Philosophical ideas of Voltaire and Rousseau. Voltaire: biography life ideas philosophy: Voltaire Works of Voltaire in Philosophy

Read the biography of the philosopher: briefly about life, basic ideas, teachings, philosophy
MARIE FRANCOIS VOLTAIRE
(1694-1778)

The most famous French writer and philosopher of the French Enlightenment. He believed that the knowledge of the transcendent (for example, when deciding on the immortality of the soul and the freedom of the human will) is impossible, and especially zealously fought the church because of its dogmatism. He emphasized the value of culture, portrayed the history of mankind as the history of the struggle of man for progress and education. Voltaire introduced the expression "philosophy of history" into science.

Works "Philosophical Letters" (1733), "Macro-Megas" (1752), "Candide, or Optimism" (1759), "Philosophical Dictionary" (1764-1769), "Innocent" (1767), etc.

In the late 60s of the XVIII century, a letter was brought to one of the French post offices. No address. No name of the addressee. Only appeal - but what!

"To the king of poets, philosopher of nations, Mercury of Europe, orator of the fatherland, historian of kings, panegyrist of heroes, supreme judge in matters of taste, patron of the arts, benefactor of talents, connoisseur of genius, scourge of all persecutors, enemy of fanatics, defender of the oppressed, father of orphans, role model for the rich people, a support for people in need, an immortal model of all the highest virtues.

Enlightened officials immediately sent a letter to Voltaire - to whom else could such loud epithets refer? All spiritual quests of the 18th century were permeated by two interconnected tendencies - the liberation of the mind, which felt its maturity and strength, from the fetters of church dogmas, and the passionate search for a new authority not imposed from outside. Voltaire was destined to become the embodiment of these quests.

Francois Marie Arouet, who began to call himself Voltaire in 1718 and under this name entered the history of French and world culture, was born on November 21, 1694 in Paris. The distant ancestors of Voltaire on the paternal side lived in the south-west of France in the province of Poitou, where they were engaged in various crafts and trade. Voltaire's grandfather rose a step up the ladder of social hierarchy, becoming a wealthy cloth merchant in Paris. This allowed Voltaire's father to go even further. Having made a successful career in the civil service, first as a successful notary and then as an official of the treasury, he acquired personal nobility from his income and, in addition to this, married the daughter of a small estate nobleman.

Francois Marie was the fifth and last child in this family. The home upbringing and education of a child who lost his mother at the age of seven was carried out under the guidance of his godfather, Abbé Francois Castagnet de Chateauneuf. At the age of ten, Francois Marie became a student of the Jesuit college of Louis the Great. Despite the fact that Francois Marie was among the best students and was also distinguished by an outstanding poetic talent, at one time there was a question of his expulsion from the college for doubting the truths of Christianity and reading free-thinking writings.

In the face of this unpleasant prospect, the young man "turned" into one of the most devout disciples. In 1713, a young man graduated from the Jesuit College, who three years later would write as a matter of course that the "enlightened mind" cannot "believe in the chimerical history of both testaments, in the sacred dreams of mad mystics, pious idlers and unsociable, who give up real pleasure for the sake of illusory glory." The fact is that the consciousness of Francois Marie literally from infancy began to absorb the ideas of French freethinking, which under the name "libertinage" was spread among highly educated French aristocrats who were dissatisfied with the omnipotence of the king and were disgraced by the latter. In place of the Christian ideals of "holiness", which focused on a gloomy ascetic way of life, the libertines put a cheerful Epicureanism.

The Abbé de Châteauneuf was a most convinced libertin. Instead of instructing his godson in the basics of the Christian faith, he began his pedagogical mission by reading to the three-year-old François Marie the free-thinking satirical poem Moizada, which the child memorized. Then he introduced the boy to other free-thinking poems. The first poetic experiments of François Marie himself were inspired by examples of this kind. Abbé de Chateauneuf introduced the pupil to the head of the French poets of that time, J. J. Rousseau, who himself paid tribute to the ideas of libertinage in his early works. Francois Marie's poems were admired in her declining years by the famous courtesan Ninon de Lanclos, who by this time had become, in the eyes of freethinkers, a kind of symbol of protest against official hypocrisy. Finally, a 12-year-old student of the Jesuit College was introduced by his godfather to the "Temple Society" - one of the most significant circles of Parisian libertins. All this influenced the decision of the 16-year-old Voltaire to become a writer, despite the risk of an unsecured existence and the strongest opposition from his father.

The father's attempts to make a respectable official out of his youngest son ended in failure. Burdened by the service imposed on him in one of the Parisian law firms, the young Voltaire, wishing to receive public recognition as a poet, sends to the competition announced by the Academy the pious and loyal "Ode on the Vow of Louis XIII", written according to all the rules of classical poetics. However, another applicant turns out to be the winner, since he was patronized by an influential academician. Finding the decision unfair, Voltaire attacked the Academy in the satirical poem The Swamp. The poem began to spread rapidly in handwritten copies, and was soon printed by French emigrants in Holland. Voltaire found refuge from possible troubles from the authorities in the castle of a longtime acquaintance of the Marquis de Comartin family (conversations with him about the reigns of Henry IV and Louis XIV gave the young exile new creative impulses).

At the beginning of the regency era, Voltaire ends up for 11 months (1717-1718) in the main prison for state criminals - the infamous Bastille. He was imprisoned for writing a satire on Duke Philippe of Orleans.

Voltaire did not lose heart. Deceiving the vigilance of the jailers, he began to write the tragedy "Oedipus" (in accordance with the canons of classicism - in verse), a rough sketch of which he had made a few years ago, and began the "Poem of the League". Through the efforts of influential friends, Voltaire was released, and seven months later his "Oedipus" was staged on the Paris stage and did not leave it for a long time. It was the first French tragedy of the 18th century to be recognized as a classic, and it was the young poet's first triumph. He was introduced to the regent, who turned out to be an unforgiving person. Having dedicated his tragedy to the regent's wife, he signed for the first time. "Arue de Voltaire", soon the first of these words disappeared, and "Voltaire" remained.

From his arrest and imprisonment, Voltaire concluded that pointing the weapon of satire directly at this or that ruler was not only extremely dangerous, but also inappropriate. The success of "Oedipus" brought Voltaire the first significant literary earnings, on which, however, it was impossible to live. long time. Not wanting to put himself in slavish dependence on the gifts of titled or crowned patrons of the arts, although not abandoning these sources of livelihood traditional for writers of his time, Voltaire discovered the amazing instinct and ability of a bourgeois businessman, participating with his capital precisely in those financial transactions that generally turned out to be profitable. Already in the early 1720s, Voltaire had quite a lot of money at his disposal, and by the end of his life he became a very rich man.

For the sake of possessing material wealth, Voltaire never compromised his convictions as a philosopher-enlightener. The facts irrefutably testify that creative activity, the struggle for reason and justice were the raison d'être of Voltaire's existence, and for them he constantly and heavily risked everything, including his freedom and life itself.

After Oedipus, Voltaire, as a rising luminary of French drama, opens wide the doors to those numerous aristocratic houses of Paris where they show interest in art. The circle of his titled acquaintances is expanding.

