VOLTAIRE

French writer and philosopher; b. François Marie Arouet, Paris, Nov. 21, 1691; d. there, May 30, 1778. He received a classical education at the Collège Louis-le-Grand, directed by the Jesuits, but he was initiated into the immorality prevalent during the Regency in the libertine milieu of the Société du Temple. He was imprisoned in the Bastille for the first time (1717–18) for an epigram against the Regent Duke of Orléans, and for the second time (1726) after a dispute with the Duke of Rohan. When sentenced to a period of exile, he chose to go to England where he spent three fruitful years (1726–29). In 1734, Voltaire was once more forced to flee Paris after condemnation of his Lettres Philosophiques. He accepted the hospitality of Mme. du Châtelet in her castle of Cirey, near Lorraine, where he resided off and on until 1749. This was a period of intense literary and scientific activity: Voltaire studied physics and chemistry and wrote Eléments de la philosophie de Newton (1738). After the death of Mme. du Châtelet, Voltaire went to Berlin at the urging of Frederick II, King of Prussia, with whom he had corresponded since 1734.

The sojourn in Prussia, however, was embittered by Voltaire's rivalry with Maupertuis, whom Frederick had appointed president of his Academy of Sciences, and by difficulties with the King himself. Voltaire, disillusioned, left Berlin in 1753 and spent two years wandering in Alsace (1753–55). Finally, in 1755, he bought a property near Geneva, "Les Délices," where he lived until he moved to Ferney in 1760. There, amid a large household directed by his niece, Mme. Denis, Voltaire played munificently the role of lord of the village. His influence was felt all over Europe, through his innumerable writings, mainly brochures on philosophical subjects, and an enormous correspondence, amounting to more than 6,000 letters for that period alone, with kings, statesmen, philosophers, and disciples.

Through his gift of remarkable business sense, Voltaire transformed Ferney into a prosperous village of 1,200 people, with a watch factory and a silk-stocking mill. In 1778, he returned to Paris, where he was received in triumph. He died shortly thereafter without renouncing any of his ideas. He was buried secretly near Troyes in the Abbey of Scellières, of which his nephew was abbot. In 1791, his remains were transferred to the Panthéon next to those of his bitter enemy, Jean Jacques rousseau.

Dramatic and Historical Work. Voltaire's name is commonly associated with a philosophy of revolt against tradition and authority, but his fertile genius was employed in many fields. His first and greatest love, which reveals the lasting influence of his classical formation, was for the theater. From Oedipe (1718) to Irène (1778), he wrote more than 20 plays. His discovery of Shakespeare led him to widen the narrow field from which the classic authors chose their subjects. Voltaire's literary criticism, as expressed in Le Temple du Goût (1733), in his Commentaire sur Corneille (1764), and in numerous prefaces to his tragedies, reflect the same classical taste and principles.

Voltaire was original, and even an innovator, in historiography. Up to his time, history had been concerned mainly with kings, wars, and treaties. Voltaire extended it to include the history of the people, of customs, religion, commerce, literature, and the arts. His theory of history, inspired in part by fÉnelon's Lettre à l'Académie, called for exact and exhaustive documentation, critical analysis of the information thus uncovered, and absolute impartiality.

Wide Historical Vision. In Voltaire's first history, Histoire de Charles XII (1731), the center is still the epic character of the King of Sweden, but in the Siècle de Louis XIV (1751), his scope widens. Louis XIV is still, of course, the dominant figure and his actions are minutely recorded, but Voltaire writes in this book the history of a nation in its manifold manifestations. Many chapters are devoted to the laws, the administration of justice, the army, the navy, finances, religious life, great men of letters, and artists. Both works are based on extensive and careful oral and written documentation. Voltaire was able to consult important personages, ministers, ambassadors, and generals, who had played a role in the still recent events of the reigns of Louis XIV and Charles XII.

