Voltaire short biography essentials. Brief biography of Francois Voltaire. Philosophical writings, persecution

fr. Voltaire; birth name Francois Marie Arouet fr. Francois Marie Arouet; anagram "Arouet le j(eune)" - " Arue Jr." (Latin spelling - AROVETLI)

one of the greatest French Enlightenment philosophers of the 18th century: poet, prose writer, satirist, tragedian, historian, essayist

short biography

Named at birth Marie Francois Arouet, - the great French writer, poet, playwright, philosopher-educator of the 18th century, historian, publicist - was born in Paris on November 21, 1694. In 1704, the notary father sent him to study at the Jesuit College of Louis the Great, where he studied until 171. The boy studied well, but his passion for free-thinking literature and voiced doubts about Christian postulates, demonstrated already at such a young age, almost led to his expulsion. After graduating from college, Marie Francois, through the efforts of his father, ended up in a law office, but works in the literary field seemed to him more attractive.

Dreaming of recognition, the young Marie Francois took part in the competition organized by the Academy, writing "Ode on the Vow of Louis XIII", but considered himself hurt when the victory went to the protégé of an influential academic. His satirical poem "The Bog", ridiculing the Academy, was rewritten, it turned out to be very popular, and Marie Francois had to hide from her acquaintances from trouble. Since then, his literary activity has repeatedly become the cause of persecution by those in power, provoked events that played an important role in his biography. So, for satirical poems addressed to the Duke of Orleans in 1717, he landed in the Bastille for almost a year. Influential acquaintances helped him return to freedom, and already in 1718, the tragedy Oedipus was staged for the first time on the stage of the Comedy Française, which was awarded the status of the first classical French tragedy of the 18th century. She glorified the 24-year-old author and his creative pseudonym: from 1718 he became known as Voltaire.

Due to a conflict at the end of 1725 with a famous nobleman, whom Voltaire had the imprudence to ridicule, he again ended up in the Bastille, he was released from prison on the condition that he go abroad. Thus, in the spring of 1726, Voltaire ended up in England, where he was received as a prominent figure in literature, and he, in turn, paid great attention to the study of the social structure of the country, its historical, philosophical, and cultural heritage. As a result of his stay in England, from where he returned three years later, in 1733 he published Philosophical Letters, which drew very bold and unflattering parallels for France. The book was sentenced to be burned, and the disgraced author managed to escape arrest by flight, after which he did not dare to appear in the capital for a very long time.

For almost two decades, Voltaire lived near the border of Lorraine in the castle of Cyr, which belonged to the Marquise du Chatelet, a very educated woman who was fond of science and introduced her lover to them. This period of biography was decisive for the formation of Voltaire as an outstanding writer and thinker.

In 1736, a long-term correspondence began between him and the Crown Prince of Prussia, which contributed to an increase in the prestige of both the future ruler and Voltaire himself. In addition, in 1740, the prince became King Frederick II, and the French authorities took advantage of the relationship of trust, asking the writer to clarify some aspects of the foreign policy of the new monarch in relation to their country. Voltaire successfully fulfilled the mission entrusted to him, which contributed to the increase in his authority, which gradually increased not only in his homeland, but throughout the continent. In 1745 he was appointed to the post of royal historiographer and court poet, he became a member of the French Academy. However, his good relations with the court did not last long.

In the summer of 1750, Voltaire arrived in Potsdam, having accepted the invitation of Frederick II. Reassured at first by freer orders, the thinker then felt a chill towards the revision of the monarch's writings in French, which was charged to him. His dubious financial transactions and the conflict with the President of the Academy contributed to the deterioration of relations. As a result, in 1753 he left Germany in order to move to Switzerland for a total of a quarter of a century, where he acquired several estates.

Voltaire in his declining years was a very rich man, owned lands, watch and weaving workshops, solid capital, lent money to aristocrats, so financial independence was supplemented by the opportunity to freely, without fear of reprisals, be a herald of public opinion that criticized the existing system. And yet, the main occupation has always been creativity, speaking out with the denunciation of wars and the persecution of dissidents, defending political and religious freedoms.

The 84-year-old Voltaire did not leave creative activity, and when in February 1778, succumbing to persuasion, he returned to Paris. The townspeople gave him an enthusiastic welcome. The performance of his last play - "Irene" - became a real triumph. In the role of director of the Academy, Voltaire began to rework the academic dictionary, but died in May of the same year.

His creative - literary, historical, philosophical - heritage amounted to 50 volumes (Molan edition). The influence that the sage of Ferney, as Voltaire was called, had on the minds of contemporaries, including very high-ranking ones, for example, Catherine II or Gustav III, is difficult to overestimate. The 18th century and in our time are sometimes called by his name, despite the fact that the century gave the world many prominent figures of the Enlightenment.

Biography from Wikipedia

The son of an official, Francois Marie Arouet, studied at the Jesuit College "Latin and all sorts of nonsense", but preferred literature to law; began his literary activity in the palaces of aristocrats as a parasite poet; for satirical rhymes addressed to the regent and his daughter, he ended up in the Bastille (where he was later sent a second time, this time for other people's poems).

He was beaten by a nobleman, from the de Rogan family, whom he ridiculed, wanted to challenge him to a duel, but due to the intrigue of the offender, he again found himself in prison, was released on the condition of going abroad; interesting is the fact that in his youth, two astrologers predicted only 33 Earth years for Voltaire. And it was this failed duel that could make the prediction a reality, but the case decided differently. At the age of 63, Voltaire wrote about this: “I have deceived the astrologers out of spite for thirty years, for which I ask you to humbly excuse me.”

Later he left for England, where he lived for three years (1726-1729), studying its political system, science, philosophy and literature.

Returning to France, Voltaire published his English impressions under the title Philosophical Letters; the book was confiscated (1734), the publisher paid with the Bastille, and Voltaire fled to Lorraine, where he found shelter with the Marquise du Chatelet (with whom he lived for 15 years). Being accused of mocking religion (in the poem " socialite”), Voltaire fled again, this time to the Netherlands.

In 1746, Voltaire was appointed court poet and historiographer, 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 followed (1751) the invitation of the Prussian king Frederick II, with whom he had been in correspondence for a long time (since 1736), and settled in Berlin (Potsdam), but, having caused the king’s displeasure with unseemly monetary speculation, as well as a quarrel with the president of the Maupertuis Academy (caricatured by Wol terom in "Diatribe of Doctor Akaki"), was forced to leave Prussia and settled in Switzerland (1753). Here he bought an estate near Geneva, renaming it "Otradnoe" (Délices), then acquired two more estates: Tournai and - on the border with France - Fernet (1758), where he lived almost until his death. A man now rich and completely independent, a capitalist who lent money to aristocrats, a landowner and at the same time the owner of a weaving and watch workshop, Voltaire - the "Patriarch of Ferney" - could now freely and fearlessly represent "public opinion", omnipotent opinion, against the old, surviving socio-political order.

Ferne became a place of pilgrimage for the new intelligentsia; friendship with Voltaire was proud of such "enlightened" monarchs as Catherine II, Frederick II, who resumed correspondence with him, Gustav III of Sweden. In 1774, Louis XV was replaced by Louis XVI, and in 1778, Voltaire, an eighty-three-year-old man, returned to Paris, where an enthusiastic meeting was arranged for him. He bought himself a mansion on Richelieu Street, actively worked on the new tragedy Agathocles. The staging of his last play, Irene, became his apotheosis. Appointed director of the Academy, Voltaire, despite his advanced age, set about reworking the academic dictionary.

