide, or Optimism) in 1759. This satire on Leibniz's philosophy of optimistic determinism remains the work for which Voltaire is perhaps best known. He would stay in Ferney for most of the remaining 20 years of his life, frequently entertaining distinguished guests, such as James Boswell, Adam Smith, Giacomo Casanova, and Edward Gibbon.[21] In 1764, he published one of his best-known philosophical works, the Dictionnaire Philosophique, a series of articles mainly on Christian history and dogmas, a few of [9] which were originally written in Berlin.
Die Tafelrunde by Adolph von Menzel. Guests of Frederick the Great at Sanssouci, including members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences and Voltaire (third from left)
Voltaire's chteau at Ferney, France
From 1762, he began to champion unjustly persecuted people, the case of Jean Calas being the most celebrated. This Huguenot merchant had been tortured to death in 1763, supposedly because he had murdered his son for wanting to convert to Catholicism. His possessions were conscated and his remaining children were taken from his widow and were forced to become members of a monastery. Voltaire, seeing this as a clear case of religious persecution, managed to overturn the [9] conviction in 1765. Voltaire was initiated into Freemasonry the month before his death. On 4 April 1778 Voltaire accompanied his close friend Benjamin Franklin into Loge des Neuf Soeurs in Paris, France and [22][23][24] became an Entered Apprentice Freemason.
5 of 25
2014-04-14 11:47
Death and burial

In February 1778, Voltaire returned for the rst time in 20 years to Paris, among other reasons to see the opening of his latest tragedy, Irene. The ve-day journey was too much for the 83-year-old, and he believed he was about to die on 28 February, writing "I die adoring God, loving my friends, not hating my enemies, and detesting superstition." However, he recovered, and in March saw a [9] performance of Irene, where he was treated by the audience as a returning hero. He soon became ill again and died on 30 May 1778. The accounts of his deathbed have been numerous and varying, and it has not been possible to establish the details of what precisely occurred. His enemies related that he repented and accepted the last rites given by a Catholic priest, or that he died under Paris house where Voltaire great torment, while his adherents died told how he was deant to his last breath.[25] According to one story, his last words were, "Now is not the time for making new enemies." It was his response to a priest at the side of his deathbed, asking [26] Voltaire to renounce Satan. Because of his well-known criticism of the Church, which he had refused to retract before his death, Voltaire was denied a Christian burial, but friends managed to bury his body secretly at the Abbey of Scellires in Champagne before this prohibition had been announced. His heart and brain were embalmed separately.
Voltaire's tomb in Paris' Pantheon
On 11 July 1791, the National Assembly of France, which regarded him as a forerunner of the French Revolution, had his remains brought back to Paris to enshrine him in the Panthon. It is estimated that a million people attended the procession, which stretched throughout Paris. There was an elaborate ceremony, complete with an orchestra, and the music included a piece that Andr Grtry had composed specially for the event, which included a part for the "tuba curva" (an instrument that originated in Roman times as the cornu but had recently been revived under a new name[27]). A widely repeated story, that the remains of Voltaire were stolen by religious fanatics in 1814 or 1821 during the Pantheon restoration and thrown into a garbage heap, is false. Such rumours [28] resulted in the con being opened in 1897, which conrmed that his remains were still present.
Writings
History
Voltaire had an enormous inuence on the development of historiography through his demonstration of fresh new ways to look at the past. His best-known histories are The Age of Louis XIV (1751), and his Essay on the Customs and the Spirit of the Nations (1756). He broke from the tradition of narrating diplomatic and military events, and emphasized customs, social history and achievements in the arts and sciences. The Essay on Customs traced the progress of world civilization in a universal context, thereby rejecting both nationalism and the traditional Christian frame of reference. Inuenced by Bossuet's Discourse on the Universal History (1682), he was the rst scholar to make a serious attempt to write the history of the world, eliminating theological
6 of 25
2014-04-14 11:47
frameworks, and emphasizing economics, culture and political history. He treated Europe as a whole, rather than a collection of nations. He was the rst to emphasize the debt of medieval culture to Arab civilization, but otherwise was weak on the Middle Ages. Although he repeatedly warned against political bias on the part of the historian, he did not miss many opportunities to expose the intolerance and frauds of the church over the ages. Voltaire advised scholars that anything contradicting the normal course of nature was not to be believed. Although he found evil in the historical record, he fervently believed reason and educating the illiterate masses would lead to progress. Voltaire explains his view of historiography in his article on "History" in Diderot's Encyclopdie: "One demands of modern historians more details, better ascertained facts, precise dates, more attention to customs, laws, mores, commerce, nance, agriculture, population." Voltaire's histories imposed the values of the Enlightenment on the past, but at the same time he helped free historiography from antiquarianism, Eurocentrism, religious intolerance and a concentration on great men, diplomacy, and warfare.[29][30] Yale professor Peter Gay says Voltaire wrote "very good history", citing his ""scrupulous concern for truths", "careful sifting of evidence", "intelligent selection of what is important", "keen sense of drama", and "grasp of the fact that a whole [31] civilization is a unit of study".
Poetry
From an early age, Voltaire displayed a talent for writing verse and his rst published work was poetry. He wrote two book-long epic poems, including the rst ever written in French, the Henriade, and later, The Maid of Orleans, besides many other smaller pieces. The Henriade was written in imitation of Virgil, using the Alexandrine couplet reformed and rendered monotonous for modern readers but it was a huge success in the 18th and early 19th century, with sixty-ve editions and translations into several languages. The epic poem transformed French King Henry IV into a national hero for his attempts at instituting tolerance with his Edict of Nantes. La Pucelle, on the other hand, is a burlesque on the legend of Joan of Arc. Voltaire's minor poems are generally considered superior to either of these two works.
Prose
Many of Voltaire's prose works and romances, usually composed as pamphlets, were written as polemics. Candide attacks the passivity inspired by Leibniz's philosophy of optimism; L'Homme aux quarante ecus (The Man of Forty Pieces of Silver), certain social and political ways of the time; Zadig and others, the received forms of moral and metaphysical orthodoxy; and some were written to deride the Bible. In these works, Voltaire's ironic style, free of exaggeration, is apparent, particularly the restraint and simplicity of the verbal treatment. Candide in particular is the best example of his style. Voltaire also has, in common with Jonathan Swift, the distinction of paving the way for science ction's philosophical irony, particularly in his Micromgas and the vignette Plato's Dream (1756).
In general, his criticism and miscellaneous writing shows a similar style to Voltaire's other works. Almost all of his more substantive works, whether in verse or prose, are preceded by prefaces of one sort or another, which are models of his caustic yet conversational tone. In a vast variety of nondescript pamphlets and writings, he displays his skills at journalism. In pure literary criticism his principal work is the Commentaire sur Corneille, although he wrote many more similar works sometimes (as in his Life and Notices of Molire) independently and sometimes as part of his Sicles.
Frontispiece and rst page of an early English translation by T. Smollett et al. of Voltaire's Candide, 1762
7 of 25
2014-04-14 11:47
Voltaire's works, especially his private letters, frequently contain the word "l'infme" and the expression "crasez l'infme", or "crush the infamous". The phrase refers to abuses of the people by royalty and the clergy that Voltaire saw around him, and the superstition and [32] He had felt intolerance that the clergy bred within the people. these eects in his own exiles, the burnings of his books and those of many others, and in the hideous suerings of Calas and La Barre. He stated in one of his most famous quotes that "Superstition sets the whole world in ames; philosophy quenches them." The most oft-cited Voltaire quotation is apocryphal. He is incorrectly Voltaire at Frederick the credited with writing, "I disapprove of what you say, but I will Great's Sanssouci, by Pierre defend to the death your right to say it." These were not his words, Charles Baquoy but rather those of Evelyn Beatrice Hall, written under the pseudonym S. G. Tallentyre in her 1906 biographical book The Friends of Voltaire. Hall intended to summarize in her own words Voltaire's attitude towards Claude Adrien Helvtius and his controversial book De l'esprit, but her rst-person expression was mistaken for an actual quotation from Voltaire. Her interpretation does capture the spirit of Voltaire's attitude towards Helvetius; it had been said Hall's summary was inspired by a quotation found in a 1770 Voltaire letter to an Abbot le Riche, in which he was reported to have said, "I detest what you write, but I would give my life to make it possible for you to continue to write." [33] Nevertheless, scholars believe there must have again been misinterpretation, as the letter does not [34] seem to contain any such quote. Voltaire's rst major philosophical work in his battle against "l'infme" was the Trait sur la tolrance (Treatise on Tolerance), exposing the Calas aair, along with the tolerance exercised by other faiths and in other eras (for example, by the Jews, the Romans, the Greeks and the Chinese). Then, in his Dictionnaire philosophique, containing such articles as "Abraham", "Genesis", "Church Council", he wrote about what he perceived as the human origins of dogmas and beliefs, as well as inhuman behavior of religious and political institutions in shedding blood over the quarrels of competing sects. Amongst other targets, Voltaire criticized France's colonial policy in North America, dismissing the vast territory of New France as "a few acres of snow" ("quelques arpents de neige").
Letters
Voltaire also engaged in an enormous amount of private correspondence during his life, totaling over 20,000 letters. Theodore Besterman's collected edition of these letters, completed only in [35] One historian called the letters "a feast not only of wit and eloquence 1964, lls 102 volumes. [36] but of warm friendship, humane feeling, and incisive thought."
Philosophy
Religion
Like other key thinkers during the European Enlightenment, Voltaire might have considered himself a deist, expressing the idea: "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. [37][38] This is no matter of faith, but of reason." In the Scottish Enlightenment, the Scots began developing a uniquely practical branch of humanism to the extent that Voltaire said "We look to Scotland for all our ideas of civilisation".
[39][40]
8 of 25
2014-04-14 11:47