Antireligious Slant. The admirable presentation of the Siècle de Louis XIV is often marred, however, by Voltaire's antireligious bias, expressed in snide remarks against those who indulged in religious practices. Voltaire failed to recognize the prominent role of the Church in the 17th century, and the impartiality in writing history that he advocated is glaringly absent. This defect is still more evident in L'Essai sur les Moeurs (1756), a work as much philosophy as history, which Voltaire intended to be a refutation of bossuet's Discours sur l'Histoire universelle. The Essai proper begins where Bossuet's Discours ends—that is, with the reign of Charlemagne—but it is preceded by an extended introduction that summarizes the history of the world before Charlemagne. It takes issue specifically with the theory of Providence at work in history, the basic principle of Bossuet's philosophy.

Rejection of the Supernatural. Voltaire rejects any supernatural influences on the development of history and attributes all events solely to chance or to necessary causes that determine the course of men and empires. He paints a dark tableau of the entire period before the enlightenment, seeing "superstition" and "intolerance" as the harsh masters of credulous people. He attacks the teaching of the Church and traditional apologetics. Although these defects are serious, the Essai is nevertheless a grandiose survey of the slow progress of civilization. Nations, such as China, unknown to previous historians, in it assume their rightful place in world history, owing in great part to the impressive documentation Voltaire amassed concerning them.

Philosophical Work. Philosophy in the 18th century, especially in connection with Voltaire, must be understood in a very general sense. Voltaire is not an original and systematic philosopher. His philosophy does embody a set of ideas, even if they are often repetitious and contradictory; but it consists much more in an attitude of general skepticism, of disrespect, of rebellion against received ideas, particularly religious dogmas. His rationalism, more practical than metaphysical, is directed against the very notion of the supernatural, against miracles, against "superstition," by which he means any and all revelation. At the same time, he detested equally as much atheists such as Paul d'Holbach, whose Le Christianisme dévoilé (1761) roused Voltaire's indignation.

Deistic Stance. Like Rousseau, Voltaire is a deist, but while Rousseau reaches God through his heart, Voltaire asserts His existence through reason (see deism). He believes in God as creator of the universe, in a Providence that has established the eternal and immutable laws of the physical world. But Voltaire's God has no relation to the world He has created; He can receive no glory from men, and no prayer can move Him. Strictly speaking, man has no duty toward such a remote God. To maintain fear among the common people, and hence social stability, Voltaire preaches also a revengeful God as remunerator, a teaching quite inconsistent with his denial of an immortal soul.

Inconsistency of His Thought. Voltaire's philosophical ideas are spread throughout his works, in the form of rapid attacks, clever insinuations, or lengthy exposés. The Lettres Philosophiques (1734), which exploded on the French scene like a bombshell, are mainly an account of Voltaire's experience in England (the original title was Lettres sur les Anglais ). The 24 letters deal with many subjects: the variety of religions in England, Parliament, political institutions, Newton, Shakespeare, Addison, Pope, Swift, and Locke. In an extraneous 25th letter, Voltaire vented his animosity against pascal, an attack to which he returned in Remarques sur les Pensées de Pascal (1742) and in Dernières Remarques (1777). The Traité de métaphysique (1734) contains Voltaire's speculative philosophy, based on an experimental observation on the nature of man, expressed in simple terms, which the layman can comprehend.

The Dictionnaire philosophique portatif (1764), which in its final form included 614 articles, is the summary of Voltaire's entire philosophy presented in alphabetical order. He was influenced by many thinkers—Montaigne, Bayle, Condillac, Locke, Collins, and the English deists—and his thought is gravely inconsistent on fundamental points. Voltaire, an optimist in the Cirey period (e.g., Le Mondain, 1736, and Discours en vers sur l'homme, 1738), turned into a bitter cynic and pessimist in the Poème sur le désastre de la Ville de Lisbonne (1756) and in Candide (1759). In a similar volte-face, the defender of free will in the Traité de métaphysique and in a correspondence with Frederick beginning in 1734, became the apologist of determinism in Le Philosophe ignorant (1755) and in the Dictionnaire philosophique (s.v. "Liberté").