Severe pain, the origin of which was initially unclear, forced Voltaire to take large doses of opium. In early May, after an exacerbation of the disease, the doctor of medicine Tronshen made a disappointing diagnosis: prostate cancer. Voltaire was still strong, sometimes even joking, but often the joke was interrupted by a grimace of pain.

The next medical consultation, held on May 25, predicted a quick death. Every day brought more and more suffering to the patient. Sometimes even opium did not help.

Voltaire's nephew Abbé Mignot, trying to reconcile his uncle with the Catholic Church, invited Abbé Gauthier and the parish curate of St. Sulpicia Tersaka. The visit took place on the afternoon of 30 May. According to legend, Voltaire replied to the offer of the clergy to "renounce Satan and come to the Lord": "Why acquire new enemies before death?" His last words were "For God's sake, let me die in peace." After opening the body, the brain was placed in a jar of alcohol, and the heart in a lead box. The body was smuggled out and buried in the Cathedral of Cellers, thirty leagues from Paris. The brain was kept by the pharmacist in Mituara and passed down from generation to generation. The heart was kept by the adopted daughter, the Marquise de Villette, and was inherited. On the casket where the heart was kept was engraved: "His spirit hovers everywhere, but the heart rests here"

In 1791, the Convention decided to transfer the remains of Voltaire to the Panthéon and to rename the Quai de Theatines to the Quai named after Voltaire. The transfer of Voltaire's remains to the Pantheon turned into a grandiose revolutionary demonstration. In 1814, during the Restoration, there was a rumor that Voltaire's remains were allegedly stolen from the Pantheon, which was not true. Currently, the ashes of Voltaire are still in the Pantheon.

Philosophy

Being a supporter of the empiricism of the English philosopher Locke, whose teaching he propagated in his "philosophical letters", Voltaire was at the same time an opponent of the French materialistic philosophy, in particular Baron Holbach, against whom his “Letter of Memmius to Cicero” is directed; on the question of the spirit, Voltaire vacillated between denying and affirming the immortality of the soul; on the question of free will, in indecision he moved from indeterminism to determinism. The most important philosophical articles Voltaire published in the "Encyclopedia" and then published as a separate book, first under the title "Pocket Philosophical Dictionary" (fr. Dictionnaire philosophique portatif, 1764). In this work, Voltaire showed himself as a fighter against idealism and religion, relying on the scientific achievements of his time. In numerous articles, he criticizes religious ideas. christian church, religious morality, denounces the crimes committed by the Christian church.

Voltaire, as a representative of the school of natural law, recognizes for each individual the existence of inalienable natural rights: freedom, property, security, equality.

Along with natural laws, the philosopher identifies positive laws, the necessity of which he explains by the fact that "people are evil." Positive laws are designed to guarantee natural rights person. Many positive laws seemed unjust to the philosopher, embodying only human ignorance.

Criticism of religion

A tireless and merciless enemy of the church and the clerics, whom he pursued with arguments of logic and arrows of sarcasm, a writer whose slogan read "écrasez l'infâme" ("destroy the vile", often translated as "crush the vermin"), Voltaire attacked both Judaism and Christianity (for example, in "Dinner at the Citizen of Boulainville"), expressing, however, his respect for the individual Christ (both in the above work and in the treatise "God and people"); for the purpose of anti-church propaganda, Voltaire published the "Testament of Jean Mellier", a socialist priest of the 17th century, who spared no words to debunk clericalism.

Fighting in word and deed (intercession for the victims of religious fanaticism - Calas and Servetus) against the domination and oppression of religious superstitions and prejudices, against clerical fanaticism, Voltaire tirelessly preached the ideas of religious "tolerance" (tolérence) - a term that meant in the 18th century, contempt for Christianity and unbridled advertising of anti-Catholicism - and as in his journalistic pamphlets (Treatise on religious tolerance, 1763), and in his works of art (the image of Henry IV, who put an end to the religious strife between Catholics and Protestants; the image of the emperor in the tragedy of "Gebra"). A special place in the views of Voltaire was occupied by the attitude towards Christianity in general. Voltaire considered Christian myth-making a deception.

In 1722, Voltaire wrote the anti-clerical poem For and Against. In this poem, he proves that the Christian religion, which prescribes to love a merciful god, actually paints him as a cruel tyrant, "whom we should 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 ...

Criticism of atheism. Deism of Voltaire

Fighting against the church, the clergy and the religions of "revelation", Voltaire was at the same time the enemy of atheism; Voltaire devoted a special pamphlet to criticism of atheism ("Homélie sur l'athéisme"). A deist in the spirit of the English bourgeois freethinkers of the 18th century, Voltaire tried with all possible arguments to prove the existence of a deity who created the universe, in whose affairs, however, he does not interfere, operating with evidence: “cosmological” (“Against atheism”), “teleological” (“Le philosophe ignorant”) and “moral” (article “God” in the Encyclopedia).

But in the 60s and 70s Voltaire is imbued with skeptical moods ":

But where is the eternal geometer? In one place or everywhere without taking up space? I don't know anything about it. Did he arrange the world out of his substance? I don't know anything about it. Is it indefinite, characterized by neither quantity nor quality? I don't know anything about it.

"Voltaire departs from the position of creationism, says that 'nature is eternal'." “Voltaire's contemporaries told about one episode. When Voltaire was asked if there is a God, he asked first to close the door tightly and then said: “There is no God, but my footman and wife should not know this, since I do not want my footman to stab me, and my wife went out of obedience.”

In the Edifying Sermons, as well as in philosophical stories, the argument of “usefulness” is repeatedly encountered, that is, such a conception of God in which he acts as a social and moral regulative principle. In this sense, faith in him turns out to be necessary, since only she, according to Voltaire, is able to keep human race from self-destruction and mutual extermination.

Let us at least see, my brethren, how useful such faith is, and how interested we are in having it imprinted on all hearts.

These principles are necessary for the preservation of the human race. Deprive people of the notion of a punishing and rewarding god - and here Sulla and Marius bathe with pleasure in the blood of their fellow citizens; Augustus, Antony and Lepidus surpass Sulla in cruelty, Nero cold-bloodedly gives the order to kill his own mother.

Rejecting medieval church and monastic asceticism in the name of the human right to happiness, which is rooted in reasonable selfishness(“Discours sur l’Homme”), for a long time sharing the optimism of the 18th -century English bourgeoisie, which converted the world in its image and likeness and affirmed the poet of the POUP: “Whatever IS, IS Right” (“Everything is good”), Voltaire after the earthquake in Lisibone, which destroyed his third of the city, slightly reduced his own. Optimism, stating in the poem about the Lisbon catastrophe: "Now everything is not fine, but everything will be fine."

Socio-philosophical views

According to social views, Voltaire is a supporter of inequality. Society should be divided into "educated and rich" and those who, "having nothing", "obliged to work for them" or "amuse" them. Therefore, there is no need for workers to educate: “if the people begin to reason, everything is lost” (from Voltaire’s letters). When printing Mellier's "Testament", Voltaire threw out all his sharp criticism of private property, considering it "outrageous". This also explains Voltaire's negative attitude towards, although there was a personal element in their relationship.

A staunch and passionate opponent of absolutism, he remained until the end of his life a monarchist, a supporter of the idea of ​​enlightened absolutism, a monarchy based on the "educated part" of society, on the intelligentsia, on "philosophers". The enlightened monarch is his political ideal, which Voltaire embodied in a number of images: in the person of Henry IV (in the poem "Henriad"), the "sensitive" king-philosopher Teucer (in the tragedy "The Laws of Minos"), who sets as his task "enlighten people, soften the morals of his subjects, civilize the wild country", and King Don Pedro (in the tragedy of the same name), who tragically dies in the fight against the feudal lords in the name of the principle expressed by Tevkrom in the words: “The kingdom is a great family with a father at the head. Whoever has a different idea of ​​the monarch is guilty before humanity.”