Bible
As for religious texts, Voltaire's opinion of the Bible was mixed. Although inuenced by Socinian works such as the Bibliotheca Fratrum Polonorum, Voltaire's skeptical attitude to the Bible separated him from Unitarian theologians like Fausto Sozzini or even Biblical-political writers like John Locke.[41] This did not hinder his religious practice, though it did win for him a bad reputation in certain religious circles. The deeply Christian Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote to his father the year of Voltaire's death, saying, [42] "The arch-scoundrel Voltaire has nally kicked the bucket ...". Islam In his tragedy Le Fanatisme ou Mahomet, Voltaire described Mohammed as an "imposter", a " false prophet", a "fanatic" and a "hypocrite". [43][44] Voltaire defended the play, he said that he "tried to show in it into what horrible excesses fanaticism, led by an impostor, can plunge weak [45] minds". Voltaire wrote in 1742 to Csar de Missy, here he described Mohammed a [46][47] "deceitful character."
In 1748, after having read Henri de Boulainvilliers et Georges Sale, [48] he wrote again about Mohammed and Islam in an article "De l'Alcoran et de Mahomet" (On the Quran and on Mohammed). In the article, Voltaire maintained that Mohammed [49] and wrote that furthermore he was not an illiterate.[50] Drawing also was a "sublime charlatan" on complementary information in the "Oriental Library" of Herbelot, Voltaire, according to Ren Pomeau, had a judgement of Qur'an where he found the book in spite of "the contradictions, the [51] absurdities, the anachronisms", "rhapsody, without connection, without order, and without art". [52][53][54] Thus he "henceforward conceded" [54] that "if his book was bad for our times and for us, it was very good for his contemporaries, and his religion even more so. It must be admitted that he removed almost all of Asia from idolatry" and that "it was dicult for such a simple and wise religion, taught by a man who was constantly victorious, could hardly fail to subjugate a portion of the earth." He considered that "its civil laws are good; its dogma is admirable which it has in [55] common with ours" but that "his means are shocking; deception and murder". In his play, Mohammed was "whatever trickery can invent that most atrocious and whatever fanaticism can accomplish that is most horrifying. Mahomet here is nothing other than Tartue [56][57] After later having judged that he had made Mohammed in his with armies at his command." [58] Voltaire claims that Muhammad stolen the idea of play "somewhat nastier than he really was", an angel weighing both men and women from Zoroastrians, who are often referred as "Magi", Voltaire continues about Islam that;"Nothing is more terrible than a people who, having nothing to lose ght in the united [59] spirit of rapine and of religion." In his Essai sur les murs et l'esprit des Nations in which he consecrated, as a historian this time, [60][61][62] Voltaire highlighted the Arabian, Turkish courts, and conducts. several chapters to Islam, [54][63][64] [65] Here he called Mohammed a "poet", and furthermore he was not an illiterate. as a [66][67][68] In the chapter VI, "legislator" who "changed the face of part of Europe, one half of Asia", Voltaire nds similarities Arabs and ancient Hebrews, that they both kept running to battle in the
Voltaire at 70. Engraving from 1843 edition of his Philosophical Dictionary.
9 of 25
2014-04-14 11:47
[69]
name of god, and sharing the passion for booty and spoils. Voltaire continues that, "It is to be believed that Mohammed, like all enthusiasts, violently struck by his ideas, rst presented them in good faith, strengthened them with fantasy, fooled himself in fooling others, and supported through [70][71] necessary deceptions a doctrine which he considered good." However, Voltaire was fundamentally a Deist and clearly denounced Islam and monotheistic religions in general. Taking advantage of the denition of theism in his "Philosophical Dictionary", he put Islam and Christianity back to back with each other: (the theist) believes that religion consists neither in the opinions of an unintelligible metaphysics, nor in vain apparatus, but in worship and in justice. To do good, that is his prayer; to be submitted to God, that is his doctrine. The Mohammedan calls to him 'Beware if you do not make your pilgrimage to Mecca!' 'Woe on you, says a recoller to him, if you do not make a journey to Notre-Dame de Lorette!' He laughs at Lorette and at Mecca, but he helps the poor and defends the oppressed.[72] Thus there are number of representations of Mohammed in Voltaire, a religious one, according to which Mohammed is a prophet like the others, who exploits people's naivety and spreads superstition and fanaticism and the other a political one, according to which Mohammed was a [73][74] According to Diego Venturino the legislator who brought his contemporaries out of idolatry. gure of Mohammed is uncertain or negative in Voltaire's view, as Voltaire applaud the legislator [75][76][77] In but hates the conqueror and the ponti, who established his religion through violence. [54][64] He thus his Essai sur les murs, he highlighted the Arabian, Turkish courts, and conducts. [78] His compares "the genius of the Arab people" with "the genius of the ancient Romans". statements about religions also brought down on him the fury of the Jesuits and in particular [79][80][81][82] Claude-Adrien Nonnotte. Voltaire's views about Islam remained negative, he considered Quran to be ignoring the laws of [83] In a 1740 letter to Frederick II of Prussia, Voltaire ascribes to Muhammad a brutality physics. that "is assuredly nothing any man can excuse" and suggests that his following stemmed from superstition and lack of enlightenment. Voltaire continued in his letter, "But that a camel-merchant should stir up insurrection in his village; that in league with some miserable followers he persuades them that he talks with the angel Gabriel; that he boasts of having been carried to heaven, where he received in part this unintelligible book, each page of which makes common sense shudder; that, to pay homage to this book, he delivers his country to iron and ame; that he cuts the throats of fathers and kidnaps daughters; that he gives to the defeated the choice of his religion or death: this is assuredly nothing any man can excuse, at least if he was not born a Turk, or if superstition has not extinguished all natural light in him." Referring to Muhammad, in a letter to Frederick II of Prussia (December 1740), published in Oeuvres compltes de Voltaire, Vol. 7 (1869), edited by Georges Avenel, p. 105[84] In a 1745 letter recommending his play Fanaticism, or Mahomet to Pope Benedict XIV, Voltaire described the founder of Islam, Muhammad as "the founder of a false and barbarous sect" and "a false prophet." Voltaire wrote that "Your holiness will pardon the liberty taken by one of the lowest of the faithful, though a zealous admirer of virtue, of submitting to the head of the true religion this performance, written in opposition to the founder of a false and barbarous sect. To whom could I with more propriety inscribe a satire on the cruelty and errors of a false prophet, than to the vicar [85][86] < His view was modied slightly for Essai and representative of a God of truth and mercy?". [87][88][89][90][91] In 1751, sur les Moeurs et l'Esprit des Nations, however they remained negative. [92] Voltaire performed his play Mohamet once again, with great success. Christianity
10 of 25
2014-04-14 11:47
In a letter to Frederick II, King of Prussia, dated 5 January 1767 he wrote about Christianity that: La ntre [religion] est sans contredit la plus ridicule, la plus absurde, et la plus [93] sanguinaire qui ait jamais infect le monde. ("[Christianity] is assuredly the most ridiculous, the most absurd and the most bloody religion which has ever infected this world. Your Majesty will do the human race an eternal service by extirpating this infamous superstition, I do not say among the rabble, who are not worthy of being enlightened and who are apt for every yoke; I say among honest people, among men who think, among those who wish to think. ... My one regret in dying is that I cannot aid you in this noble enterprise, the nest and most respectable [94][95] which the human mind can point out.." Voltaire's view on Bible were negative. In La bible enfn expliquee he writes that; It is characteristics of fanatics who read the holy scriptures to tell themselves: God killed, so I must kill; Abraham lied, Jacob deceived, Rachel stole: so I must steal, deceive, lie. But, wretch, you are neither Rachel, nor Jacob, nor Abraham, nor God; you are just a mad [96] fool, and the popes who forbade the reading of the Bible were extremely wise. Hinduism Despite the criticism of Abrahamic religions, Voltaire had a positive view of Hinduism, [97] the sacred text Vedas, were remarked by him as:The Veda was the most precious gift for which the West had ever been indebted to the [98] East. He regarded Hindus, as "A peaceful and innocent people, equally incapable of hurting others or of [99] Voltaire was himself supporter of animal rights, he used the ancient defending themselves." times of Hinduism to land a devastating blow to the Bible's claims, he acknowledged that the Hindus' treatment of animals shown a shaming alternative to the immorality of European [100] imperialists.
Anti-semitism
According to the rabbi Joseph Telushkin, the most signicant of Enlightenment hostility against [101] thirty of the 118 articles in his Dictionnaire philosophique dealt Judaism was found in Voltaire; [102][103] with Jews and described them in consistently negative ways. On the other hand, Peter Gay, a contemporary authority on the Enlightenment, also points to Voltaire's remarks (for instance, that the Jews were more tolerant than the Christians) in the Trait sur la tolrance and surmises that "Voltaire struck at the Jews to strike at Christianity". Whatever [104] anti-semitism Voltaire may have felt, Gay suggests, derived from negative personal experience. Bertram Schwarzbach's far more detailed studies of Voltaire's dealings with Jewish people throughout his life concluded that he was anti-biblical, not anti-semitic. His remarks on the Jews [105] and their "superstitions" were essentially no dierent from his remarks on Christians. Telushkin states that Voltaire did not limit his attack to aspects of Judaism that Christianity used as [101] Arthur Hertzberg claims that a foundation, repeatedly making it clear that he despised Jews. Gay's second suggestion is also untenable, as Voltaire himself denied its validity when he remarked [106] that he had "forgotten about much larger bankruptcies through Christians".
[101]
Religious tolerance
11 of 25
2014-04-14 11:47
In a 1763 essay, Voltaire supported the toleration of other religions and ethnicities: "It does not require great art, or magnicently trained eloquence, to prove that Christians should tolerate each other. I, however, am going further: I say that we should regard all men as our brothers. What? The Turk my brother? The Chinaman my brother? The Jew? The Siam? Yes, without doubt; are we not [107] all children of the same father and creatures of the same God?"
Race and slavery