In 1722, together with the Marquise de Rupelmonde, Voltaire made a short trip to Holland. Answering the questions posed by his companion as to whether a person should build his life in accordance with the prescriptions of the Christian religion, Voltaire in 1722 wrote the anti-clerical poem "For and Against", summing up the cycle of similar poetic reflections of the previous decade.

Posing himself a follower of Lucretius, Voltaire writes about the need to expose, with the help of philosophy, harmful superstitions and sacred deceit, to free people from the gloomy concentration of their thoughts on their fate in the “afterlife”, to teach them to live by the vital interests of this world, the only real world. Denying in principle that divine revelation is contained in any religion, Voltaire at the same time proves that the Christian religion, which prescribes to love a merciful God, actually draws him as a cruel tyrant, "whom we must hate."

Thus, Voltaire proclaims a decisive break with Christian beliefs: “In this unworthy image, I do not recognize the God whom I should honor ... I am not a Christian ...“ Voltaire decided to publish this challenge to the Christian religion - moreover anonymously - only ten years later, and such a precaution did not was redundant. The poem caused a great uproar. The clergy came up with numerous refutations of its provisions and demanded a severe punishment of Voltaire, for everyone was sure that he was the author. Called to account by the authorities, Voltaire declared that the poem had been written by Abbé Chollier, who had long since died. They did not believe him, but evidence of his authorship could not be found, and the case was dismissed.

Protecting himself from such troubles in advance, Voltaire subsequently published under pseudonyms all those of his many works that could attract persecution. By the end of his life, the number of these pseudonyms approached 110!

In 1723, after the death of Philippe d'Orleans, began the long reign of Louis XV, which ended only in 1774. In the year of the accession of this king to the throne in France, Voltaire's "Poem of the League" was clandestinely published. The poem painted a horrifying picture of the religious wars of the sixteenth century.

At the end of 1725, Voltaire was beaten with sticks by the servants of a certain de Rogan. Thus de Rogan proved his "superiority" over the famous poet and playwright, after losing to him in the exchange of barbs in front of "high society". Voltaire tried to challenge de Rogan to a duel. For this, he was escorted to the Bastille, and after a two-week imprisonment he was ordered to leave Paris.

Voltaire chose England as the place of his exile, where he arrived in May 1726 and where he lived for about three years. Voltaire was greeted here with honor as the largest representative of modern French culture, received in the circles of the English aristocracy and presented to the heir to the throne, who in 1727 became King of England under the name of George II.

Voltaire met and talked with the famous religious philosopher S. Clark, as well as with the most significant representative of English idealism of that time, J. Berkeley. Having quickly mastered the English language, Voltaire studied the philosophical works of Bacon, Hobbes, Locke, Toland, and read critical studies on the Christian religion of the English deists. All this is combined in Voltaire with intense creative activity. He reworks and supplements his epic poem, reinforcing in it the motive of condemning religious fanaticism. Renamed "Henriad", it is published in 1728 in London with a dedication to the Queen of England. And the poem is again accompanied by significant success. As an appendix to it, the aesthetic work An Essay on Epic Poetry and Voltaire's first work on history, An Essay on the Civil Wars in France, are published.

He begins work on new tragedies and historical studies, and also plans to write a book about England. The implementation of these creative plans filled the first five years after Voltaire's return to France. During this time, he wrote four tragedies, of which "Zaire" (1732) turned out to be the highest achievement of Voltaire's dramaturgy (in total, more than fifty works) And "History of Charles XII" (1731) glorified Voltaire as an outstanding historian.

Finally, in 1733 in England under the title "Letters on the English Nation", and in 1734 in France under the title "Philosophical Letters" Voltaire's most important work of this period was published, which rightly acquired the reputation of "the first bomb" thrown by him into the "old order".

The Philosophical Letters idealized English institutions, English thought, and depicted in the most gloomy terms the state of social institutions and minds in France. Voltaire paid considerable attention to the characteristics of English philosophy, the greatest achievement of which he considered the teachings of F. Bacon and especially Locke. He gave preference to their empiricist-sensualistic materialism not only over scholasticism, but also over the rationalistic "metaphysics" of Descartes with its emphasized idealism, which was adopted by the then Christian "modernists" led by Malebranche.

Voltaire linked the Baconian-Lockean philosophy with Newton's physics, pointing to its undeniable scientific superiority over the physical theory of Descartes, which Voltaire characterized as a "novel about the world." The French government issued an order to arrest the author, and the book itself was burned by the verdict of the Paris Parliament. Voltaire managed to leave for Holland. When the situation was somewhat discharged, he quietly returned to his homeland, but for ten years he did not dare to appear in Paris. For more than ten years he lived with his beloved, the Marquise du Chatelet, in her castle of Sirey-sur-Blaise in Champagne.

Both enthusiastically indulged not only in the "science of tender passion", but also in the natural sciences, as well as metaphysical reflections and biblical criticism. They worked for hours in their own laboratory and sent reports of their experiments to Paris, to the Royal Academy. The collaboration between Voltaire and Madame du Chatelet continued even after the end of their love story.

Continuing to work fruitfully as a playwright and poet, Voltaire embarks on a serious development philosophical problems. The first, preliminary and unpublished during the life of Voltaire, a set of his philosophical thought was the "Metaphysical Treatise" (1734). In the published "Remarks on "Pascal's Thoughts" (1734, 1743) and two poems - "Secular Man" (1736) and "Discourse on Man" (1737), Voltaire offers a new philosophical understanding of the problem of man. In "Fundamentals of Newton's Philosophy" (1738 ) Voltaire expounds simultaneously his philosophical and natural-science views.

During this period, he was seriously engaged in research work in the field of physics, his "Experience on the nature and propagation of fire" was awarded an honorary review by the Academy of Sciences. Philosophy as the antithesis of theology and metaphysics turns into a theoretical banner of struggle against the "old order", becomes the ideological basis of all Voltaire's works. Voltaire seeks to illuminate any of the issues under consideration with the "lamp of philosophy." This leads to a whole series of innovations in the understanding of nature, man, society and world history.

In 1745-1746 he published the first fragmentary results of his new work. The first, later greatly expanded, edition of "An Essay on the General History and on the Manners and Spirit of Nations" in three volumes was undertaken by Voltaire in 1756. In August 1736, Voltaire received a letter from Berlin from the Crown Prince of Prussia filled with admiration for his labors. The long-term correspondence that opened with this letter stimulated the formation of Voltaire's conviction that he, as a philosopher, can and is obliged to give advice to rulers that is beneficial for them and for their peoples. He writes a recommendation "To the Crown Prince of Prussia on the benefits of knowledge for the sovereign" (1736). This not only raised the prestige of the future ruler of Prussia, but at the same time contributed to the growth of the authority of Voltaire himself.

When in 1740304 Voltaire's correspondent was crowned under the name of Frederick II, Voltaire's trusting relationship with him interested the French government. It turned to Voltaire with a request to help clarify the foreign policy plans of Frederick II, who was an ally of France in the war for the "Austrian Succession." diplomatic mission.

After that, thanks to the increased influence at the court of his high-ranking friends and the location of him as a dramatist of the mistress of the king, the Marquise de Pompadour, Voltaire gets the opportunity not only to return to Paris, but also to visit Versailles, he is appointed chamberlain and court historiographer. However, Louis XV was in no way going to allow Voltaire to play the role of a philosophical mentor in his person, which the latter passionately aspired to. Election to the French Academy in April 1746 (in the same year Voltaire became an honorary member of the Russian Academy of Sciences) occurred already at a time of Voltaire's disappointment with his actual role in Versailles and growing irritation that numerous libelists, incited by his haters in court circles, launched a noisy campaign to discredit him as a person, writer and thinker.