Voltaire, like Rousseau, sometimes tended to defend the idea of ​​a "primitive state" in such plays as "The Scythians" or "The Laws of Minos", but his "primitive society" (Scythians and Sidonians) has nothing in common with the paradise of small proprietors-farmers painted by Rousseau, but embodies the society of enemies of political despotism and religious intolerance.

In his satirical poem "The Virgin of Orleans" he ridicules knights and courtiers, but in the poem "The Battle of Fontenoy" (1745) Voltaire glorifies the old French nobility, in such plays as "The Right of the Seigneur" and especially "Nanina", he draws with enthusiasm the landlords of a liberal bias, even ready to marry a peasant woman. Voltaire for a long time could not come to terms with the intrusion on the stage of persons of non-noble status, “ordinary people” (fr. hommes du commun), because this meant “depreciate the tragedy” (avilir le cothurne).

Connected by his political, religious-philosophical and social views is still quite firmly with the "old order", Voltaire, especially with his literary sympathies, firmly rooted in the aristocratic XVIII century of Louis XIV, to whom he dedicated his best historical work - "Siècle de Louis XIV".

Shortly before his death, on April 7, 1778, Voltaire joined the Parisian Masonic Lodge of the Grand Orient of France - the Nine Sisters. At the same time, Benjamin Franklin (at that time - the American ambassador to France) accompanied him to the box.

Literary creativity

Dramaturgy

Continuing to cultivate the aristocratic genres of poetry - epistles, gallant lyrics, odes, etc., Voltaire was the last major representative of classical tragedy in the field of dramatic poetry - he wrote 28; among them the most important: "Oedipus" (1718), "Brutus" (1730), "Zaire" (1732), "Caesar" (1735), "Alzira" (1736), "Mohammed" (1741), "Meropa" (1743), "Semiramide" (1748), "Saved Rome" (1752), "Chinese Orphan" (17 55), Tancred (1760).

However, in the context of the decline of aristocratic culture, the classical tragedy was inevitably transformed. In its former rationalistic coldness, notes of sensitivity broke in more and more abundance ("Zaire"), its former sculptural clarity was replaced by romantic picturesqueness ("Tankred"). The repertoire of ancient figures was invaded more and more decisively by exotic characters - medieval knights, Chinese, Scythians, Hebras and the like.

For a long time, not wanting to put up with the ascension of a new drama - as a form of "hybrid", Voltaire ended up defending the method of mixing the tragic and the comic (in the preface to The Spender and Socrates), considering this mixture, however, a legitimate feature only of "high comedy" and rejecting as a "non-fiction genre" "tearful drama", where only "tears". For a long time resisting the invasion of the stage by plebeian heroes, Voltaire, under the pressure of the bourgeois drama, gave up this position too, opening wide the doors of the drama "for all classes and all ranks" (preface to "Scotch", with references to English examples) and formulating (in "Discourse on the Hebras") in essence the program of the democratic theater; “In order to more easily inspire people with the valor needed by society, the author chose heroes from the lower class. He was not afraid to bring a gardener to the stage, a young girl helping her father in rural work, a simple soldier. Such heroes, standing closer to nature, speaking simple language, will make a stronger impression and reach their goal sooner than princes in love and princesses tormented by passion. Enough theaters thundered with tragic adventures, possible only among monarchs and completely useless for the rest of the people. The type of such bourgeois plays includes "The Right of the Seigneur", "Nanina", "The Spender", etc.

Poetry

If, as a playwright, Voltaire went from orthodox classical tragedy through its sentimentalization, romanticization and exoticism to the drama of the New Age under the pressure of the growing movement of the "third estate", then his evolution as an epic writer is similar. Voltaire began in the style of the classical epic (“Henriad”, 1728; originally “The League or the Great Henry”), which, however, like the classical tragedy, was transformed under his hand: instead of a fictional hero, a real one was taken, instead of fantastic wars - in fact, a former one, instead of gods - allegorical images - concepts: love, jealousy, fanaticism (from “Essai sur la poésie épique”).

Continuing the style of the heroic epic in "The Poem of the Battle of Fontenoy", glorifying the victory of Louis XV, Voltaire then in "La Pucelle d'Orléans", caustically and obscenely ridiculing the entire medieval world of feudal-clerical France, reduces the heroic poem to a heroic farce and gradually, under the influence of Pope, from a heroic poem to a didactic poem, to “discourse in verse” (discours en vers), to a presentation in the form of a poem of one’s moral and social philosophy (“Letter on the Philosophy of Newton”, “Discourse in Verses on Man”, “Natural Law”, “Poem on the Lisbon Catastrophe”).

philosophical prose

From here there has been a natural transition to prose, to a philosophical novel (“The Vision of Babuk”, “The Innocent”, “Zadig” or Fate, “Micromegas”, “Candide, or Optimism”, “The Princess of Babylon”, “Scarmentado” and others, 1740-1760s), where, on the core of adventures, travels, exoticism, Voltaire develops a subtle dialectic of the relationship between chance and predestination (“Zadig ”), the simultaneous baseness and greatness of a person (“The Vision of Babuk”), the absurdity of both pure optimism and pure pessimism (“Candide”), and about the only wisdom that lies in the conviction of Candide, who has known all the vicissitudes, that a person is called to “cultivate his garden” or, as the Innocent from the story of the same name similarly begins to understand, to do his own thing and try to correct the world not with loud words, but with a noble example.

As for all the “enlighteners” of the 18th century, for Voltaire, fiction was not an end in itself, but only a means of propagating his ideas, a means of protest against autocracy, against churchmen and clericalism, an opportunity to preach religious tolerance, civil freedom, etc. According to this attitude, his work is highly rational and journalistic. All the forces of the "old order" violently rose up against this, as one of his enemies christened him, "Prometheus", overthrowing the power of the earthly and heavenly gods; Freron was especially zealous, whom Voltaire branded with his laughter in a number of pamphlets and brought out in the play "Scotch" under the transparent name of the informer Frelon.

Human rights activities

In 1762, Voltaire launched a campaign to overturn the sentence of the Protestant Jean Calas, who was executed on charges of murdering his son. As a result, Jean Calas was found not guilty and the rest of those convicted in this case were acquitted. The French historian Marion Sigot argues that the Case of Calas was used by Voltaire to express his hatred of the Church, and not at all to protect the rights of the executed Calas (acquitted due to procedural errors).

Attitude towards Jews

In his “Philosophical Dictionary”, Voltaire wrote: “... you will find in them (the Jews) only an ignorant and barbarous people who have long combined the most disgusting greed with the most contemptible superstitions and with the most irresistible hatred for all peoples who tolerate them and at the same time enrich them ... Nevertheless, they should not be burned.” Louis de Bonald wrote: “When I say that philosophers treat the Jews kindly, one must exclude from their number the head of the philosophical school of the XVIII century Voltaire, who throughout his life demonstrated a decisive hostility to this people ...”.

followers of Voltaire. Voltairianism

Voltaire was forced to publish his works often anonymously, renouncing them when rumor declared him the author, publish them abroad, and smuggle them into France. In the struggle against the dying old order, Voltaire could, on the other hand, rely on a huge influential audience both in France and abroad, ranging from “enlightened monarchs” to broad cadres of the new bourgeois intelligentsia, right up to Russia, to which he dedicated his “History of Peter” and partly “Charles XII”, being in correspondence with Catherine II and with Sumarokov, and where his name was baptized, although without sufficient reason, a social trend , known as Voltairianism.