Voltaire rejected the Christian Adam and Eve story and was a polygenist who speculated that each [108] Like other philosophes, such as Buon, he divided humanity into race had separate origins. varieties or races and attempted to explain the dierences between these races. He wondered if blacks fully shared in the common humanity or intelligence of whites because of their participation [109][110] in the slave trade. His most famous remark on slavery is found in Candide, where the hero is horried to learn "at what price we eat sugar in Europe" after coming across a slave in French Guinea who has been mutilated for escaping, who opines that, if all human beings have common origins as the Bible taught, it makes them cousins, concluding that "no one could treat their relatives more horribly". Elsewhere, he wrote caustically about "whites and Christians [who] proceed to purchase negroes [111][112] cheaply, in order to sell them dear in America".
Legacy
Voltaire perceived the French bourgeoisie to be too small and ineective, the aristocracy to be parasitic and corrupt, the commoners as ignorant and superstitious, and the Church as a static and oppressive force useful only on occasion as a counterbalance to the rapacity of kings, although all too often, even more rapacious itself. Voltaire distrusted democracy, which he saw as propagating [113] Voltaire long thought only an the idiocy of the masses. enlightened monarch could bring about change, given the social structures of the time and the extremely high rates of illiteracy, and that it was in the king's rational interest to improve the education and welfare of his subjects. But his disappointments and disillusions with Frederick the Great changed his philosophy somewhat, and soon gave birth to one of his most enduring works, his novella Candide, ou l'Optimisme (Candide, or Optimism, 1759), which ends with a new conclusion: "It is up to us to cultivate our garden." His most polemical and ferocious attacks on intolerance and religious persecutions indeed began to appear a few years later. Candide was also burned and Voltaire jokingly claimed the actual author was a certain 'Demad' in a letter, where he rearmed the main polemical stances of the text.[114] He is remembered and honoured in France as a courageous Voltaire, by Jean-Antoine polemicist who indefatigably fought for civil rights (as the right to a Houdon, 1778. National fair trial and freedom of religion) and who denounced the Gallery of Art hypocrisies and injustices of the Ancien Rgime. The Ancien Rgime according to common opinion involved an unfair balance of power and taxes between the three Estates: clergy and nobles on one side, the commoners and middle class, who were burdened with most of the taxes, on the other. He particularly had admiration for the ethics and government as exemplied by Confucius. [115] Voltaire is also known for many memorable aphorisms, such as "Si Dieu n'existait pas, il faudrait
12 of 25
2014-04-14 11:47
l'inventer" ("If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him"), contained in a verse epistle from 1768, addressed to the anonymous author of a controversial work on The Three Impostors. But far from being the cynical remark it is often taken for, it was meant as a retort to the atheistic [116] He has had his detractors among his later colleagues. clique of d'Holbach, Grimm, and others. The Scottish Victorian writer Thomas Carlyle argued that "Voltaire read history, not with the eye of [117] devout seer or even critic, but through a pair of mere anti-catholic spectacles." The town of Ferney, where Voltaire lived out the last 20 years of his life, is now named FerneyVoltaire in honour of its most famous resident. His chteau is a museum. Voltaire's library is preserved intact in the National Library of Russia at Saint Petersburg, Russia. In the Zurich of 1916, the theatre and performance group who would become the early avant-garde movement Dada named their theater The Cabaret Voltaire. A late-20th-century industrial music group then named themselves after the theater. Astronomers have bestowed his name to the Voltaire crater on [118] Deimos and the asteroid 5676 Voltaire. Besides, Voltaire was also known to have been an advocate for coee, as he was purported to have drunk it 5072 times per day. It has been suggested that high amounts of caeine acted as a mental [119] His great-grand-niece was the mother of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, stimulant to his creativity. [120][121] His book Candide was listed as one of The 100 a famous philosopher and Jesuit priest. Most Inuential Books Ever Written, by Martin Seymour-Smith.
Chronology
Timeline of Franois Marie Arouet ("Voltaire") (16941778)
13 of 25
2014-04-14 11:47
14 of 25
2014-04-14 11:47
Works
Philosophical works
Letters concerning the English nation (London, 1733) (French version entitled Lettres philosophiques sur les Anglais, Rouen, 1734), revised as Letters on the English (circa 1778) Le Mondain (1736) Sept Discours en Vers sur l'Homme (1738) Zadig (1747) Micromgas (1752) Candide (1759) Trait sur la tolrance (1763) Ce qui plat aux dames (1764) Dictionnaire philosophique (1764) L'Ingnu (1767) La Princesse de Babylone (1768)
Plays
Voltaire wrote between fty and sixty plays, including a few unnished ones. Among them are these: dipe (1718) Mariamne (1724) Zare (1732) Eriphile (1732) Irne Socrates Mahomet Mrope Nanine La princesse de Navarre (1745) L'Orphelin de la Chine (1755)[115][122]
Historical
History of Charles XII, King of Sweden (1731) The Age of Louis XIV (1751) The Age of Louis XV (17461752) Annals of the Empire Charlemagne, A.D. 742 Henry VII 1313, Vol. I (1754) Annals of the Empire Louis of Bavaria, 1315 to Ferdinand II 1631 Vol. II (1754) Essay on the Manners of Nations (or 'Universal History') (1756) History of the Russian Empire Under Peter the Great (Vol. I 1759; Vol. II 1763) [123] History of the Parliament of Paris (1769)
See also
Classical liberalism Contributions to liberal theory List of Freemasons List of coupled cousins Mononymous persons
15 of 25
2014-04-14 11:47