Fearing persecution for an extremely unflattering statement about courtiers that escaped from him, Voltaire fled Paris in October 1746 and hid for several weeks in the castle of the Duchess of Maine. Here, critically comprehending the life of Versailles and his participation in it, he writes "The Vision of Babuk", which was a brilliant debut in the genre of philosophical story that glorified Voltaire so much.

The most significant Voltaire works of this genre are Zadig (1747), Micromegas (1752), Scarmentado Travel History (1756), Candide (1759), Innocent (1767), Babylonian Princess (1768). ), "Letters of Amabed" (1769), "Jenny's Story" (1775).

At the beginning of 1748, Voltaire returned to Cyr, and after the death in 1749 of the "divine" Emilie, Marquise du Chatelet, lived for some time in Paris.

In the middle of 1750, yielding to Frederick II's longstanding insistence, Voltaire arrived in Berlin. At first he was fascinated by his life in Prussia. The philosopher was happy with the attention of the king and the fact that he could safely express his most daring opinions in a circle of people known for their freethinking (among them was the militant materialist La Mettrie). But Voltaire's duties were limited to the literary editing of works written by the Prussian king in French. The independence of Voltaire's judgments turned out to be unacceptable for Frederick II.

At the beginning of 1753, Voltaire resigned from his duties at the royal court and left Germany (having previously spent more than a month under house arrest in Frankfurt at the behest of the Prussian monarch). After that, Voltaire lost all desire to visit monarchs, even the most "enlightened", to enter their service and live at court (he rejected, in particular, the corresponding invitation of the Austrian Empress Maria Theresa).

At the end of 1754, after a course of treatment on the waters in the French city of Plombiere, Voltaire, accompanied by his widowed niece Marie Louise Denis (the daughter of his sister, who since then has been with him almost constantly as a housekeeper and inherited his fortune), comes to Switzerland. Here he acquires an estate near Geneva, meaningfully calling it "Joy", and a house in Lausanne. But even in republican Switzerland, Voltaire did not find the desired security of existence. Without abandoning his estate and home in Switzerland, on December 24, 1758, Voltaire moved to the French district of Gex, bordering this country, buying two estates there - Tournai and Fernet, the latter becoming his main residence.

He explained the benefits of a new place of residence in this way: “I lean on the Jura mountains with my left hand, on the Alps with my right hand, Lake Geneva is located directly opposite my fields, I have a beautiful castle on the French border, a Delis refuge in Geneva and a good house in Lausanne. Migrating from hole to hole, I can escape kings and armies."

Here Voltaire received guests from all over Europe. Having become an extremely wealthy man, he could finally afford a luxurious lifestyle. Voltaire's fortune was replenished from various sources - pensions from high-ranking officials, the inheritance of his father, royalties for the publication and reprinting of works, proceeds from the sale of his positions and from financial speculation. In 1776, Voltaire's annual income amounted to two hundred thousand livres, which turned the Ferney patriarch into one of their the richest people France.

Even after he was over 65 years old, he continued to send hundreds of letters and produce many literary and philosophical works. Shortly after her accession to the throne, the Russian Empress Catherine II, who declared herself a student of the encyclopedists, became the most eminent correspondent of Voltaire. Being away from the courts, Voltaire more and more effectively than ever, influenced the European monarchs, turning to them with advice and teachings regarding their duties to the peoples.

Among them - "Candide, or Optimism", "Treatise on Tolerance", "Philosophical Dictionary", "Innocent", "Questions about the Encyclopedia". With residences on both sides of the French border, Voltaire felt relatively safe and acted much more freely than before. He supported the struggle of ordinary Genevans for the expansion of suffrage and against religious intolerance. Voltaire concludes that enlightened people should act more decisively, fighting those who spread and support delusions harmful to people. From 1755, Voltaire began to work actively in headed by Diderot's famous "Encyclopedia, or Explanatory Dictionary of Sciences, Arts and Crafts".

Voltaire begins to write articles on literary theory and brief definitions of various terms. In the article "Adultery", he did not miss the opportunity to ridicule Catholic and Jewish theologians. Voltaire became a zealous encyclopedist after 1756, when D "Alembert visited his estate. He proposed several bold articles for the Encyclopedia So, in the article "Is-goiter of thorium" he expressed doubts about the reliability of many historical legends, including legends about miracles, and in the article "Idol, idolater, idolatry" he hinted that Christians, as a rule, are no less idolaters, than non-Christians.

The series of his philosophical stories from Candide to the History of Jenny, the Pocket Philosophical Dictionary (supplemented in subsequent years by the publication of nine volumes of Voltaire's Problems Relating to the Encyclopedia) and numerous other philosophical works of Voltaire were emphatically anti-clerical. completed in Ferne (1769), a multi-volume work on world history, An Essay on the Morals and Spirit of Nations, the introduction to which was the equally anti-theological Philosophy of History (1765).

A sharp and direct attack on Christian clericalism is carried out in such works of Voltaire as "A Sermon to the Fifty" (1761), "Sermons Delivered in London" (1763), "Dinner at the Count of Boulainvilliers" (1767), "An Important Study of My Lord Bolingbroke, or The Grave of Fanaticism" (1767), "The Speech of the Emperor Julian" (1768), "The Rights of the People and the Usurpations of the Popes" (1768), "The Bible Finally Explained" (1776), "God and the People" (1769), "The History of the Establishment Christianity" (1777).

Working 18-20 hours a day, Voltaire also creates a lot of small pamphlets, dialogues, satirical miniatures. These booklets, available to the public in terms of price (30 sous) and content, were almost weekly thrown out under various pseudonyms on the underground book market in France. Voltaire himself acquired them and handed them over for free distribution to those visitors departing from Ferney, in whom he was imbued with confidence. A serious scientific analysis of the issues being treated is invariably accompanied in these works by all-destroying sarcasm, the famous Voltaireian laughter. With this weapon of satirical exposure of evil in mind, Voltaire wrote in one of his letters: "What am I doing in my solitude? I burst with laughter. And what will I do? I will laugh until my death."

Nevertheless, Voltaire was full of optimistic confidence that the struggle carried out by him and his like-minded people from the enlightenment camp could not be fruitless, but should in the near future necessarily lead to a major upheaval in social relations and a decisive improvement in the conditions of human life. “Everything I see,” Voltaire prophetically declared in a letter to Chauvelin dated April 2, 1761, “sows the seeds of a revolution that will inevitably come ... The French are always late, but in the end they still reach the goal; the light gradually spread so much that the explosion will happen at the first chance, and then there will be a great noise. The young people are truly happy, they will see beautiful things."

Voltaire's Ferney activities received public recognition. One of the expressions of this was the fundraising started in 1770 for a statue of Voltaire. It was attended by all the figures of the enlightenment movement and a host of people who sympathized with it, including a number of European monarchs headed by Catherine II and Frederick II. Created in 1772 by the famous sculptor Pigalle, the statue was crowned with a laurel wreath in the apartment of the famous actress Clairon in Paris.