The cult of Voltaire reached its apogee in France during the Great Revolution, and in 1792, during the performance of his tragedy The Death of Caesar, the Jacobins adorned the head of his bust with a red Phrygian cap. If in the 19th century this cult was in general, then Voltaire’s name and glory were always revived in the era of revolutions: at the turn of the 19th century - in Italy, where the troops of General Bonaparte brought the principle of the declaration of human and citizen, partly in England, where the wrestler against the sacred union, Bairon, became famous in the octaves of Child -Garold. On the eve of the March Revolution in Germany, where Heine resurrected his image. At the turn of the 20th century, the Voltaire tradition flared up again in a peculiar refraction in the “philosophical” novels of Anatole France.

Voltaire Library

After the death of Voltaire (1778), the Russian Empress Catherine II expressed a desire to acquire the writer's library and instructed her agent in Paris to discuss this proposal with Voltaire's heirs. It was specifically stipulated that Catherine's letters to Voltaire should also be included in the subject of the transaction. The heiress (Voltaire's niece, widow Denis) willingly agreed, the amount of the transaction amounted to a large amount for those times of 50,000 ecu, or 30,000 rubles in gold. The delivery of the library to St. Petersburg was carried out on a special ship in the autumn of 1779, it consisted of 6,814 books and 37 volumes with manuscripts. The empress did not receive her letters back, they were bought and soon published by Beaumarchais, however, Catherine agreed with him in advance that she would be given the opportunity to remove individual fragments of the letters before publication.

Initially, the Voltaire Library was housed in the Hermitage. Under Nicholas I, access to it was closed; only A. S. Pushkin, by special order of the tsar, was admitted there in the course of his work on the History of Peter. In 1861, by order of Alexander II, the Voltaire library was transferred to the Imperial Public Library (now the Russian National Library in St. Petersburg).

There are many Voltaire's notes in the books, which constitutes a separate object of study. Employees of the National Library of Russia have prepared for publication a seven-volume "Corpus of Voltaire's Reader's Marks", from which the first 5 volumes have been published.

Bibliography

• Collected works in 50 vols. - R. 1877-1882.
• Correspondence of Voltaire, ibid., vols. 33-50.
• Languages ​​D. Voltaire in Russian literature. 1879.
• Novels and stories, translated by N. Dmitriev. - St. Petersburg, 1870.
• Voltaire M.-F. Candide. - Pantheon, 1908 (abbreviated reprint - "Spark", 1926).
• Voltaire M.-F. Princess of Babylon. Publishing house "World Literature", 1919.
• Voltaire M.-F. Maid of Orleans, in 2 vols., with notes and articles, 1927.
• Voltaire. Aesthetics. Articles. Letters. Foreword and reasoning, 1974.
• Ivanov I.I. Political role French theater in the 18th century. - M., 1895. on the Runivers website
• Voltaire. Philosophy. M., 1988
• Voltaire. God and people. 2 volumes, M., 1961
• Hal Hellman. Great confrontations in science. The Ten Most Exciting Disputes - Chapter 4 - M .: "Dialectics", 2007. - S. 320.
• Desnoiresterres G. Voltaire et la société du XVIII siècle, 8 vv. - P., 1867-1877.
• Morley J. Voltaire. - London, 1878 (Russian translation. - M., 1889).
• Bengesco G. Voltaire. Bibliographie de ses uvres. 4 vv. - P., 1889-1891.
• Champion G. Voltaire. - P., 1892.
• Strauss D. F. Voltaire. - Lpz., 1895 (Russian translation. - M., 1900).
• Crousle L. La vie et les œuvres de Voltaire. 2 vv. - P., 1899.
• Lanson G. Voltaire. - P., 1906.
• Brandes. Voltaire. 2 vv. - P., 1923.
• Maugras G. Querelles des philosophes Voltaire et Rousseau. - P., 1886.
• Brunetiere F. Les epoques du theatre français. - P., 1892.
• Lion H. Les tragédies et les theories dramatiques de Voltaire. - P., 1896.
• Griswald. Voltaire als Historiker. - 1898.
• Ducros L. Les encyclopedistes. - P., 1900 (there is a Russian translation).
• Robert L. Voltaire et l'intolérance réligieuse. - P., 1904.
• Pellissier G. Voltaire philosophe. - P., 1908.

Philosophical works

• "Zadig" ( Zadig ou la Destinee, 1747)
• "Micromegas" ( Micromegas, 1752)
• "Candide" ( Candide, ou l'Optimisme, 1759)
• "Treatise on Tolerance" ( Traite sur la tolerance, 1763)
• "What Ladies Like" Ce qui plaît aux dames, 1764)
• "Philosophical Dictionary" ( Dictionnaire philosophiques, 1764)
• "Innocent" ( L'Ingenu, 1767)
• "Babylonian Princess" La Princesse de Babylon, 1768)

Screen versions of works

• 1960 Candide, or Optimism in the 20th century
• 1994 Innocent

Voltaire's translators into Russian

• Adamovich, Georgy Viktorovich
• Gumilyov, Nikolai Stepanovich
• Ivanov, Georgy Vladimirovich
• Lozinsky, Mikhail Leonidovich
• Sheinman, Cecil Yakovlevna
• Fonvizin, Denis Ivanovich

Philosophy appeared in France in the 18th century. As the core, the core of education, itself, in turn, receiving from education - and it was a powerful social and cultural movement - specific impulses for development. Philosophers of the Enlightenment considered philosophical reason to be the basic authority in resolving the most difficult questions. This strictly corresponded to the central position in the philosophy of the principle of the understanding subject. Everything was placed under the critical light of reason, with a willingness to accept any alternative, if it could be reasonably justified, to the existing state of affairs. Voltaire's philosophical activity is indicative in this connection.

The French writer and philosopher-educator Voltaire (Voltaire), real name François-Marie Arouet (François-MarieArouet), was born on November 21, 1694 in Paris. He was the youngest of five children of the daughter of the secretary of the criminal court, Marie Marguerite Domar, and the notary François Arouet. When the boy was seven years old, his mother died. In 1711 he graduated from the Jesuit college in Paris. After graduating from college, at the insistence of his father, he was assigned to the School of Law. The young man was not attracted to a legal career, while still in college he began to write poetry. A relative of his mother, Abbé Chateauneuf, who sympathized with his literary passions, introduced the young man into the aristocratic circle. It was the so-called Temple Society, united around the Duke of Vendôme, the head of the Order of the Knights of Malta.

In May 1717, for compiling a satire on the regent of France, the Duke of Orleans, he spent almost a year in the Bastille, a prison-fortress in Paris. Wanting to brighten up the hours in a prison cell, he worked on the epic poem "Henriad" and the tragedy "Oedipus". In 1718, his play "Oedipus" was staged, favorably received by the public "Comedy Francaise". In the same year, its author first appeared under the pseudonym "de Voltaire". The poem "Henriad", originally called "League" (1723), strengthened his reputation as a skillful storyteller and fighter for the idea. Dedicated to the era of the 16th century Wars of Religion and its protagonist King Henry IV, the poem denounced religious fanaticism and glorified the monarch who made religious tolerance the slogan of his reign. At the beginning of 1726, there was a skirmish between Voltaire and the Chevalier de Rogan, who allowed public mockery of the poet's attempt to hide his non-noble origin under a pseudonym. For the answer: "Sir, glory awaits my name, and oblivion awaits yours!" he was beaten by Rogan's lackeys. Armed with pistols, Voltaire tried to take revenge on the offender, but was arrested and thrown into the Bastille. Two weeks later he was released, forbidden to live in Paris.