Voltaire Foundation
References
1. ^ Wright, p 505 (http://books.google.com /books?id=wXc6AAAAMAAJ& printsec=titlepage&source=gbs_summary_r& cad=0#PPA505,M1). 2. ^ Liukkonen, Petri. "Voltaire (16941778) pseudonym of Franois-Marie Arouet" (http://www.kirjasto.sci./voltaire.htm). Retrieved 24 July 2009. 3. ^ Davidson, Ian. Voltaire: A Life, p. 79, Prole Books, London: 2010 4. ^ Fitzpatrick, Martin (2000). "Toleration and the Enlightenment Movement" in Grell/Porter, Toleration in Enlightenment Europe, p. 64, footnote 91, Cambridge University Press 5. ^ Christopher Thacker (1971). "Voltaire" (http://books.google.com/?id=D5s9AAAAIAAJ). Proles in literature series (Taylor & Francis). p. 3 (http://books.google.com.ph /books?id=D5s9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA3). ISBN 978-0-7100-7020-3. 6. ^ Holmes, Richard (2000). Sidetracks: explorations of a romantic biographer. HarperCollins. pp. 345366. and "Voltaire's Grin" in New York Review of Books, 30 November 1995, page. 4955 7. ^ "Voltaire to Jean Baptiste Rousseau, c. 1 March 1719" (http://www.e-enlightenment.com /item/voltfrVF0850079_1key001cor). Electronic Enlightenment. Ed. Robert McNamee et al. Vers. 2.1. University of Oxford. 2010. Web. 20 Jun. 2010. . 8. ^ "The appendixes oer even more: a listing of Voltaire's and Daniel Defoe's numerous pseudonyms (178 and 198, respectively) ..." (http://www.amazon.com/dp/078640423X) 9. ^ a b c d "The Life of Voltaire" (http://thegreatdebate.org.uk/Voltaire.html). Thegreatdebate.org.uk. Retrieved 3 August 2009. 10. ^ "Voltaire in England" (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books /bookreviews/7567947/Voltaire-in-England.html) 11. ^ City of Westminster green plaques http://www.westminster.gov.uk/services /leisureandculture/greenplaques/ 12. ^ A note on the text: it has long been believed that Voltaire wrote Letters (1733) in English a theory based mostly on the work of Harcourt Brown however, recent studies indicate that they were in fact written in French and then translated, probably by John Lockman. 13. ^ a b Shank, J. B. (2009). "Voltaire" (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/voltaire /#NewWar173). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 14. ^ Hussein, Akbar. Twenty-First Century Psychology Spirituality. Global pub house. p. 182. 15. ^ Bryant, Walter W. (1907). A History of Astronomy (http://archive.org/stream /AHistoryOfAstronomy/BryantAHistoryOfAstronomy#page/n75). p. 53. 16. ^ Voltaire, The Works of Voltaire, Vol. I (Candide) [1759] [1] (http://oll.libertyfund.org /simple.php?id=350) 17. ^ Davidson, Ian (January 2006). Ian Davidson, Voltaire in Exile, Grove Press 2006 (http://books.google.com/?id=99Rnph1FGxcC& pg=PA6&lpg=PA6& dq=%22mme+denis%22++Voltaire). ISBN 978-0-8021-4236-8. See also Will and Ariel Durant, The Age of Voltaire, Simon & Schuster (196) p. 392 [2] (http://books.google.com /books?ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html& id=v6oYAAAAYAAJ& dq=%22mio+cazzo+mio+cuore%22& q=%22mio+cazzo+mio+cuore%22+) 18. ^ Davidson, ibid, (http://books.google.com /?id=99Rnph1FGxcC&pg=PA7&lpg=PA6& dq=%22mme+denis%22++Voltaire). Google Books. January 2006. p. 7. ISBN 978-0-8021-4236-8. Retrieved 3 August 2009. 19. ^ According to poet Richard Armour, Voltaire's friendship with Frederick existed because "Frederick considered Voltaire to be immensely clever and so did Voltaire." 20. ^ Richard Popkin; Stephen F. Brown; David Carr; Brian P . Copenhaver; Thomas R. Flynn (1999). The Columbia History of Western Philosophy (http://books.google.com /books?id=ok4F_SawQaEC). Columbia University Press. p. 465. ISBN 0-231-10129-5. 21. ^ The Scottish diarist Boswell recorded their conversations in 1764, which are published in Boswell and the Grand Tour.
16 of 25
2014-04-14 11:47

22. ^ "Benjamin Franklin ... urged Voltaire to become a freemason; and Voltaire agreed, perhaps only to please Franklin."Ridley, Jasper (2002). The Freemasons: A History of the World's Most Powerful Secret Society (http://books.google.com/?id=ISMObxdcmfsC& pg=RA4-PA112&dq=freemason+voltaire). p. 114. ISBN 978-1-55970-654-4. 23. ^ "I did not know that: Mason Facts" (http://www.americanmason.com /didntARC.ihtml).Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20070112071055 /http://www.americanmason.com /didntARC.ihtml) January 12, 2007 at the Wayback Machine 24. ^ "Voltaire on British Columbia Grand Lodge Site" (http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/biography /voltaire/voltaire.html). 25. ^ Peter Gay, The Enlightenment An Interpretation, Volume 2: The Science of Freedom, Wildwood House, London, 1973, pp. 8889. 26. ^ Bulston, Michael E (2007). Teach What You Believe (http://books.google.com /?id=Qq4eY3IrT1kC&pg=PA105& dq=voltaire+last+words+making+enemies#v= onepage& q=voltaire%20last%20words%20making%20ene mies&f=false). Paulist Press. p. 105. ISBN 978-0-8091-4481-5. 27. ^ Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th ed, 1954; "Cornu" article 28. ^ "Voltaire and Rousseau, Their Tombs in the Pantheon Opened and Their Bones Exposed" (http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archivefree/pdf?res=9F02E3DD1638E433A2575BC0A9 679C94699ED7CF), New York Times, 8 January 1898 29. ^ Paul Sakmann, "The Problems of Historical Method and of Philosophy of History in Voltaire", History and Theory, vol. 11.4 (December 1971), pp. 2459. 30. ^ Peter Gay, Voltaire's Politics (2nd ed., 1988) 31. ^ Peter Gay, "Carl Becker's Heavenly City," Political Science Quarterly (1957) 72:18299 32. ^ Palmer, R.R.; Colton, Joel (1950). A History of the Modern World. McGraw-Hill, Inc. ISBN 0-07-040826-2. 33. ^ Boller, Jr., Paul F.; George, John (1989). They Never Said It: A Book of Fake Quotes, Misquotes, and Misleading Attributions. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-505541-1.
34. ^ Charles Wirz, archivist at the Voltaire Institute and Museum in Geneva, recalled in 1994, that Hall 'wrongly' placed this quotation between speech marks in two of her works about Voltaire, recognising expressly the quotation in question was not one, in a letter of 9 May 1939, which was published in 1943 in volume LVIII under the title "Voltaire never said it" (pp. 5345) of the review Modern language notes, Johns Hopkins Press, 1943, Baltimore. An extract from the letter: 'The phrase "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it" which you have found in my book Voltaire in His Letters is my own expression and should not have been put in inverted commas. Please accept my apologies for having, quite unintentionally, misled you into thinking I was quoting a sentence used by Voltaire (or anyone else but myself).' The words "my own" were underlined personally by Hall in her letter. To believe certain commentators Norbert Guterman, A Book of French Quotations, 1963 Hall was referencing back to a Voltaire letter of 6 February 1770 to an abbot le Riche where Voltaire supposedly said, "Reverend, I hate what you write, but I will give my life so that you can continue to write." The problem is that, if you consult the letter itself, the sentence there does not appear, nor even the idea: "A M LE RICHE A AMIENS. 6 February. You left, Sir, des Welches for des Welches. You will nd everywhere barbarians obstinate. The number of wise will always be small. It is true ... it has increased; but it is nothing in comparison with the stupid ones; and, by misfortune, one says that God is always for the big battalions. It is necessary that the decent people stick together and stay under cover. There are no means that their small troop could tackle the party of the fanatics in open country. I was very sick, I was near death every winter; this is the reason, Sir, why I have answered you so late. I am not less touched by it than your memory. Continue to me your friendship; it comforts me my evils and stupidities of the human genre. Receive my assurances, etc." Voltaire, however, did not hesitate to wish censure against slander and personal libels. Here is what he writes in his "Atheism" article in the Dictionnaire philosophique: "Aristophanes (this man that the commentators admire because he was Greek, not thinking that Socrates was Greek also), Aristophanes was the rst who accustomed the Athenians to consider Socrates an atheist. ... The tanners, the shoemakers and the dressmakers of Athens applauded a joke in which one represented Socrates raised in the air in a
17 of 25
2014-04-14 11:47