At the beginning of 1778, Voltaire considered that he could afford to return to Paris at least for a while without asking permission from the authorities, and on February 10, the "Patriarch of Ferney" arrived in the capital of France, where he had not been for almost thirty years.

The enthusiastic reception given to Voltaire by the Parisians, in whose eyes he was not only the greatest representative of modern French culture, but also a glorious fighter for justice and humanity, forced the authorities to abandon the plan of his new expulsion from the capital. Voltaire receives numerous of his friends and admirers, is present at the meetings of the Academy and theatrical performances, meeting from all sides deeply touching signs of recognition and respect.

And under these conditions, Voltaire continues his intense creative activity, works feverishly and is full of new ideas. He completes the new tragedy "Irina", which is immediately staged on the Parisian stage, develops a draft of a new dictionary of modern French. However, he is crippled by an incurable and rapidly progressing illness, which may have been due to the exceptional stress of the last months of his life.

May 30, 1753 Voltaire died. The Parisian church authorities did not give permission for the burial of his body, and the Paris police forbade the publication of notices of his death and the production of his plays. Voltaire's nephew, Abbé Mignot (brother of Madame Denis), wasted no time in secretly managing to take the body of the deceased to the province of Champagne and bury it in the cemetery of the Abbey of Cellier, before the prohibition of the local church authorities to perform this rite was received there.

During the years of the revolution, Voltaire, along with Rousseau, was recognized as one of its "fathers", and his ashes, by decision of the Constituent Assembly, were delivered to Paris on July 10, 1791 and placed in the then-created Pantheon of the great people of France.

Voltaire is aware that deism is the religion of an enlightened public. As for the dark and downtrodden masses, they can be kept in a moral leash only with the help of traditional religion with its afterlife punishments and rewards. It was on this occasion that Voltaire once said: if God did not even exist in the world, then he would have to be invented. And yet, as far as deism is concerned, Voltaire was not original here. Rather, he gave a moral and aesthetic design to this idea. Where Voltaire was truly original was in his philosophy of history.

Here Voltaire was by and large an innovator. Together with another enlightener, Montesquieu, he in many respects anticipated such a major thinker of the 19th century as Hegel. In any case, it was Voltaire who first used the concept of "zeitgeist", which Hegel would then widely use.

In history, according to Voltaire, it is not mystical "spirits" that operate at all. There is also no divine providence in it. God created nature, Voltaire believes, and people make history themselves. And yet they do not make history the way they want. Or rather, they can do everything as they want, but if they do something that does not correspond to the "zeitgeist", then this causes some kind of opposition.

So, the mythical Erinyes - the servants of Truth - avenged everything that was done contrary to the law. Rome robbed the barbarians - the barbarians robbed Rome. History, according to Voltaire, is the last terrible judgment, and sooner or later it puts everything in its place. History does not lend itself to an unambiguous assessment to judge unambiguously - it means to judge one-sidedly. This Voltaire calls the "Pyrrhonism" of history, after the ancient skeptic Pyrrho, who advised to refrain from certain judgments about things. After all, feelings deceive us, Pyrrho believed, and judgments about the world are different for different people.

But Voltaire has something else in mind in this case, namely the objective confusion of history itself. It is about what Hegel would later call the "cunning" of history - people think that they are realizing their own goals in life, but in fact they are realizing historical necessity. The goals of individual people, even outstanding ones, do not coincide with what is obtained as a historical result. Therefore, Voltaire was not a supporter of such a historiography, which seeks to penetrate the secrets of boudoirs and offices.

The wise man of Ferney had such a strong influence on his contemporaries that the 18th century is sometimes called the century of Voltaire. The craze for Voltaire, his works was indeed one of the characteristic features of the era. In Russia, where Catherine II even decided to create a copy of Ferney in Tsarskoe Selo, the fashion for the great enlightener, called "Voltairianism", put common sense above all else, which allowed itself to ridicule everything and everything.

* * *
You read the biography of a philosopher, which describes the life, the main ideas of the philosopher's philosophical teachings. This biographical article can be used as a report (abstract, essay or abstract)
If you are interested in the biographies and ideas of other philosophers, then carefully read (the content on the left) and you will find a biography of any famous philosopher (thinker, sage).
Basically, our site is dedicated to the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche (his thoughts, ideas, works and life), but in philosophy everything is connected, therefore, it is difficult to understand one philosopher without reading all the others at all.
The origins of philosophical thought must be sought in antiquity...
The philosophy of modern times arose through a break with scholasticism. The symbols of this break are Bacon and Descartes. The rulers of the thoughts of the new era - Spinoza, Locke, Berkeley, Hume ...
In the 18th century, an ideological, as well as a philosophical and scientific direction appeared - "Enlightenment". Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Diderot and other prominent enlighteners advocated a social contract between the people and the state in order to ensure the right to security, freedom, prosperity and happiness ... Representatives of the German classics - Kant, Fichte, Schelling, Hegel, Feuerbach - for the first time realize that man does not live in the world of nature, but in the world of culture. The 19th century is the century of philosophers and revolutionaries. Thinkers appeared who not only explained the world, but also wished to change it. For example, Marx. In the same century, European irrationalists appeared - Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Bergson ... Schopenhauer and Nietzsche are the founders of nihilism, the philosophy of negation, which had many followers and successors. Finally, in the 20th century, among all the currents of world thought, one can distinguish existentialism - Heidegger, Jaspers, Sartre ... The starting point of existentialism is the philosophy of Kierkegaard ...
Russian philosophy, according to Berdyaev, begins with the philosophical letters of Chaadaev. The first representative of Russian philosophy known in the West, Vl. Solovyov. The religious philosopher Lev Shestov was close to existentialism. The most revered Russian philosopher in the West is Nikolai Berdyaev.
Thanks for reading!
......................................
Copyright:

On November 21, 1694, a son was born in the family of an official in Paris. The boy was named Francois-Marie Arouet (literary name - Voltaire). He was educated at the Jesuit College. The whole family wanted a legal career for Voltaire, but he took up literature. François preferred satire, however, his addictions were not approved by censorship, so he was a frequent guest in prison because of his poems.

Voltaire was freedom-loving, views and ideas were considered bold and daring. He went down in history as a famous philosopher, writer, poet, fighter against obscurantism, fanaticism, and exposer of the Catholic Church.

Voltaire was expelled from France and spent several years in England, where his worldview developed. When he returned to his native land, he wrote "Philosophical Letters", thanks to which he gained fame. Now many knew who Voltaire was. The ideas of enlightenment, which were seen in the above-mentioned work, were subsequently developed by many in historical and philosophical works.

François criticized the feudal order from the standpoint of rationalism. He wanted freedom for all people. These thoughts were too bold. Voltaire himself understood this. The main ideas of freedom were to depend only on laws, this would be ideal, as the philosopher himself believed. However, he did not recognize equality. Voltaire said that there can be no division into rich and poor, this is unattainable. He considered the republic to be the best form of government.

Voltaire wrote both prose and poetry. Let's take a look at his best creations.