In 1726-1728, Voltaire lived in England, studying its political system, science, philosophy and literature. Returning to France, he published his English impressions under the title Philosophical Letters. "Letters" idealized the English order and in the most gloomy light portrayed the state of public institutions in France. In 1734, the book was confiscated, and its publisher paid with the Bastille.

Voltaire retired to Cyr, the castle of his beloved Marquise du Chatelet, located in Champagne, with whom he lived for 15 years. During this period, he created the tragedies "Alzira" (1736) and "Mohammed" (1742), "Tractato Metaphysics" (1734) and "Fundamentals of Newton's Philosophy" (1738), most of the historical work "The Age of Louis XIV" (1751) was written. Voltaire's literary legacy is enormous. He wrote a total of more than a hundred works, which amounted to a collected work of several dozen volumes. In addition to writings on philosophy, he wrote plays, novels, journalism. Voltaire tirelessly attacks religious fanaticism, various kinds of superstitions and delusions, feudal absolutism, the arbitrariness of the authorities, including the legal one. Voltaire's speeches contributed not only to the French Revolution, but also to reforms in England, Germany, Russia, where he spent part of his life.

Voltaire's main subject is various prejudices, clericalism, which he dreamed of crushing with the efforts of philosophers. Voltaire is not an atheist, he is a deist, which means that God is recognized as the creator of the world, but his participation in the life of society is rejected. Voltaire advocates "natural religion". By natural religion, he understands the principles of morality common to all mankind. The content of morality Voltaire interprets rationalistically. The main principle of morality, Voltaire believes, was already formulated by the sages of antiquity: "Do to others the way you want to be treated to you." The philosophical activity of Voltaire, which does not reach special heights in the formulation of new principles, at the same time testifies that it would be wrong to consider philosophy only a science, only the joy of armchair scientists. The work of Voltaire shows that philosophy, no less than other sciences, can have an applied character, achieving well-deserved success in this field.

It is no coincidence that, by decision of the Constituent Assembly, the coffin with the ashes of Voltaire was in 1791 placed in the Pantheon of the great people of France created in Paris. The main socio-political views of Voltaire reflected the ideology of the emerging French bourgeois democracy and debunked the outdated feudal regime. Voltaire was not the thinker who put forward the original philosophical ideas, he was an educator who did a lot for the philosophical enlightenment of society. The main focus of all Voltaire's works is anti-feudal, in the center of which is anti-clericalism. All his life he fought against the church, religious intolerance and fanaticism.

The philosophical views of Voltaire are expressed in the Philosophical Letters (1733), the Treatise on Metaphysics (1734), the Fundamentals of Newton's Philosophy (1738), the philosophical story Candide (1759), the Philosophical Dictionary (1764-1769). The philosophical views of Voltaire are closely intertwined with his religious views. His struggle with the Catholic Church is formulated by him very briefly: "Crush the vermin!" In his works, Voltaire showed the failure of religion as a system. However, he remained on the positions of deism, not completely denying faith in God as the Creator of our world. According to him, the source of religion is ignorance and deceit. He believed that religion arose when a swindler and a fool met. At the same time, he believed that religion was necessary, since religious faith is the force that controls people's behavior. He said: "If God did not exist, he would have to be invented." Voltaire in Candide criticizes Leibniz's theory of pre-established harmony, believing that people should intervene in life in order to change it and establish a more just order.

Voltaire was very critical of the rationalistic views of Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz and did not recognize the concept of innate ideas. At the same time, he adopted Locke's sensationalism and popularized it, while still recognizing the existence of unconditional truths independent of a sensory source. In his opinion, we only know about mental phenomena and abilities. It is better to recognize that humans are sentient animals with a developed intellect but a weak instinct.

Voltaire stood on the positions of determinism, he proved the dependence of our consciousness on the structure of the sense organs. Thinking was recognized as an attribute of matter, and the diversity of the world was explained by the "universal mind", considered as the source of this diversity.

In ethics, Voltaire opposed both the innateness of moral norms and their conventionality. He substantiated " Golden Rule morality: "Treat others the way you would like to be treated." Voltaire decided to create a philosophy of history and wrote a number of works (“Philosophy of History”, “Pyrrhonism in History”, “Reflection on History”), which presented a program for studying the achievements of culture in all areas of civilization. He called to study the history of non-European peoples - Arabs, Chinese, Indians. In his "History of Russia under Peter the Great" he holds the idea of ​​an enlightened monarch who should be at the head of the state. Voltaire opposed the views of Rousseau, who called for a return to primitive nature. For him, it was unnatural. He also ridiculed Rousseau's belief in the need to abandon private property. Voltaire understood freedom as free will. But there is no free will, there is only the consciousness of one's own freedom.

Voltaire considered the contemporary era, i.e. the eighteenth century, as the time in which the reason of mankind must exert its decisive influence on the life of society. He considered the highest manifestation of reason to be "sound philosophy", based on science and art. Here Voltaire had high hopes for enlightened monarchs who had mastered the philosophical conclusions about the laws community development, the tasks of state power and freed from prejudices. He believed that there would be a time when philosophers would come to lead the state. The progressive ideas of Voltaire had a great influence on the formation of the ideology of a new generation of enlighteners.

Voltaire (Francois Marie Arouet) (1694-1778) French philosopher, writer, publicist. The most famous works are: “Philosophical Letters” (or “English Letters”), “Treatise on Metaphysics”, “Philosophical Dictionary”, “Fundamentals of General History and the Rights and Soul of Nations”, “Candide, or Optimism”, “Treatise on Religious Tolerance”, “Philosophy of History”.

Key Ideas:

Voltaire did not deny the existence of God and opposed atheism. In his opinion, God is a great engineer who invents, creates and harmonizes the system of the universe. Moreover, it is through the study of the universe that one can understand that God exists. In this case, we must think of the universe by analogy with a created object, which has a master, a creator. Voltaire proved the existence of God as follows: “The world order is not accidental for the reason that there are rational beings that cannot be generated only by mechanical movement. These creatures are spiritualized by intelligent force. Then the philosopher drew an analogy with a mechanism: “When we see a magnificent mechanism, we assume that there is a mechanic with outstanding mental faculties. But the world is an amazing machine. This means that there is also an amazing mind, wherever it is.” Therefore, God is the most "plausible phenomenon" and atheism, reflections denying the "reasonable" fact of God's existence, is absurd.

God appears as a necessary, eternal, rational supreme being, whose existence is proved not through faith, but through intelligent research, compiling the facts of creation, history, causality, goal-setting of a separate object. Faith cannot reveal to us the existence of God, since it is built on false positions of superstition, miracles and other contradictory things that are little consistent with reality. In faith, the only thing that is not false is the worship of God and his eternal commandments, as the highest rationality ordering everything. Only this moment goes beyond superstition in faith. Therefore, both atheism and blind theism (God is recognized as the creator and destiny of this world, controls all processes in the universe), built on a "superstitious" faith, is absurd and contradicts deism.

Deism aspires to the realization of God and bows before him as the highest fair, rational being, but outside of sectarianism and rituals. The advantage of deism also lies in the fact that it can be used to overcome religious fragmentation, since it will retain the main element of all religious cults from the first pagan to modern Christian beliefs - the veneration of God as a higher being, whose rationality surpasses human reason. Tolerance is also justified by the fact that we do not know anything about the secrets of God, we do not know what the soul is, and what God is, therefore, no religion can assert its superiority and ascribe to itself the truth in understanding the divine being.