basket, announcing there was God, and praising himself to have stolen a coat by teaching philosophy. A whole people, whose bad government authorized such infamous licences, deserved well what it got, to become the slave of the Romans, and today of the Turks." ^ Brumtt, J. H. (1965). "The Present State of Voltaire Studies" (http://fmls.oxfordjournals.org /cgi/pdf_extract/I/3/230). Forum for Modern Language Studies (Court of the University of St Andrews) I (3): 230. doi:10.1093/fmls/I.3.230 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1093%2Ffmls%2FI.3.230). Retrieved 28 February 2012. ^ Will and Ariel Durant, Rousseau and Revolution (1967), p. 138 (http://books.google.com /books?id=OperFVu5MykC& q=%22feast+not+only+of+wit+and+eloquence %22& dq=%22feast+not+only+of+wit+and+eloquenc e%22&ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html) ^ "Voltaire" (http://deism.com/voltaire.htm). Deism.com. 25 June 2009. Retrieved 3 August 2009. ^ Voltaire. W. Dugdale, A Philosophical Dictionary ver 2, 1843, p. 473 sec 1. Retrieved 31 October 2007. ^ Jos Manuel Barroso (28 November 2006). "The Scottish enlightenment and the challenges for Europe in the 21st century; climate change and energy" (http://europa.eu/rapid /pressReleasesAction.do?reference=SPEECH /06/756&format=HTML&aged=1& language=EN&guiLanguage=en). Enlightenment Lecture Series, Edinburgh University. "I will try to show why Voltaire was right when he said: 'Nous nous tournons vers l'cosse pour trouver toutes nos ides sur la civilisation' [we look to Scotland for all our ideas on civilisation]." ^ "Visiting The Royal Society of Edinburgh ..." (http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/international /potocnik.htm). The Scotsman. 4 June 2005. "Scotland has a proud heritage of science, research, invention and innovation, and can lay claim to some of the greatest minds and greatest discoveries since Voltaire wrote those words 250 years ago." ^ R. E. Florida Voltaire and the Socinians 1974 "Voltaire from his very rst writings on the subject of religion showed a libertine scorn of scripture, which he never lost. This set him apart from Socinianism even though he admired the simplicity of Socinian theology as well as their ...".
42. ^ Kee, Simon P . (2003). The Cambridge Companion to Mozart. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-00192-7. 43. ^ Voltaire, Le Fanatisme ou Mahomet le prophte (1741), uvres compltes. Garnier, 1875, Vol.4, p135. 44. ^ Mahomet le fanatique, le cruel, le fourbe, et, la honte des hommes, le grand, qui de garon marchand devient prophte, lgislateur et monarque, (Mohammed the fanatic, the cruel, the deceiver, and to mens' shame, the great, who from a grocer's boy became a prophet, a legislator and a monarch). Recueil des Lettres de Voltaire (17391741), Voltaire, Sanson et Compagnie, 1792, Lettre M. De Cideville, conseiller honoraire du parlement (5 mai 1740), p.163. 45. ^ Voltaire in His Letters: Being a Selection from His Correspondence. p. 74. translated and edited by Evelyn Beatrice Hall 46. ^ Gunny, Ahmad (1996). Images of Islam in 18th Century Writings. "He expanded on this idea in his letter to Csar de Missy (Ist September 1742) where he described Mahomet as a deceitful character." 47. ^ Voltaire, Lettres indites de Voltaire, Didier, 1856, Vol 1, Letter to Csar De Missy, 1 September 1743, p.450. 48. ^ Pomeau. Voltaire en son temps.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
18 of 25
2014-04-14 11:47

49. ^ Written and published in 1748 in Volume IV of the uvres de Voltaire, following his Tragedy of Mahomet. The article is included in enlarged posthumous edition of the Dictionnaire philosophique but not in the original version, which only has 118 articles, appearing during Voltaire's lifetime and in his last, 1769, version. See Dictionnaire philosophique, Raymond Naves et Olivier Ferret, Garnier, 2008: C'tait un sublime et hardi charlatan que ce Mahomet, ls d'Abdalla. Le Koran est une rapsodie sans liaison, sans ordre, sans art ; on dit pourtant que ce livre ennuyeux est un fort beau livre ; je m'en rapporte aux Arabes, qui prtendent qu'il est crit avec une lgance et une puret dont personne n'a approch depuis. C'est un pome, ou une espce de prose rime, qui contient six mille vers. Il n'y a point de pote dont la personne et l'ouvrage aient fait une telle fortune. On agita chez les musulmans si l'Alcoran tait ternel, ou si Dieu l'avait cr pour le dicter Mahomet. Les docteurs dcidrent qu'il tait ternel ; ils avaient raison, cette ternit est bien plus belle que l'autre opinion. Il faut toujours avec le vulgaire prendre le parti le plus incroyable. On l'excuse sur la fourberie, parce que, dit-on, les Arabes comptaient avant lui cent vingt-quatre mille prophtes, et qu'il n'y avait pas grand mal qu'il en part un de plus. Les hommes, ajoute-t-on, ont besoin d'tre tromps. Mais comment justier un homme qui vous dit Crois que j'ai parl l'ange Gabriel, ou paye-moi un tribut ? Combien est prfrable un Confucius, le premier des mortels qui n'ont point eu de rvlation ; il n'emploie que la raison, et non le mensonge et l'pe. Vice-roi d'une grande province, il y fait eurir la morale et les lois : disgraci et pauvre, il les enseigne il les pratique dans la grandeur et dans l'abaissement ; il rend la vertu aimable ; il a pour disciple le plus ancien et le plus sage des peuples.
Le comte de Boulainvilliers, qui avait du got pour Mahomet, a beau me vanter les Arabes, il ne peut empcher que ce ne ft un peuple de brigands ; ils volaient avant Mahomet en adorant les toiles ; ils volaient sous Mahomet au nom de Dieu. Ils avaient, dit-on, la simplicit des temps hroques ; mais qu'est-ce que les sicles hroques ? c'tait le temps o l'on s'gorgeait pour un puits et pour une citerne, comme on fait aujourd'hui pour une province. ^ Les moines qui se sont dchans contre Mahomet, et qui ont dit tant de sottises sur son compte, ont prtendu qu'il ne savait pas crire. Mais comment imaginer qu'un homme qui avait t ngociant, pote, lgislateur et souverain, ne st pas signer son nom? Si son livre est mauvais pour notre temps et pour nous, il tait fort bon pour ses contemporains, et sa religion encore meilleure. Il faut avouer qu'il retira presque toute l'Asie de l'idoltrie. Il enseigna l'unit de Dieu ; il dclamait avec force contre ceux qui lui donnent des associs. Chez lui l'usure avec les trangers est dfendue, l'aumne ordonne. La prire est d'une ncessit absolue ; la rsignation aux dcrets ternels est le grand mobile de tout. Il tait bien dicile qu'une religion si simple et si sage, enseigne par un homme toujours victorieux, ne subjugut pas une partie de la terre. En eet les musulmans ont fait autant de proslytes par la parole que par l'pe. Ils ont converti leur religion les Indiens et jusqu'aux ngres. Les Turcs mme leurs vainqueurs se sont soumis l'islamisme., Voltaire, 1748, Ibid. ^ Fareed Ali Haddawy, Hussain (1962). English Arabesque: The Oriental Mode in Eighteenthcentury English Literature. Cornell University. ^ Ormsby, F.E. (1899). Planets and People, Volume 5, Issue 1. p. 184. ^ Tobias Smollett; John Morley (1901). The Works of Voltaire: A philosophical dictionary. p. 101. ^ a b c d Ren Pomeau, La religion de Voltaire, A.G Nizet, 1995, p.157. ^ Tobias Smollett; John Morley (1901). The Works of Voltaire: A philosophical dictionary. pp. 102104. ^ "The Atheist's Bible", page 198, by Georges Minois, 2012
50.
51.
52. 53.
54. 55.
56.
19 of 25
2014-04-14 11:47