"Candide"

The name translates as "dazzling white". The story is written with bitterness and irony, in it Voltaire reflects on the world of violence, stupidity, prejudice and oppression. To such a terrible place, the philosopher opposed his hero, who has a good heart, and the utopian country - Eldorado, which was a dream and the embodiment of Voltaire's ideals. The work was published illegally, as it was banned in France. This work is a kind of response to the struggle of Europe with the Jesuits. The impetus for its creation was

"Orleans virgin"

This is a poem written by Voltaire. The main ideas (briefly, of course) of the work express the dominant thoughts of the modern era. A subtle and ironic work, saturated with wit, thanks to the elegance of style, influenced the further development of European poetry.

"The Story of Charles, King of Sweden"

This masterpiece is written about two outstanding monarchs of Europe (Peter the Great and Charles). The work describes the struggle between them. The romanticized biography of the commander King Charles, the hero of Poltava, is vividly and colorfully described by Voltaire. A worthy work that touches the depths of the soul. At one time, work brought fame to Voltaire.

"Princess of Babylon"

The original work, which was part of the cycle of the philosopher's stories. The main idea: a person is born for happiness, but life is hard, therefore, he has to suffer.

Voltaire: main ideas, briefly about his relationship to God

The philosopher in his work gave a special place to religion. He represented God as reason, to which the laws of nature are subject. Voltaire does not require proof of the existence of the Almighty. He wrote: "Only a madman can deny the existence of God, reason itself believes in his presence." It seems unreasonable to the philosopher that the whole world was formed by itself, without any idea or purpose. He is sure that the very fact of the human mind proves the existence of God, who gave us the ability to think.

Philosophical ideas of Voltaire regarding religion are very doubtful and contradictory; they are rather blind faith than reason. For example, why prove the existence of God if you write that it does not need confirmation? He also notes that the Lord created the earth and matter, and then, apparently confused in his reasoning, he claims that God and matter exist by virtue of the nature of things.

The philosopher in his writings tells that no school and no arguments will make him doubt faith. This is how pious Voltaire was. The main ideas in the religious sphere boiled down to the fact that fanatics are much more dangerous than atheists, since the latter do not inflate "bloody disputes." Voltaire was for faith, but he doubted religion, so he shared them for himself. Atheists, for the most part, are scientists who have gone astray, whose rejection of religion began precisely because of those who are obsessed with it, using faith for non-good, humane purposes.

In his writings, Voltaire justifies atheism, although he writes that it is detrimental to virtue. The philosopher is sure that a society of unbelieving scientists would live happier, guided only by laws and morality, than fanatics who are smitten with madness.

Reason remains with atheists, because fanatics are deprived of it. It was the human ability to think that always stood for Voltaire in the first place. Therefore, the philosopher treats atheism as a lesser evil, while remaining a believer in God, but a person who retains reason. “If God did not exist, then he would have to be invented,” Voltaire said so, briefly this statement reveals the position of the philosopher, the whole necessity of faith.

Ideas about the origin of the world

Voltaire's materialism is not such in the literal sense. The fact is that the philosopher only partially shares this concept. Voltaire in his writings tries to reflect on the topic of matter and comes to the conclusion about its eternity, which coincides with the views of materialists, but Francois-Marie does not share all aspects of their teachings. He also does not consider primary matter, since it was created by God, but empty space is necessary for the existence of the Lord.

Voltaire, whose quotes are filled with wisdom (“The world is finite if there is empty space”), further argues as follows: “So matter received its existence from an arbitrary cause.”

Nothing comes from nothing (Voltaire). This man's quotes make you think. According to the views of the philosopher, matter is inert, therefore it is God who moves it. This thought was another proof of the existence of the Lord.

Voltaire's ideas (briefly) his judgments about the soul

The philosopher adhered to the views of the materialists in these matters as well. Voltaire denied that people consist of two entities - spirit and matter, which are connected with each other only by the will of God. The philosopher believed that the body, not the soul, is responsible for thoughts, therefore, the latter is mortal. “The ability to feel, remember, fantasize - that is what is called the soul,” Voltaire said very interestingly. His quotes are curious, they are worth thinking about.

Is the spirit mortal

The soul of a philosopher has no material structure. He explained this fact by the fact that we do not think constantly (for example, when we sleep). Nor did he believe in the transmigration of souls. After all, if it were so, then, by moving, the spirit would be able to save all the accumulated knowledge, thoughts, but this does not happen. But still, the philosopher insists that the soul is given to us by God, like the body. The first, in his opinion, is mortal (he did not prove this).

Is the spirit material?

What did Voltaire write about this issue? Thought is not matter, since it does not have properties similar to it, for example, it cannot be divided.

The senses

Feelings are very important for a philosopher. Voltaire writes that we receive knowledge and ideas from the outside world, and it is feelings that help us in this. Man has no innate principles and ideas. For a better understanding of the world, it is required to use several senses, as Voltaire believed. The main ideas of the philosopher were based on the knowledge of what was available to him. François studied feelings, ideas, the process of thinking. Many people don't even think about these questions. Voltaire tries not only to explain, but also to understand the essence, the mechanism of the origin of feelings and thoughts.

Reflections on life, the principles and structure of life intrigued Voltaire, forced him to deepen his knowledge in these areas. The views of this man were very progressive for the time in which he was born. The philosopher believed that life consists of God-given suffering and pleasure. Routine guides people's actions. Few people tend to think about their actions, and even those do it in "special cases." Many actions that seem to be caused by the mind and education often turn out to be only instincts for a person. People on a subconscious level seek pleasure, except, of course, those who are looking for more subtle fun. Voltaire explains all human actions by love for oneself. However, Francois does not call for vice, on the contrary, he considers virtue to be a cure for diseases of conscience. He divides people into two categories:

Personalities in love only with themselves (complete rabble).

Those who sacrifice their own interests for the sake of society.

Man differs from animals in that he uses in life not only instincts, but also morality, pity, law. Such conclusions were drawn by Voltaire.

The main ideas of the philosopher are simple. Mankind cannot live without rules, because without fear of punishment, society would lose its decent appearance and return to primitiveness. The philosopher still puts faith at the forefront, since the law is powerless against secret crimes, and conscience can stop them, since it is an invisible guard, you can’t hide from it. Voltaire always shared the concepts of faith and religion, without the first he could not imagine the existence of mankind as a whole.

Thoughts on government

It happens that the laws are imperfect, and the ruler does not live up to expectations and does not fulfill the will of the people. Then the society is to blame, because it allowed it. Worshiping God in the form of a monarch, Voltaire considered stupid, which was very bold for that time. The philosopher said that the creation of the Lord cannot be revered equally with the creator.

That's what Voltaire was. The main ideas of this man undoubtedly influenced the development of society.

Voltaire's significance lay in the fact that he was undoubtedly the main representative of the Enlightenment philosophy of the eighteenth century, the first leader in the mental movement that characterizes the era of that time. This is how his contemporaries looked at him, this is how the supporters of the enlightenment movement and his enemies assessed his significance, and this is how, finally, modern historical science looks at his personality. “We think,” his biographer Morlay pompously expresses, “that Voltairianism in France is to some extent of the same importance as Catholicism, the Renaissance and Calvinism”, since “it is one of the foundations on which the mental liberation of a new generation is based” .