According to Voltaire's reasoning, it is a mistake to attribute to human nature the original sinfulness, depravity, "animality", weakness, wretchedness. The illegitimacy of such conclusions stems from the fact that these epithets refer to specific private actions. individual person but not humanity as such. On the basis of such a false generalization, in which random observations are summarized, this false universal conclusion is drawn. Therefore, Christianity, which professes the concept of the original sinfulness of man, is not the means that will help save us from "imperfection." The Christian religion is only a preaching of simplicity, humanity, mercy, but not a theory explaining human actions and correcting them. Such a task can be solved only by the knowledge of oneself and the surrounding world.

Voltaire, in connection with this, tried to answer the question of whether man himself is knowable. In his opinion, we are not an eternal mystery, hidden from knowledge and therefore subordinate to dogma. Christian religion. Man has a definite place in nature, higher than that of animals, with which he is similar only in the structure of organs, but lower in relation to beings similar to us in thinking. The inconsistency of man and the “false” unknowability resulting from this are the result of a combination in us of the opposite principles of good and evil, pleasure and suffering, passion for action and reason to guide actions. Human perfection is not possible if by this we mean getting rid of "contrast", which is a necessary condition and an integral feature of our nature. Such an "improvement" would make a person God, which is inherently ridiculous.

Although the humanism of Voltaire denied pessimism, which turns a person into a sinful creature, the criminal for whom the world appears as a prison in anticipation of doomsday, but he did not recognize the optimism of Leibniz, who argued that this world is the best of all possible worlds. (Voltaire devoted his work Candide to this problem.) According to Voltaire, God creates the physical world order, but history is already the work of the people themselves, as well as all the evil in this world. It is impossible to deny the existence in this world and in man of evil, misfortune. It is impossible to justify what is happening according to the formula that if this happened, then it cannot be otherwise, since everything was created for a strictly defined best, optimal goal. Such justification is an obstacle to the true understanding of things. The postulate that "everything is arranged for the best" precludes an adequate understanding of good and evil as mutually exclusive concepts. Eliminates a person as such from life, reducing the level of his existence from a rational active being to a passive material that justifies what is happening through understanding the cause as a series of “relative” events in which you can always find the best. According to Voltaire, a person, on the contrary, must solve independently and meaningfully difficult problems in order to improve his situation, and not avoid them in the illusory hope of the best, not engage in "agreement".

Touching upon social issues, the philosopher says that the law that exists in society should be built only on the foundations of "natural law" arising from nature itself. The cornerstone principle must be proclaimed the position "do not do to anyone what you would not like for yourself." Law based on intolerance, including religious, Voltaire called wild and absurd. An example of the operation of natural law and the foundations of its origin can be family relationships. The father raised and raised his son and therefore has the right to reciprocal respect for his son's upbringing, the good that he did for his child. Also, another manifestation of natural law is that a person has the right to the fruits brought by the land cultivated by his hands.

The history of society, according to Voltaire, is not the realization of providence, but a consequence of natural factors such as nature, various forms of social relations, culture, trade, etc. implications of development public relations as such. The history of society is created by man himself, but not by God. move cultural development humanity depends on the conditions and actions of the peoples, whose destinies are changed and directed by talented individuals. Therefore, history for Voltaire, first of all, is the history of individual civilizations, their unique cultures.

In ontological issues, he approached the position of understanding matter as eternal and uncreated, which is initially characterized by movement, the objectivity of its being and the presence of cause-and-effect relationships, as determining the path of what is happening in nature and society.

16. German classical philosophy: features. Philosophy of Immanuel Knt

worldwide famous philosopher of the Enlightenment, Voltaire surprised the world with his revolutionary and contradictory views on society, the system of power and the relationship between the state and its citizens. His works in our time have not lost their relevance and cause controversy, and philosophical ideas about the state of society and the position of a person in society require a long study and understanding. And although Voltaire worked in the 18th century, his studies are quite modern and in the light of political events require a special approach and detailed study.

Short biography of Voltaire

Marie Francois Arouet (future Voltaire) was born on November 21, 1694 in one of the districts of Paris in the family of a notary and tax collector Francois Arouet. His mother, Marie Marguerite Demars, was the daughter of a secretary of the criminal court. The Voltaire family led a life of respectable bourgeois. Much later, the future philosopher abandoned his father and declared himself the illegitimate offspring of the Chevalier de Rochebrune, a poor musketeer and poet, since the life of a rentier and bourgeois caused a protest in the young man that he could not put up with.

Since at that time it was customary for teenagers to follow in the footsteps of their parents, at the insistence of his father, young Voltaire went to study at the Jesuit Lyceum, where he studied law for seven years (1704-1711). But the freedom-loving nature of the young man took its toll and he stopped studying boring laws and set about writing bold, freedom-loving poems and threw himself into the maelstrom of secular life.

Very soon, in May 1717, the young poet ended up in the Bastille, a terrifying fortress for everyone - an unshakable symbol of royal power, for writing an epigram on the Duke of Orleans, regent of France, but one year of imprisonment did not force the young poet to reconsider his worldview.

Early experiences in dramaturgy

In 1718, his first play Oedipus, based on Greek myths, was staged in a Parisian theater, but in fact it was the first injection of the existing system of power and social laws. The play was well received by the audience. At this time, the playwright performed for the first time under the pseudonym "du Voltaire".

The next major play, The League, soon renamed the Henriade, brought young Voltaire success as a fighter for the idea and civil liberties. The play depicted the time of religious wars in France (16th century) and was dedicated to King Henry VI, the idea of ​​the play was the conflict between the views on the society of the king - a despot who does not tolerate any objections, and a king who is tolerant of public opinion.

As Voltaire continued to revolve in the whirlwind of secular life, clashes were bound to arise between the witty poet and high-born nobles who did not tolerate superiority in anyone. In 1726, a similar skirmish took place between Voltaire and the Chevalier Rogan, who reproached the writer for hiding a low origin behind a pseudonym.

Departure for England

The young man boldly answered the nobleman, but he did not consider it necessary to challenge him to a duel, but simply ordered his lackeys to beat the playwright. This humiliation greatly affected the moral state of the philosopher, he understood that he lives in a class society, but he hoped that his mind, education and brilliant abilities would help him rise in the eyes of the world.

Armed with dueling pistols, he tried to answer for the insult, but was again arrested and thrown into the Bastille. A few months later, the young man left inhospitable France and went to England. Staying in England for two years in conditions of religious tolerance and the struggle for political freedom, greatly changed the young man and helped complete the formation of his convictions. New views were reflected in the collection of articles "Philosophical Letters", which were published in 1733 in English, and in 1734 in French.

In this work, again at the reception of contrast, the English liberal order was compared and the political situation in France was described in a gloomy light.

Upon Voltaire's return to his homeland, the book was recognized as heretical and, by the verdict of the French Parliament, was burned, and the author himself was under investigation for a long time. The threat of imprisonment in the Bastille again hung over him.

Stay in Champagne

In the same year, in order not to tempt fate, Voltaire went away from Paris to Champagne, to the Sirey castle, which belonged to his mistress, the Marquise de Chatelet. For her time, a woman extremely educated, she shared the risky views of Voltaire, was fond of metaphysics, natural sciences and seriously studied the Bible. The ten years that Voltaire and his beloved spent in a secluded castle were extremely fruitful.

It was here that the dramas "Alzira", "Mohammed", the large "Treatise on Metaphysics" and "The Foundations of Newton's Philosophy" were written. Reports of laboratory experiments, confirming his conclusions, were constantly sent to the Royal Academy of Sciences. At the same time, the great historical work "The Life and Age of Louis XIV" was almost completed.