57. ^ Je sais que Mahomet n'a pas tram prcisment l'espce de trahison qui fait le sujet de cette tragdie ... Je n'ai pas prtendu mettre seulement une action vraie sur la scne, mais des murs vraies, faire penser les hommes comme ils pensent dans les circonstances o ils se trouvent, et reprsenter enn ce que la fourberie peut inventer de plus atroce, et ce que le Fanatisme peut excuter de plus horrible. Mahomet n'est ici autre chose que Tartue les armes la main. Je me croirai bien rcompens de mon travail, si quelqu'une de ces mes faibles, toujours prtes recevoir les impressions d'une fureur trangre qui n'est pas au fond de leur cur, peut s'aermir contre ces funestes sductions par la lecture de cet ouvrage., Voltaire, Letter to Frederick II, King of Prussia, 20 January 1742. 58. ^ Il n'appartenait assurment qu'aux musulmans de se plaindre ; car j'ai fait Mahomet un peu plus mchant qu'il n'tait, Lettre Mme Denis, 29 October 1751, Lettres choisies de Voltaire, Libraires associs, 1792, Vol. 2, p.113. 59. ^ Tobias Smollett; John Morley (1905). The Works of Voltaire: A philosophical dictionary. p. 105. 60. ^ Ren Pomeau, La religion de Voltaire, A.G Nizet, 1995, p. 156157. 61. ^ Voltaire, Essais sur les Murs, 1756, Chap.VI. De l'Arabie et de Mahomet (http://www.voltaire-integral.com/Html/11 /08ESS_10.html#i06). 62. ^ Voltaire, Essais sur les Murs, 1756, Chap.VII. De l'Alcoran, et de la loi musulmane. Examen si la religion musulmane tait nouvelle, et si elle a t perscutante (http://www.voltaire-integral.com/Html/11 /08ESS_10.html#i07). 63. ^ Shah Kazemi, Reza. The Spirit of Tolerance in Islam. pp. 56. "Voltaire also 'pointed out that no Christian state allowed the presence of a mosque; but that the Ottoman state was lled with Churches.'" 64. ^ a b The history of Charles xii. king of Sweden [tr. and abridged by A. Henderson from the work by F.M.A. de Voltaire] (http://books.google.com /books?id=Mo8DAAAAQAAJ). 1734. p. 112. 65. ^ Avez-vous oubli que ce pote tait astronome, et qu'il rforma le calendrier des Arabes ?,Lettre civile et honnte l'auteur malhonnte de la "Critique de l'histoire universelle de M. de Voltaire" (http://www.voltaire-integral.com/Html/24 /26_Lettre_civile.html) (1760), dans uvres compltes de Voltaire, Voltaire. Moland, 1875, Vol. 24, p.164.
66. ^ A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 1 (http://books.google.com /books?id=HwpJAQAAIAAJ). p. 76. 67. ^ Ce fut certainement un trs grand homme, et qui forma de grands hommes. Il fallait qu'il ft martyr ou conqurant, il n'y avait pas de milieu. Il vainquit toujours, et toutes ses victoires furent remportes par le petit nombre sur le grand. Conqurant, lgislateur, monarque et pontife, il joua le plus grand rle qu'on puisse jouer sur la terre aux yeux du commun des hommes ; mais les sages lui prfreront toujours Confutze, prcisment parce qu'il ne fut rien de tout cela, et qu'il se contenta d'enseigner la morale la plus pure une nation plus ancienne, plus nombreuse, et plus police que la nation arabe., Remarques pour servir de supplment l'Essai sur les Murs (http://www.voltaire-integral.com /Html/24/68_Remarques.html#IX. %20DE%20MAHOMET.) (1763), dans uvres compltes de Voltaire, Voltaire. Moland, 1875, Vol. 24, chap.9 -De Mahomet, p.590. 68. ^ J'ai dit qu'on reconnut Mahomet pour un grand homme ; rien n'est plus impie, dites-vous. Je vous rpondrai que ce n'est pas ma faute si ce petit homme a chang la face d'une partie du monde, s'il a gagn des batailles contre des armes dix fois plus nombreuses que les siennes, s'il a fait trembler l'Empire romain, s'il a donn les premiers coups ce colosse que ses successeurs ont cras, et s'il a t lgislateur de l'Asie, de l'Afrique, et d'une partie de l'Europe., Lettre civile et honnte l'auteur malhonnte de la Critique de l'histoire universelle . Voltaire (1760), in uvres compltes de Voltaire, Voltaire. Moland, 1875, Vol. 24, p.164. 69. ^ Gunny, Ahmad (1996). Images of Islam in 18th Century Writings. p. 142. 70. ^ Allen Harvey, David. The French Enlightenment and Its Others: The Mandarin, the Savage, and the Invention of the Human Sciences. 71. ^ Essai sur les Murs et l'Esprit des Nations (1756), dans uvres compltes de Voltaire, Voltaire. Moland, 1875, Vol.11, chap. VII-De l'Alcoran, et de la loi musulmane, p.244. 72. ^ Thiste , dans Dictionnaire philosophique, http://www.voltaire-integral.com/Html/20 /theiste.htm 73. ^ De l'Alcoran et de Mahomet, page 340. 74. ^ Sadek Neaimi, L'Islam au sicle des Lumires, Harmattan, 2003, p.248. 75. ^ "The Prophet Muhammad in French and English literature, 1650 to the present", ahmad gunny, 157
20 of 25
2014-04-14 11:47

76. ^ Imposteur ou lgislateur ? Le Mahomet des Lumires , in Religions en transition dans la seconde moiti du dix-huitime sicle, Voltaire Foundation, 2000, p.251 ISBN 978-0-7294-0711-3. 77. ^ Dirk van der Cruysse, De Bayle Raynal, le prophte Muhammad travers le prisme des Lumires , in De branche en branche : tudes sur le XVIIe et XVIIIes franais, Peeters Publishers, 2005, p.125. 78. ^ Il est vident que le gnie du peuple arabe, mis en mouvement par Mahomet, t tout de lui-mme pendant prs de trois sicles, et ressembla en cela au gnie des anciens Romains., Essais sur les Murs (1756), dans uvres compltes de Voltaire, Voltaire, d. Moland, 1875, t. 11, chap. VI-De l'Arabie et de Mahomet, p. 237. et crit que dans nos sicles de barbarie et d'ignorance, qui suivirent la dcadence et le dchirement de l'Empire romain, nous remes presque tout des Arabes : astronomie, chimie, mdecine Prface de l'Essai sur l'Histoire universelle (http://www.voltaireintegral.com/Html/24/07_Preface.html) (1754), dans uvres compltes de Voltaire, Voltaire, d. Moland, 1875, t. 24, p. 49. Si ces Ismalites ressemblaient aux Juifs par l'enthousiasme et la soif du pillage, ils taient prodigieusement suprieurs par le courage, par la grandeur d'me, par la magnanimit., Essai sur les Murs et l'Esprit des Nations (1756), dans uvres compltes de Voltaire, Voltaire, d. Moland, 1875, t. 11, chap. VI-De l'Arabie et de Mahomet, p. 231. et que ds le second sicle de Mahomet, il fallut que les chrtiens d'Occident s'instruisissent chez les musulmans Essais sur les Murs (1756), dans uvres compltes de Voltaire, Voltaire, d. Moland, 1875, t. 11, chap. VI-De l'Arabie et de Mahomet, p. 237. 79. ^ The Papers of Thomas Jeerson, Retirement Series: Volume 7: 28 November 1813 to 30 September 1814: Volume 7: 28 November 1813 to 30 September 1814. Princeton University Press. p. 27.edited by J. Jeerson Looney 80. ^ Les chrtiens n'avaient regard jusqu' prsent le fameux Mahomet que comme un heureux brigand, un imposteur habile, un lgislateur presque toujours extravagant. Quelques Savants de ce sicle, sur la foi des rapsodies arabesques, ont entrepris de le venger de l'injustice que lui font nos crivains. Ils nous le donnent comme un gnie sublime, et comme un homme des plus admirables, par la grandeur de ses entreprises, de ses vue, de ses succs, Claude-Adrien Nonnotte
81. ^ Les erreurs de Voltaire, Jacquenod pre et Rusand, 1770, Vol I, p.70. 82. ^ M. de Voltaire nous assure qu'il [Mahomet] avait une loquence vive et forte, des yeux perants, une physionomie heureuse, l'intrpidit d'Alexandre, la libralit et la sobrit dont Alexandre aurait eu besoin pour tre un grand homme en tout ... Il nous reprsente Mahomet comme un homme qui a eu la gloire de tirer presque toute l'Asie des tnbres de l'idoltrie. Il extrait quelques paroles de divers endroits de l'Alcoran, dont il admire le Sublime. Il trouve que sa loi est extrmement sage, que ses lois civiles sont bonnes et que son dogme est admirable en ce qu'il se conforme avec le ntre. Enn pour prmunir les lecteurs contre tout ce que les Chrtiens ont dit mchamment de Mahomet, il avertit que ce ne sont gure que des sottises dbites par des moines ignorants et insenss., Nonnotte, p. 71. 83. ^ Gunny, Ahmad (1996). Images of Islam in 18th Century Writings. "However, Islam still remains a false religion in Voltaire's eyes he claims that the Quran betrays ignorance of the most elementary laws of physics." 84. ^ https://archive.org/details /oeuvrescomplete09voltgoog 85. ^ The Works of Voltaire: The dramatic works of Voltaire. St. Hubert Guild. 1901. p. 12. 86. ^ Voltaire, Letter to Benedict XIV written in Paris on 17 August 1745: Your holiness will pardon the liberty taken by one of the lowest of the faithful, though a zealous admirer of virtue, of submitting to the head of the true religion this performance, written in opposition to the founder of a false and barbarous sect. To whom could I with more propriety inscribe a satire on the cruelty and errors of a false prophet, than to the vicar and representative of a God of truth and mercy? Your holiness will therefore give me leave to lay at your feet both the piece and the author of it, and humbly to request your protection of the one, and your benediction upon the other; in hopes of which, with the profoundest reverence, I kiss your sacred feet. 87. ^ Berman, Nina (2011). German Literature on the Middle East: Discourses and Practices, 10001989. University of Michigan Press. p. 118. 88. ^ The Concept of Human Dignity in the French and American Enlightenments: Religion, Virtue, Liberty. 2006. p. 280. "Voltaire goes on to accuse other religions such as Islam for their own intolerance (359). Voltaire, then, seems to consider Christianity as one of many intolerant and absurd religions."
21 of 25
2014-04-14 11:47