Voltaire's Contes de Guillaume Vadé (1764), masterpieces of satire, cynicism, irony, and wit, are practical and amusing demonstrations of philosophical themes. Zadig (1747), showing the vagaries of human destiny and the trials of a just man, is, in spite of the conclusion, an attack against Providence. Candide (1759) is a more overt denunciation of the optimism of pope and of leibniz and again of Providence. Candide pursues his beloved Cunégonde throughout Europe and parts of America, but meets only with disappointments, cruelty, injustice, and stupidity in a long series of unbelievable adventures. In a genre imitative of Swift, his Micromégas (1752) introduces two travelers from the planet Sirius who, judging the affairs of men from the point of view of giants, find everything ridiculously small and unimportant. L'Ingénu (1764) shows the difficulties a good Huron Indian encounters in adapting himself to civilized society; under this guise Voltaire ridiculed religion and denounced social abuses.

Overt Attacks on the Church. Fearful of the civil authority that had condemned many of his works, Voltaire waited until he enjoyed a relative security in Ferney to launch his open attacks against the Church and her dogmas. In dozens of brochures, starting with the Sermon des Cinquante (1755), he mocked the inspiration of the Bible, the notion of a chosen people, the Sacraments, and the institution of the Church. (Some 39 of his works were placed on the Index.) Even in Voltaire's time learned exegetes, such as the Abbé Guénée, had refuted his assertions, but they were no match for him in popular style, and their scholarly vindication of the truth never reached large audiences.

Influence on Social Problems. Voltaire's fight against intolerance was carried into the field of legislation when he became the champion of calas and Sirven. Calas and Sirven, both Protestants, had been unjustly, it was thought, condemned by the Parliament of Toulouse for having murdered a son and a daughter, respectively, because they had embraced Catholicism. Voltaire obtained the rehabilitation of both and described Calas's case in his Traité sur la Tolérance (1763). In Commentaire sur les délits et les peines (1766) he advocated the principle that punishment should be commensurate with the offense. He berated the various provincial parliaments for their abuses of power and denounced the varieties of laws in different jurisdictions. He demanded an equitable assessment of taxes and the suppression of many imposts that paralyzed commerce. In this field of social and legal reform, Voltaire's ideas are sound; they paved the way for many improvements.

Voltaire may rightly be called the father of rationalism in the 19th century and even in the 20th. The successive waves of anticlericalism that swept first through the French bourgeoisie and then through the masses, and the harsh measures taken against the Church may possibly be traced to his influence. The weakness and the incoherence of his philosophy have been established by modern critics, but none has denied him his place as an inimitable master of style and one of the greatest writers in French literature.

Bibliography: g. l. desnoiresterres, Voltaire et la société française au XVIII ^e siècle, 8 v. (Paris 1867–76). g. lanson, Voltaire (2d ed. Paris 1910). r. naves, Voltaire: L'Homme et l'oeuvre (Paris 1942). a. noyes, Voltaire (New York 1936). n. l. torrey, The Spirit of Voltaire (New York 1938). f. vial, Voltaire: Sa vie, son oeuvre (Paris 1953). f. m. a. voltaire, Oeuvres complètes, ed. l. moland, 52 v. (rev. ed. Paris 1877–85); The Works of Voltaire, with critique and biog. by j. morley, notes by t. smollett, new tr. w. f. fleming and introd. by o. h. g. leigh, 42 v. (New York 1901–03). m. m. barr, A Century of Voltaire Study: A Bibliography of Writings on Voltaire, 1825–1925 (New York 1929). d. c. cabeen, ed., A Critical Bibliography of French Literature, v. 4 The Eighteenth Century, ed., g. r. havens and d. f. bond (Syracuse 1951).

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