The scientific approach to the study of the world gradually changed the views of the scientist, who was already critical of the Christian explanation of the appearance of the Universe. An inquisitive mind tried to scientifically explain the causes of the emergence of the state and social relations, laws and private property.

It was during this period that the drama The Virgin of Orleans, which made a lot of noise, was written, dedicated to one of the most difficult periods in French history and its national heroine Jeanne D, Arc. The poem was completed in 1735, but it was officially published only in 1762.

In this work, the playwright tried to debunk the duplicity and hypocrisy of the Jesuits - churchmen. To do this, he was not afraid to slightly ironically show the mysticism and religious visions of the young Jeanne, he laughed at the miracles allegedly created by the girl and clearly did not believe in her divine destiny.

Even speaking about Jeanne's virginity, he was ironic about the words of the Jesuits that only an innocent girl could save France at that time.

But at the end of the work, Voltaire abandoned irony and skepticism, with pathos and enthusiasm he showed Jeanne's dedication, her faith in the success of the cause, her ability to lead an entire army and inspire confidence in her soldiers in victory.

He directly blames the king and the Jesuits for the terrible death of the girl at the stake, he angrily denounces her executioners and traitors to the national heroine.

Voltaire - courtier

Voltaire's career as a courtier was rather short and very unsuccessful. In 1745 he was appointed historiographer of France, and in 1746 he was appointed an active member of the French Academy of Sciences.

And at that moment, the philosopher wanted to win the approval of the king and receive permanent income from the treasury, but all his work, known to the government, did not win the approval of the crown.

The death of his beloved Marquise du Chatelet, disappointment in high society, the indifference of the king - all this prompted the philosopher to seek refuge in Prussia, at the court of King Frederick II. Their relationship began as early as 1736, when the young crown prince sent an enthusiastic letter to Voltaire. Now (in 1750) Voltaire left France for Prussia, where he hoped to gain understanding and respect, and also counted on the generosity and benevolence of the philosopher king.

But Voltaire did not stay long at the Prussian court, only three years. During this time, he discovered in his "friend" not only a breadth of views and a sharp mind, but also despotism, swagger and rejection of other people's points of view. Therefore, in 1753 he left Prussia and traveled around Europe for almost a year, until he settled in Switzerland in 1754.

Creation of the "Encyclopedia"

In Switzerland, not far from Geneva, Voltaire bought a small estate and named it "Joy". It was here, together with Denis Diderot and Jean D. Alembert, that the famous "Encyclopedia" was created, which glorified the names of these philosophers throughout the world.

Already in 1755, in the fifth volume of the publication, the articles “Spirit and Soul”, “Eloquence”, “Elegance”, written by Voltaire, were published.

In his article "History", the philosopher doubted many historical events and their correct illumination, especially in that part of it, where various miracles and visions were described.

In the essay “Idols and Idolatry”, he reproached Christians for worshiping idols no less than pagans, only Christians at the same time cover themselves with higher ideas and beautiful words, but they do not offer sacrifices directly, as was the case with the pagans, but secretly under the cover of darkness and ignorance.

In 1757, the article "Geneva" was published, which made a lot of noise and was later recognized as unsuccessful. In this article, Voltaire took up arms against the theorists of the Reformed Church and, in particular, John Calvin.

On the one hand, he sang of the freedom-loving Swiss and their political system, and it sounded like a criticism of French politics. But on the other hand, Voltaire showed Calvin and his followers as people intoxicated with one idea and for the sake of this they were able to initiate another "Bartholomew's Night".

This article had a negative impact not only on the attitude towards Voltaire himself, but also called into question the authority of his friends - philosophers.

Creativity in Ferney

Fearing reprisals from the Swiss clergy, Voltaire decided to protect himself and acquired two small estates on both sides of Lake Geneva, near the border with France.

The Ferney estate became his small state, where he carried out reprisals and courts, likening "enlightened monarchs." By this time, Aviaire's financial situation had improved considerably, and he was able to afford an almost luxurious lifestyle. He received several pensions from those in power from different countries peace. Plus, the inheritance received from his parents, the reprinting of his literary works, and the ability to properly conduct financial transactions - all this by 1776 turned the once poor philosopher into one of the richest people in France.

It was the Ferney estate that became a place of pilgrimage for philosophers from all over the world. Here Voltaire spent almost twenty happy years. All enlightened travelers considered it their duty to visit the philosopher-hermit. It was from here that he conducted extensive correspondence, and with many august persons: the Prussian King Frederick II, the Russian Empress Catherine the Great, the Polish monarch Stanislaw August, King Gustav III of Sweden and King Christian VII of Denmark.

Even at the age of 65, Voltaire wrote and sent hundreds of letters. By order of the Russian government, he wrote The History of the Russian Empire under Peter the Great, published in 1763. His work showed Peter Alekseevich as a great reformer who managed to break with barbarism and ignorance.

It was during the Ferney period that the most famous stories "Candide" and "Innocent" were written, showing the lies and hypocrisy of modern society.

At the same time, Voltaire took up arms against the role of the Catholic Church in political persecution and defended its victims, such prominent figures as Serlin, Calas, Comte de Lally, Chevalier le La Bar. The appeal of the philosopher from a letter to Alamber (1760): “Crush the vermin!” was directed against Catholicism and the absolute power of the Jesuits.

However, another catchphrase of Voltaire is no less famous: "If God did not exist, he would have to be invented." He, like a true son of his time, believed that only religion could restrain the people, and only the help of the church would help the government keep the third estate in check.

Death in Paris

In his declining years, in 1778, the philosopher decided to visit the city of his childhood and youth for the last time. In February he arrived in Paris, where he was greeted with great enthusiasm.

The visit to the capital of France was very eventful: Voltaire attended several meetings of the French Academy of Sciences, saw the premiere performance of his Irene drink, joined the Nine Sisters Masonic lodge, and died three months later.

Realizing before his death that the Catholic Church would try to take revenge on him for all the attacks, he formally confessed and took communion. But the archbishop of France, Christophe de Beaumont, considered that the repentance of the heretic was clearly insufficient, and refused the philosopher a Christian burial.

Relatives of the philosopher took his body to Champagne, where he was buried. Such neglect of the world-famous man, who glorified his homeland, aroused indignation among the general public. In 1791, the body of the philosopher was solemnly brought to Paris, where it was again buried in the Pantheon, which served as a tomb for all famous people France.

Voltaire's main ideas (briefly)

The main ideas of the Enlightenment philosophers were the moral re-education of society, which must rise to the revolution and win its freedom with arms in hand.

Voltaire was an opponent of the existing materialistic school, and adhered to the empirical (experimental) direction in science.

The philosopher defended the natural rights and freedoms of every person: life, liberty, security, property rights and universal equality without classes and estates. At the same time, he understood that people are deceitful and evil by nature, so society must create reasonable laws to harmonize social relations.

Interestingly, while defending equality, Voltaire nevertheless divided society into two large groups: the rich and educated people and the uneducated and poor, who must work for the upper class. At the same time, it is not necessary for the poor and working people to be educated, since their unnecessary education and incorrect reasoning can ruin the entire state system.

Philosophy of Voltaire (briefly)

Any philosophical school should, first of all, answer the question that has been of interest to all enlightened mankind since ancient times. These questions are: Who am I? Why did you come into this world? What is the meaning of human existence?

In his philosophical writings, Voltaire considered the cause of all evils in society catholic church and her absolute power over the world. Judging by church canons, a person lives and dies according to the will of God, and cannot resist divine providence.

It is the church that destroys freedom of conscience and freedom of speech. But Voltaire, as a true son of his time, could not deny the existence of God and the necessity of religion. At the same time, he believed that evidence for the existence of God should be obtained empirically, and not by blind faith.