Seated Voltaire. Sculpture by J. A. Houdon, 1781

Of course, in the history of philosophy, as a special branch of knowledge, where the names of Plato and Aristotle, Bacon and Descartes, Spinoza and Kant, etc., shine, the name of Voltaire is barely mentioned - he did not have the meaning of an original philosopher, but was only a brilliant literary popularizer ideas expressed by others before him. Likewise, Voltaire did not make any discoveries in the field of natural science, in the history of which his name cannot stand next to the names Copernicus, Galilee , Newton etc. In the history of political doctrines, finally, he cannot be compared with his contemporaries - Montesquieu, Rousseau, Mably, physiocrats. In general, the significance of Voltaire does not seem to us particularly great if we take the point of view of any special branch of knowledge, not excluding, perhaps, the point of view of fine literature, in which, despite all his talent, he did not act as a major reformer, did not paved new paths. As a representative of the so-called classicism (or false classicism) Voltaire played far from such an important role as in his time bualo, Corneille and Racine. But, standing on general point of view of the history of culture, it can be said that none of the contemporaries of Voltaire, who played the first roles in the history of philosophy, science and literature, did not express in his activity so fully and so comprehensively the spirit of the XVIII c., like Voltaire.

His long life (1694 - 1778), - and he became a writer early and did not leave literary activity until the end of his days - covers almost the entire period from the end of the reign of Louis XIV to the eve of the great French revolution. The mass of what he wrote, barely fit into dozens of volumes (Baudouin's edition, published in 1824 - 1834, contains about a hundred volumes, while other publications consist of 70, 75, etc. volumes), testifies to the extraordinary the energy of Voltaire's mind, and the enormous success of his writings indicates the influence that he had on society for decades. The extreme diversity of his literary activity is explained by his wide encyclopedism.

Voltaire influenced society in many ways and in a variety of ways, as he acted in literature as a poet and novelist, philosopher and popularizer of natural history knowledge, moralist and publicist, literary critic and historian, leaving behind a great many odes, poems, tragedies, novels, stories , serious treatises, journal articles, polemical pamphlets, historical works, etc. And all this was marked by Voltaire not only with the seal of the original processing of ideological material, which he found in books, but also with inexhaustible personal creativity, not only with the seal of a broad mind, but also an extraordinary literary talent. Moreover, it was a militant nature that could not bear any tyranny, and the blows that fell from the pen of Voltaire on the enemies of the new "enlightenment" movement were especially accurate and strong, and therefore especially terrible.

True, in the personal character, in the moral qualities of the "king of the philosophers of enlightenment" there were very significant shortcomings, which very often lowered his importance and were in bad harmony with his wonderful mind. Voltaire, like all "enlighteners", set the main goal of his activity to emancipate the human mind, the personal dignity of a person, his right to be free from tyranny. All in all, Voltairianism was nothing but rationalism, found a brilliant embodiment in the genius of an individual. However, the results of the implementation of the enlightenment and Voltaire ideas after the revolution of 1789 sharply contradicted the verbal goals that the philosophy of the 18th century wrote on its banners. In France, they did not lead to emancipation, but to a much greater suppression of man, not to freedom, but to tyranny unheard of in national history, not to respect for personal human dignity, but to mocking humiliation of him by gangs of rapists and terrorists.

The significance of Voltaire was also manifested in his strong influence on other writers of the 18th century, who were younger than him. Rousseau, for example, himself says that the first book that forced him to work seriously and aroused in him a desire for mental work was Voltaire's English Letters, and that Voltaire's correspondence with the Crown Prince of Prussia inspired him with a desire to develop for himself the same style as that of Voltaire. And here is what the enlightener Diderot, who was also much younger than the Ferney philosopher, wrote: “If I call him the greatest man that nature has ever produced, there will be people who will agree with me; but if I say that nature has never produced and probably will never again produce such an extraordinary man, then only his enemies will contradict me.

This is how Voltaire's significance was assessed by his like-minded educators. To today's objective view, at a balanced distance from the events and ideological disputes of that time, the activity of this great man seems to be much more contradictory and ambiguous.

Voltaire- one of the pseudonyms of Francois Marie Arouet - an outstanding philosopher and writer, one of the founders of the French Enlightenment. He was the first to most clearly pose the problems of the philosophy of the Enlightenment. All his work is devoted to the public struggle against feudal despotism and oppression, with the official religion - the spiritual support of an unjust and inhuman society, for equality, freedom and fraternity, for social progress in all areas of culture based on the widespread use of reason.

Socio-political views

Voltaire considered equality, property and freedom to be the basis of a just society. Condemning the social inequality of feudal society, he relied on the idea that people are by nature equal. But equality in the teachings of Voltaire does not apply to property: "... it is impossible that people living in society should not be divided into two classes: the rich who command and the poor who serve them."

By freedom, Voltaire meant personal freedom (slavery is contrary to nature), freedom of speech and the press, freedom of conscience and freedom of labor. Those without property “will be free to sell their labor to the best payer. This freedom will replace their property.” Voltaire was a supporter of the concept of "enlightened absolutism", according to which progressive reforms - the introduction of "natural" laws - can be carried out by a monarch imbued with the ideas of the Enlightenment philosophy. After visiting England, Voltaire began to be attracted by the concept of "constitutional monarchy", "where the sovereign is omnipotent if he wants to do good, but whose hands are tied if he is plotting evil."

Criticism of religion and church

Voltaire showed what a terrible evil religious fanaticism brought to people: the persecution of "pagans", heretics, the extermination of natives, the Crusades, the Inquisition. The history of religion, he wrote, "an uninterrupted chain of strife, deceit, oppression, fraud, violence and murder" proves that abuse is not accidental, but "relates to the very essence of the matter", therefore it is necessary to jointly "crush the vermin!".

But Voltaire's denunciation of religious fanaticism is inseparable from the assertion of the principle of religious freedom. He saw the most important task of philosophy in the struggle to overcome national enmity, called people of different faiths to fraternal unity, and considered war to be the greatest evil.

Deism

But Voltaire also opposed atheism: "Atheism and fanaticism are two monsters that can devour society." In his worldview, Voltaire was a deist. Deism is a transitional stage from theology to atheism. It is on this path that the followers of Voltaire, the materialist philosophers, will go. Already Voltaire defended materialistic ideas, denying both innate ideas and the immortality of the soul. He considered consciousness to be a function of the body, though granted to him by God.

What are the causes of Voltaire's deism? The first reason is theoretical. Being a follower of the philosophy of D. Locke, Voltaire criticized metaphysics - philosophy, understood as a speculative comprehension of the first principles of being. He himself believed that "all knowledge is given to us only by experience." Philosophers in understanding the world must rely on the achievements of the sciences, primarily natural science. The laws of nature, as Voltaire believed, following Newton, are constant. The Universe arose immediately in the form in which it exists now, thanks to the activity of the “higher Mind”, “higher Mathematician (Geometer)”, “higher Mechanic”, that is, God.

The second reason for Voltaire's deism is ethical. "If God did not exist, he would have to be invented." "It is in the interests of all mankind that there be a god who would punish that which is not able to suppress human justice." This is necessary both for representatives of the social lower classes, from whom private property must be protected, and for representatives of the authorities, for "atheism is a very dangerous monster when it is in those who are in power." By natural religion, Voltaire understood "the principles of morality common to all mankind." He called immoral people atheists, so the popes who committed atrocities were included in their number.

The social nature of man and morality

"The instinct of a man, strengthened by reason, attracts him to society as well as to food and drink." It is not society that spoils a person, but, on the contrary, “removal from society”. Voltaire saw the only measure of morality not in personal self-improvement for the sake of God, but in the benefit that a person can bring to society through his activities.