89. ^ http://litwinbooks.com/mahomet-preface.php Voltaire's Fanaticism, or Mahomet the Prophet: A New Translation Preface: Voltaire and Islam Malise Ruthven 90. ^ http://www.shamogoloparvaneh.com /debateon%20islam.pdf The Erasure of Islam by Ziauddin Sardar, introduction by Gilad Atzmon 91. ^ Ziad Elmarsafy. "The Enlightenment Qur'an: The Politics of Translation and the Construction of Islam" (http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307 /23044965?uid=2&uid=4& sid=21103367361423). Retrieved 27 June 2009. 92. ^ Mathilde Hilger, Stephanie (2009). Strategies of Response and the Dynamics of European Literary Culture, 17901805. Rodopi. p. 100. 93. ^ Oeuvres compltes de Voltaire, Volume 7 (http://books.google.com /books?id=z9MWAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA184& dq=#v=onepage&q&f=false). p. 184. 94. ^ Mathews, Chris (2009). Modern Satanism: Anatomy of a Radical Subculture. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 16. 95. ^ Coakley, Sarah (2012). Faith, Rationality and the Passions. p. 37. 96. ^ Cronk, Nicholas (2009). The Cambridge Companion to Voltaire. Cambridge University Press. p. 199. 97. ^ "Major World Religions: From Their Origins To The Present", by Lloyd Ridgeon, p. 29, isbn = 978-1-134-42934-9 98. ^ "Lectures on the science of language, delivered at the Royal institution of Great Britain in 1861 [and 1863]", by Max Muller, p. 148, original from = Oxford University 99. ^ The Modern Review, Volume 32, p. 183, by Ramananda Chatterjee, originally from = University of Michigan" 100. ^ Guardian (UK) newspaper, review of Bloodless Revolution, published by Harper-Collins (http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2006/aug /21/extract) 101. ^ a b c Prager, D; Telushkin, J. Why the Jews?: The Reason for Antisemitism. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1983. pp. 1289. 102. ^ Poliakov, L. The History of Anti-Semitism: From Voltaire to Wagner. Routledge & Kegan Paul, Ltd., 1975 (translated). pp. 8889. 103. ^ Voltaire, Franois-Marie. Essai sur les Moeurs. See also: Voltaire, Franois-Marie. Dictionnaire Philosophique. 104. ^ Gay, P . The Party of Humanity: Essays in the French Enlightenment. Alfred Knopf, 1964. pp. 103105. 105. ^ (Schwarzbach, Bertram), "Voltaire et les juifs: bilan et plaidoyer", Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century (SVEC) 358, Oxford
106. ^ Hertzberg, A. The French Enlightenment and the Jews. Columbia University, 1968. p. 284. 107. ^ Voltaire A Treatise on Toleration (1763) http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv /world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_2 /voltaire.html 108. ^ Louis Sala-Molins, Dark side of the light: slavery and the French Enlightenment (2006) p 102 109. ^ Jean de Viguerie, "Les 'Lumieres' et les peuples", Revue Historique, July 1993, Vol. 290 Issue 1, pp. 161189 110. ^ Cohen, William B., The French encounter with Africans: white response to Blacks, 15301880 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2003) ISBN 0-253-21650-8 p. 86 111. ^ Davis, David Brion, The problem of slavery in Western culture (New York: Oxford University Press 1988) ISBN 0-19-505639-6 p. 392 112. ^ A letter attributed to Voltaire, praising the slave trade, has been challenged as a possible forgery. Edward Derbyshire Seeber, Anti-slavery opinion in France during the second half of the eighteenth century (New York: Lenox Hill Publishers 1971) p. 65 113. ^ "Democracy" (http://history.hanover.edu/texts /voltaire/voldemoc.html). The Philosophical Dictionary. Knopf. 1924. Retrieved 1 July 2008. 114. ^ "Letter on the subject of Candide, to the Journal encyclopdique July 15, 1759" (http://web.archive.org/web/20061013194545 /http://humanities.uchicago.edu/homes /VSA/Candide/Candide.letter.html). University of Chicago. Archived from the original (http://humanities.uchicago.edu/homes /VSA/Candide/Candide.letter.html) on 13 October 2006. Retrieved 7 January 2008. 115. ^ a b Liu, Wu-Chi (1953). "The Original Orphan of China". Comparative Literature 5 (3): 206207. JSTOR 1768912 (//www.jstor.org/stable /1768912). 116. ^ Gay, Peter Voltaire's Politics: The Poet as Realist (New Haven:Yale University 1988), p. 265: "If the heavens, despoiled of his august stamp could ever cease to manifest him, if God didn't exist, it would be necessary to invent him. Let the wise proclaim him, and kings fear him." 117. ^ "Beacon Lights of History", p. 207, by Jon Lord, publisher = Cosimo, Inc, 2009. - German Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, however, called Carlyle a muddlehead who had not even understood the Enlightenment values he thought he was promoting. See - Nietzsche and Legal Theory: Half-Written Laws, by Peter Goodrich, Mariana Valverde, published by Routledge, p. 5
22 of 25
2014-04-14 11:47

118. ^ Schmadel, Lutz D.; International Astronomical Union (2003). Dictionary of minor planet names (http://books.google.com /books?id=KWrB1jPCa8AC&pg=PA481). Springer. p. 481. ISBN 978-3-540-00238-3. Retrieved 9 September 2011. 119. ^ Washingtonmonthly.com (http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features /2005/0506.koerner.html) 120. ^ Cowell, Sin (2001). The Teilhard Lexicon: Understanding the language, terminology, and vision of the writings of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (http://books.google.com /books?id=xormixizYc0C&pg=PR6). Brighton: Sussex Academic Press. p. 6. ISBN 978-1-902210-37-7. Retrieved 30 November 2011.
121. ^ Kurian, George Thomas (2010). The Encyclopedia of Christian Literature (http://books.google.com/books?id=dk4G52QT-8C&pg=PA591). Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. p. 591. ISBN 978-0-8108-6987-5. Retrieved 30 November 2011. 122. ^ This is an adaptation of the famous Chinese play The Orphan of Zhao, based on historical events in the Spring and Autumn period. 123. ^ http://www.voltaire-integral.com/Html/00Table /15Parlem.htm
Further reading
App, Urs. The Birth of Orientalism. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010 (hardcover, ISBN 978-0-8122-4261-4); contains a 60-page chapter (pp. 1576) on Voltaire as a pioneer of Indomania and his use of fake Indian texts in anti-Christian propaganda. Besterman, Theodore, Voltaire, (1969). Brumtt, J. H. Voltaire: Historian (1958) online edition (http://www.questia.com /read/14509369?title=Voltaire%3a%20Historian) Davidson, Ian, Voltaire. A Life, London, Prole Books, 2010. ISBN 978-1-60598-287-8 Durant, Will, The Story of Civilization. Vol. IX: The Age of Voltaire. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1965. Gay, Peter, Voltaire's Politics, The Poet as Realist, Yale University, 1988. Hadidi, Djavd, Voltaire et l'Islam, Publications Orientalistes de France, 1974. ISBN 978-2-84161-510-0 Knapp, Bettina L. Voltaire Revisited (2000) Mason, Haydn, Voltaire, A Biography (1981) ISBN 978-0-8018-2611-5 McElroy, Wendy (2008). "Voltaire (16941778)" (http://books.google.com /books?id=yxNgXs3TkJYC). In Hamowy, Ronald. The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE; Cato Institute. pp. 5212. ISBN 978-1-4129-6580-4. LCCN 2008009151 (http://lccn.loc.gov/2008009151). OCLC 750831024 (//www.worldcat.org/oclc/750831024). Muller, Jerry Z., 2002. The Mind and the Market: Capitalism in Western Thought. Anchor Books. 978-0385721660 Pearson, Roger, 2005. Voltaire Almighty: a life in pursuit of freedom. Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-1-58234-630-4. pp. 447 Quinones, Ricardo J. Erasmus and Voltaire: Why They Still Matter (University of Toronto Press; 2010) 240 pages; Draws parallels between the two thinkers as voices of moderation with relevance today. Schwarzbach, Bertram Eugene, Voltaire's Old Testament Criticism, Librairie Droz, Geneva, 1971. Torrey, Norman L., The Spirit of Voltaire, Columbia University Press, 1938. Vernon, Thomas S. (1989). "Chapter V: Voltaire" (http://www.positiveatheism.org /hist/voltvern.htm). Great Indels. M & M Pr. ISBN 0-943099-05-6. Wade, Ira O. (1967). Studies on Voltaire. New York: Russell & Russell. Wright, Charles Henry Conrad, A History of French Literature, Oxford University Press, 1912. "The Cambridge Companion to Voltaire", ed by Nicholas Cronk, 2009.
23 of 25
2014-04-14 11:47
In French
Ren Pomeau, La Religion de Voltaire, Librairie Nizet, Paris, 1974. Valrie Crugten-Andr, La vie de Voltaire [3] (http://www.memo.fr/dossier.asp?ID=629)
Primary sources
Morley, J., The Works of Voltaire, A Contemporary Version, (21 vol 1901), online edition (http://app.libraryoiberty.org/?option=com_staticxt&staticle=show.php%3Fperson=3804& Itemid=28)
External links
Encyclopdie (http://humanities.uchicago.edu/homes/VSA/visitors.html), ARTFL Project, University of Chicago PRSENTATION DES OEUVRES COMPLTES DE VOLTAIRE EN CD-ROM (http://perso.orange.fr/dboudin/VOLTAIRE/Catcd1b.htm), Voltaire: dition Electronique Chteau de Cirey Residence of Voltaire (http://www.visitvoltaire.com/v_desfontaines.htm), visitvoltaire.com Gabrielle milie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil Marquise du Chtelet (http://www-history.mcs.stand.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Chatelet.html), School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St Andrews, Scotland Hewett, Caspar J. M. (August 2006). "The Great Debate: Life of Voltaire." (http://thegreatdebate.org.uk/Voltaire.html). Retrieved 2 November 2008. The Socit Voltaire (http://societe-voltaire.org/) An analysis of Voltaire's texts (in the "textes" topic) (http://www.bacdefrancais.net/) (French) Complete French ebooks of Voltaire (http://www.livres-et-ebooks.fr/auteur/Voltaire-738/) (French) Biography and quotes of Voltaire (http://atheisme.free.fr/Biographies/Voltaire_e.htm) Full Ebooks of Voltaire in French (http://www.laphilosophie.fr/livres-de-Voltaire-texteintegral.html) on the website "La philosophie" Institut et Muse Voltaire, Geneva, Switzerland (http://www.ville-ge.ch/imv/) (French) Works by Voltaire edited at athena.unige.ch (http://athena.unige.ch/athena/voltaire /voltaire.html) Internet Encyclopaedia of Philosophy on Voltaire (http://www.iep.utm.edu/d/deismfre.htm) Monsieur de Voltaire (http://www.monsieurdevoltaire.com/) Correspondence in French The Life of Voltaire (http://thegreatdebate.org.uk/Voltaire.html) Essay by Caspar J M Hewett VisitVoltaire.com site with images (http://www.visitvoltaire.com/) Voltaire Foundation, Oxford, United Kingdom (http://www.voltaire.ox.ac.uk/) Voltaire on the 10 French Franc banknote. (http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jbourj /money3.htm) Voltaire's Candide and Leibniz (http://www.harrymaugans.com/2006/03/30/voltaires-candide/) Voltaire's works (http://www.intratext.com/Catalogo/Autori/AUT396.HTM): works: text, concordances and frequency list Voltaire's writings from Philosophical Dictionary (http://history.hanover.edu/texts/voltaire /volindex.html). Selected and Translated by H.I. Woolf, 1924 Worldly and Personal Inuences on Voltaire's Writing (http://www.harrymaugans.com/2006/04 /18/worldly-and-personal-inuences-on-voltaire%e2%80%99s-writing/) Works by Voltaire (http://www.gutenberg.org/author/Voltaire) at Project Gutenberg Free eBooks by Voltaire (http://manybooks.net/authors/voltaire.html) at Manybooks (http://manybooks.net/) [English and French] Works by or about Voltaire (http://worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n80-126267) in libraries
24 of 25
2014-04-14 11:47
(WorldCat catalog) Works by Voltaire (http://librivox.org/newcatalog/search.php?title=&author=Voltaire& action=Search) in free audio format from LibriVox Voltaire's works (http://voltaire.letteraturaoperaomnia.org/index.html) and chronology About Voltaire in "Lucidcaf" (http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/95nov/voltaire.html) Online Library of Liberty The Works of Voltaire (1901) (http://oll.libertyfund.org /index.php?option=com_staticxt&staticle=show.php&person=3804). Some volumes, including mostly the unabridged Dictionnaire philosophique, translated by William F. Fleming (French) Voltaire, his work in audio version (http://www.litteratureaudio.com/livres-audiogratuits-mp3/tag/voltaire/) Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Voltaire&oldid=603917050" Categories: 1694 births 1778 deaths Writers from Paris Voltaire Deist philosophers Early modern philosophers French philosophers Enlightenment philosophers Philosophers of sexuality French deists French dramatists and playwrights French historians French poets French essayists French satirists French science ction writers French fantasy writers Members of the Acadmie franaise French monarchists Lyce Louis-le-Grand alumni Burials at the Panthon, Paris Philosophes People of the Regency of Philippe d'Orlans People of the Ancien Rgime Age of Enlightenment French memoirists Les Neuf Surs Recipients of the Pour le Mrite (civil class) French antideath penalty activists Critics of Islam Members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences Fellows of the Royal Society Honorary Members of the St Petersburg Academy of Sciences Pseudonymous writers French Freemasons 17th-century French people 18th-century French writers 18th-century philosophers 18th-century French novelists Critics of Catholicism French encyclopedists Contributors to the Encyclopdie (175172) People imprisoned by lettre de cachet This page was last modied on 12 April 2014 at 19:34. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-prot organization.
25 of 25
2014-04-14 11:47

Voltaire

Hochgeladen von

Dokumentinformationen

Copyright

Verfügbare Formate

Dieses Dokument teilen

Dokument teilen oder einbetten

Freigabeoptionen

Stufen Sie dieses Dokument als nützlich ein?

Sind diese Inhalte unangemessen?

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

Voltaire

Hochgeladen von

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

Voltaire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Detail of portrait by Maurice Quentin de

Occupation Writer, philosopher,

Voltaire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

9 Further reading 9.1 In French 9.2 Primary sources 10 External links

The name "Voltaire"

Voltaire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Voltaire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Voltaire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Geneva and Ferney

Voltaire's chteau at Ferney, France

Voltaire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Death and burial

Voltaire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Voltaire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Voltaire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Voltaire at 70. Engraving from 1843 edition of his Philosophical Dictionary.

Voltaire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Voltaire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Voltaire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Race and slavery

Voltaire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Voltaire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Voltaire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Voltaire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Voltaire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Voltaire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Voltaire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Voltaire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Voltaire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Voltaire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Voltaire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Voltaire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Voltaire - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Das könnte Ihnen auch gefallen