Voltaire was at first a follower of Leibniz's "theory of optimism" - "everything is good." But after the Lisbon earthquake in 1755, which led to a huge number of victims, he questioned Leibniz's theodicy. The omnipotence of God has limits. He could not arrange the world in such a way that there was no evil in it. The task of a person is to improve this world with his work, "... you need to cultivate your garden."

Voltaire won the exclusive authority of the "uncrowned king" of public opinion that was formed during the Enlightenment. He, according to Belinsky, "with the tool of mockery put out the fires of fanaticism and ignorance in Europe." History has confirmed many of the ideas of the philosopher. The victory of capitalism, and the scientific and technological progress associated with it, brought people beyond the limits of national narrowness and created conditions for the unification of mankind. But the struggle against social and national inequality, religious intolerance and the threat of war is still relevant. In our time, more and more often there is a call to resolve conflicts by peaceful means, at the negotiating table. An educational struggle for raising a spiritual culture that leads people to understanding, and therefore to the cessation of hostility, is becoming increasingly necessary.

Send your good work in the knowledge base is simple. Use the form below

Students, graduate students, young scientists who use the knowledge base in their studies and work will be very grateful to you.

Posted on http://www.allbest.ru/

1. French Enlightenment. FrancoisVoltaire

The Age of Enlightenment is one of the brightest in the development of the philosophy and culture of mankind. Its beginning is associated with 1718, when the first production of the tragedy "Oedipus" by Voltaire was carried out in Paris.

To understand the reasons for the sharp rise in the significance of the philosophical sciences, one must consider the characteristics of that time.

The first bourgeois revolutions take place - the Netherlands and England.

At the beginning of the 18th century, the industrial revolution began - the transition from manual labor to machine labor, from manufactory to factory, which resulted in the transformation of an agrarian society into an industrial one. A characteristic feature of the industrial revolution is the rapid growth of productive forces on the basis of large-scale machine industry and the establishment of capitalism as the dominant world economic system. The working class began to appear, a class of owners appeared, which began to compete with representatives of the titled nobility.

Science has received a new impetus - just list the main areas of science

The development of practical mathematics - Isaac Newton, physics and chemistry - Robert Boyle,

mechanics and hydraulics - Blaise Pascal, natural science - Francis Bacon. A scientific revolution took place, the result of which was the transfer of science to more practical tracks, for example, figurative science began to deal not only with distant stars, but also with earthly problems.

Of course, philosophy, as a science, could not stand aside, and the Renaissance was replaced by the Enlightenment. It received such a name due to the fact that its representatives fought against the church, destroyed the established ideas about God, the surrounding world and man, openly propagated the ideas of the emerging bourgeoisie and, ultimately, ideologically prepared the great French revolution of 1789-1794.

In the Age of Enlightenment, there was a rejection of the religious worldview and an appeal to reason as the only criterion for the knowledge of man and society. For the first time in history, the question of the practical use of the achievements of science in the interests of social development was raised. enlightenment voltaire philosophical poem

Main philosophical directions:

1. Deism - (from lat. deus - god) - a religious and philosophical trend that recognizes the existence of God and the creation of the world by him, but denies most supernatural and mystical phenomena, divine revelation and religious dogmatism. Deism suggests that reason, logic, and observation of nature are the only means to know God and his will. God only creates the world and no longer participates in its life.

Representatives of this trend: Voltaire, Montesquieu, Rousseau - criticized pantheism (the identification of God and nature), rejected the possibility of God interfering in the processes of nature and the affairs of people

2. Atheistic-materialistic: Mellier, La Mettrie. Diderot, Helvetius, Holbach themselves rejected the idea of the existence of God in any form, explained the origin of the world and man from materialistic positions, in matters of knowledge they preferred empiricism, i.e. scientific knowledge. Dialectical materialism and, further, Marxism later grew out of this trend.

3. Utopian-socialist (communist): Babeuf, Owen, Saint-Simon - dealt with the problem of developing and building an ideal society based on equality and social justice.

All philosophers of the Enlightenment are characterized by the idea of reorganizing life on a reasonable basis. Scientists of a new type sought to disseminate knowledge, to popularize it. Knowledge should no longer be the exclusive possession of a few, initiated and privileged, but should be available to all and be of practical use.

The principles of the Enlightenment were the basis of the American Declaration of Independence and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen.

The intellectual movement of this era had a great influence on subsequent changes in the ethics and social life of Europe and America, the struggle for national independence, the abolition of slavery, the formulation of human rights. In addition, it shook the authority of the aristocracy and the influence of the church on social, intellectual and cultural life.

One of the founders of the philosophy of education is the French scientist

François-Marie Arouet, who took the pseudonym Voltaire. Years of his life: 1694-1778.

He is the son of a government official, from childhood he studied at college, studied Latin, his father prepared him for jurisprudence, young Arue, not yet Voltaire, preferred literature. He was a court poet, wrote poems glorifying aristocrats. When he was just over 20 years old, François-Marie Arouet chose a literary pseudonym for himself and became Voltaire. Already in his early youth, Voltaire achieved extraordinary popularity in chic Parisian society. His mind and talent amazed his interlocutors, he was also unusually witty. His venomous epigrams were widely cited, his plays played to sold-out theaters for long periods, and his books quickly sold out.

For satirical rhymes he ended up in the Bastille, was released, for a duel he was sent there again, then released again, but on the condition that he leave France. He left for England in 1726 and lived there for 3 years.

Returning to France, Voltaire published his English impressions under the title Philosophical Letters; the book was confiscated (1734), the publisher was imprisoned in the Bastille, and Voltaire fled to Lorraine, where he found shelter with the Marquise Emilie du Chatelet.

It should be said about her especially, she became his inspiration, his muse.

In 1734, in Rouen, Voltaire was attacked by several robbers, but he was saved from robbery, and maybe from death by a rider passing by on a horse - it was Emilie du Chatelet, a French mathematician and physicist. She stated that Voltaire was the one she needed and offered to live together. They lived for 15 years in the castle of Syre, which belonged to her husband and who did not pay attention to his wife's little oddities.

Shortly after moving to Sir, the Marquise partially rebuilt the castle at the request of Voltaire and with his money. A new wing appeared in Sira, which housed a natural science laboratory and a library. Emily and Voltaire carried out physical research, in a small theater equipped under the roof of the castle, Voltaire's plays were staged. Siré became a meeting place for writers, natural scientists, and mathematicians. Here in 1736 - 1737 Voltaire, according to him, with the help of Emilie du Chatelet, wrote "Elements of Newton's Philosophy". In general, Voltaire wrote all his best books, literary and philosophical, in the castle of Syré.

In 1746, Voltaire was appointed court poet and historiographer to King Louis, but, having aroused the discontent of the Marquise de Pompadour, he broke with the court. Always suspected of political unreliability, not feeling safe in France, Voltaire, at the invitation of the Prussian king Frederick II, settled in Berlin, but soon quarreled with him and settled in Switzerland, buying a house there in the city of Ferne.

Voltaire lived there for twenty years, writing literary and philosophical works, corresponding with European intellectual leaders, and receiving visitors.

In particular, Tsarina Catherine the Second corresponded with him, who corresponded with him in French and complained, “what a pity that you do not speak Russian, because it manages to convey your thoughts much more subtly!”

All these years, the volume of his work has not decreased. He was a fantastically prolific writer. All his writings occupy more than 30,000 pages. They include epic poems, lyric poems, personal letters, pamphlets, novels, short stories, plays, serious books on history and philosophy.

In 1778, at the age of eighty-three, he returned to Paris for the premiere of his new play Irene. Crowds of people applauded him as the "great elder" of the French Enlightenment. Hundreds of admirers, including Benjamin Franklin, visited him. But Voltaire's life soon came to an end. On May 30, 1778, he died in Paris. Due to outright anti-clericalism, he could not be buried in the city according to Christian custom, but thirteen years later, the victorious French revolutionaries dug up the remains of a great man and reburied him in the Pantheon in Paris

2. Voltaire's views on man, religion and the state

Voltaire's worldview was formed in his younger years, when he was in exile, in England, and, then, these rules of his life never changed, until the very last days.

Voltaire's thoughts about man, about religion, about the state are of great interest, both from the point of view of characterizing him, both as a person, and from the point of view of analyzing and studying social relations.

Voltaire about man.

Voltaire explains all the actions of people with self-love, which “is as necessary for a person as the blood flowing in his veins,” and he considers the observance of his own interests to be the engine of life. Our self-esteem “tells us respect for the self-esteem of other people. The law directs this self-love, religion perfects it.

Voltaire is convinced that every person has a sense of decency “in the form of some antidote for all the poisons with which he is poisoned; and in order to be happy, it is not at all necessary to indulge in vices, rather, on the contrary, by suppressing our vices, we achieve peace, a comforting evidence of our own conscience; surrendering to vices, we lose peace and health.

Voltaire divides people into two classes: "those who sacrifice their selfishness to the good of society" and "complete rabble, in love only with themselves."

Considering a person as a social being, Voltaire writes that “man is not like other animals that have only the instinct of self-love”, for a person “natural benevolence is also characteristic, not seen in animals”

However, often in a person love for oneself is stronger than benevolence, but, in the end, the presence of reason in animals is very doubtful, namely, “these gifts of his (God): reason, love for oneself, goodwill towards individuals of our species, the needs of passion are means with which we have established society."

Voltaire on Religion.

Voltaire vigorously opposed the Catholic Church, against the atrocities of the clergy, obscurantism and fanaticism. He regarded the Catholic Church as the main brake on all progress, boldly exposed and ridiculed the dogmas of the church, the pitiful scholasticism that the clergy presented to the people. In his attitude towards the Catholic Church, Voltaire was irreconcilable. Every word of his was imbued with a fighting spirit. In the fight against the Catholic Church, he put forward the slogan "Crush the reptile", calling on everyone to fight the "monster" that torments France.

Religion, from the point of view of Voltaire, is a grandiose deception with selfish ones, Voltaire characterizes Catholicism as "a network of the most vulgar deceptions composed by clever people."

Voltaire was always extremely negative about religious fanatics. The source of fanaticism is superstition, a superstitious person becomes a fanatic when he is pushed to any villainy in the name of the Lord. "The most stupid and evil people are those who are more superstitious than others." Superstition for Voltaire is a mixture of fanaticism and obscurantism. Voltaire considered fanaticism to be a greater evil than atheism: “Fanaticism is a thousand times more disastrous, because atheism does not inspire bloody passions at all, but fanaticism provokes them; atheism opposes crimes, but fanaticism causes them. Atheism, Voltaire believes, is a vice of some smart people, superstition and fanaticism are a vice of fools.

However, fighting against the church, the clergy and religion, Voltaire was at the same time the enemy of atheism, Voltaire devoted his special pamphlet Homélie sur l "athéisme" to criticism of primitive atheism.

Voltaire, by his convictions, was a deist. Deism - (from lat. deus - god) - a religious and philosophical trend that recognizes the existence of God and the creation of the world by him, but denies most supernatural and mystical phenomena, divine revelation and religious dogmatism. Deism suggests that reason, logic, and observation of nature are the only means to know God and his will. God only creates the world and no longer participates in its life.

Deism highly values human reason and freedom. Deism seeks to harmonize science and the idea of the existence of God, and not to oppose science and God.

Voltaire by no means rejects religion and religiosity as such. He believed that a religion freed from layers of obscurantism and superstition is the best way to control social ideology. His words became winged: "If God did not exist, he would have to be invented."

Voltaire on the state

Voltaire believed that the state must meet the needs of the era, and can act in various organizational forms.

The duality of Voltaire's judgments is that he was an opponent of absolutism, but at the same time he had no other ideas of managing society. He saw a way out in the creation of enlightened absolutism, a monarchy based on the "educated part" of society, on the intelligentsia, on "philosophers". Such will be the existing political system if an "enlightened" monarch appears on the royal throne.

Being in another exile, living in Berlin, Voltaire, in a letter to the Prussian king Friedrich, expressed his point of view as follows: “Believe me that only those who, like you, began by improving themselves in order to get to know people, with love, were truly good sovereigns. to the truth, with aversion to persecution and superstition ... there cannot be a sovereign who, thinking in this way, would not return the golden age to his possessions .... The happiest time is when the sovereign is a philosopher.

But only education and wisdom does not exhaust the set of qualities necessary for an “enlightened” monarch. He must also be a merciful sovereign, listening to the needs of people, his subjects. "A good king is the best gift heaven can give to earth." Voltaire wanted to believe that the institutions of an absolutist state had not outlived their usefulness and could overcome their own socio-economic, legal and ideological foundations as soon as a highly learned moral autocrat began to rule the country.

Of course, such a point of view was naive, even Voltaire himself probably understood the impossibility of such an ennobled absolutism. Therefore, after some time he quarreled with Frederick and was forced to flee from there.

In the last years of his life, Voltaire talked a lot about the republic. He even wrote in 1765 a special essay "Republican Ideas". But again, he believed that the head of the republic should be, if not the monarch, then the sole leader, using the mechanisms of the republican structure to reflect the aspirations of all sectors of society.
It must be said that it was these ideas that formed the basis of the first and second French republics. And now, at the present time, the right combination, the balance of republican government with individual leadership is the basis of the strength of the state

According to social views, Voltaire is a supporter of inequality. Society should be divided into rich and poor. This is what he considers the engine of progress.

3. Voltaire's poem

Chimeras that once fascinated me

They have no control over my soul.

I renounced them - they became indifferent to me

Recognition of the public and the mercy of kings.

Mirage of immortality? He is like a mirage in the desert:

Today is a much nicer day for me than he is.

Life is drawing to a close and every day is mine now

Illuminated by the ray of freedom.

Voltaire's house in Fern

Voltaire's book and publication - Catherine's correspondence with him

Voltaire and the Marquise Emilie du Châtelet. Their castle Sire

Voltaire's grave at the Pantheon in Paris

Voltaire in art:

Sculpture of Houdon in the Hermitage

The Hermitage has 7 different paintings dedicated to Voltaire, one of them is Jean Hubert "Voltaire Taming the Horse"

In total there are about a hundred paintings depicting Voltaire

Salvador Dali "Slave Market" - the meaning of the picture is that Voltaire is invisibly present everywhere.

Whoever did not see Voltaire, here is a little help!

Hosted on Allbest.ru

...