With all the freedom-loving views, Voltaire was not a supporter of democracy, he stood up for an "enlightened monarchy." He was afraid of democracy and believed that the people needed to be kept in check. At the same time, the philosopher sharply criticized the foundations of feudal society, its laws and class prejudices. All his works are permeated with humanism and tolerance.

VOLTAIRE, FRANCOIS-MARI Arouet de (Voltaire, Franois-Mari Arouet de) (1694-1778), French philosopher, novelist, historian, playwright and poet of the Enlightenment, one of the greatest French writers. Known mainly under the name Voltaire. Born November 21, 1694 in Paris, lost his mother at the age of seven. His father, Francois Arouet, was a notary. The son spent six years at the Jesuit College of Louis the Great in Paris. When he left college in 1711, his practical-minded father placed him in the office of lawyer Allen to study law. However, the young Arue was much more keenly interested in poetry and drama, revolving in a circle of free-thinking aristocrats (the so-called "Temple Society"), united around the Duke of Vandom, head of the Order of the Knights of Malta.
After numerous troubles in life, young Arue, with his characteristic impetuosity and recklessness, began to compose satirical poems that were aimed at the Duke of Orleans. This idea, of course, ended in imprisonment in the Bastille. There he was to spend eleven months, and it is said that, wanting to brighten up the long hours in a prison cell, he laid the foundation for his future illustrious epic poem Henriade (Henriade). His tragedy Oedipus (Oedipe, 1718) was a resounding success on the stage of the Comédie Française, and its twenty-four-year-old author was hailed as a worthy rival of Sophocles, Corneille and Racine. The author, without false modesty, added the aristocratic "de Voltaire" to his signature. Under the name Voltaire, he achieved fame.
At the end of 1725, at the Opera, Voltaire was offended by the offspring of one of the most noble families in France, the Chevalier de Roan-Chabot. Full of irony, Voltaire's answer, as you might guess, was more caustic than tactful. Two days later, another skirmish followed at the Comédie Francaise. Soon Voltaire, who was dining with the Duc de Sully, was called outside, attacked and beaten, with the Chevalier giving instructions while sitting in a carriage nearby. High-born friends of Voltaire did not hesitate to take the side of the aristocrat in this conflict. The government decided to avoid further complications and hid not the Chevalier, but Voltaire, in the Bastille. This happened in mid-April 1726. About two weeks later he was released on the condition that he retire from Paris and live in exile. Voltaire decided to leave for England, where he arrived in May and where he remained until the end of 1728 or the early spring of 1729. He enthusiastically studied various aspects of English life, literature and social thought. He was struck by the liveliness of the actions seen on the stage of Shakespeare's plays.
Returning to France, Voltaire lived for the next twenty years for the most part with his mistress Madame du Chatelet, the "divine Emilia", in her castle of Cyr in the east of the country, near the border of Lorraine. She diligently studied the sciences, especially mathematics. Partly under her influence, Voltaire became interested, in addition to literature, in Newtonian physics. The years in Cyr became a decisive period in Voltaire's long career as a thinker and writer. In 1745 he became a royal historiographer, was elected to the French Academy, in 1746 he became a "cavalier admitted to the royal bedchamber."
In September 1749, Madame du Chatelet died unexpectedly. For several years, driven by jealousy, although, of course, prudence, she dissuaded Voltaire from accepting the invitation of Frederick the Great and settling at the Prussian court. There was no longer any reason to turn down the offer. In July 1750 Voltaire arrived in Potsdam. At first, his close association with the “philosopher king” inspired only enthusiasm. In Potsdam, there was no elaborate ritual and formalities typical of the French court in every detail, and there was no sense of timidity in the face of non-trivial ideas - if they did not go beyond private conversation. But soon Voltaire became burdensome with the duty to correct the French writings of the king in verse and prose. Friedrich was a sharp and despotic man; Voltaire was vain, jealous of Maupertuis, who was placed at the head of the Royal Academy, and, despite the orders of the monarch, he achieved his goals bypassing the established order. A clash with the king was becoming inevitable. In the end, Voltaire felt happy when he managed to escape "from the lion's claws" (1753).
Since he was believed to have fled to Germany three years earlier, Paris was now closed to him. After much hesitation, he settled in Geneva. At one time he spent the winter in neighboring Lausanne, which had its own legislation, then he bought the medieval castle of Thorne and another, more modern one, Ferne; they were close to each other, on both sides of the French border. For about twenty years, from 1758 to 1778, Voltaire, in his words, "reigned" in his little kingdom. He set up watch workshops, pottery, made experiments with the breeding of new breeds of cattle and horses, tested various improvements in agriculture, and conducted extensive correspondence. People came to Fern from all over. But the main thing was his work, denouncing wars and persecutions, standing up for the unjustly persecuted - and all this in order to protect religious and political freedom. Voltaire is one of the founders of the Enlightenment, he is the forerunner of the penitentiary reform carried out during the years of the French Revolution.
In February 1778, Voltaire was persuaded to return to Paris. There, surrounded by universal worship, despite the open dislike of Louis XVI and experiencing a surge of energy, he was carried away by one undertaking after another: he was present at the Comédie Francaise at the presentation of his latest tragedy Irina (Irene), met with B. Franklin, suggested that the Academy prepare all the articles on "A" for the new edition of its Dictionary. Death overtook him on May 30, 1778.
Voltaire's writings amounted to fifty volumes of almost six hundred pages each in the famous edition of Molan, supplemented by two large volumes of Indexes. Eighteen volumes of this edition are occupied by the epistolary heritage - more than ten thousand letters.
Numerous tragedies of Voltaire, although they greatly contributed to his fame in the 18th century, are now little read and in the modern era were hardly staged. Among them, Zaira (Zare, 1732), Alzire (Alzire, 1736), Mohammed (Mahomet, 1741) and Merope (Mrope, 1743) remain the best.
Voltaire's light poems on secular topics have not lost their brilliance, his poetic satires are still capable of hurting, his philosophical poems demonstrate a rare ability to fully express the ideas of the author, nowhere deviating from the strict requirements of poetic form. Among the latter, the most important Epistle to Urania (Eptre Uranie, 1722) is one of the first works to denounce religious orthodoxy; Secular man (Mondain, 1736), joking in tone, but quite serious in thought, justification of the advantages of living in luxury over self-restraint and simplification; Discourse on man (Discours sur l "Homme, 1738–1739); Poem on natural law (Pome sur la Loi naturelle, 1756), which deals with "natural" religion - a popular but dangerous topic at that time; the famous Poem on the death of Lisbon (Pome sur le Dsastre de Lisbonne, 1756) - about philosophical problem evil in the world and the suffering of the victims of the terrible earthquake in Lisbon on November 1, 1755. Guided by prudence and heeding the advice of friends, Voltaire, however, gave the final lines of this poem a moderately optimistic sound.
One of the highest achievements of Voltaire are his works on history: The History of Charles XII, King of Sweden (Histoire de Charles XII, roi de Sude, 1731), the Age of Louis XIV (Sicle de Louis XIV, 1751) and the Experience on the Morals and Spirit of Nations (Essai sur les moeurs et l "esprit des nations, 1756), first called the General History. He contributed to the historical exercising his remarkable gift for clear, engaging storytelling.
One of the early works of Voltaire the philosopher, deserving special attention, - Philosophical letters (Les Lettres philosophiques, 1734). Often it is also called Letters about the English, since it directly reflected the impressions made by the author from his stay in England in 1726-1728. With invariable insight and irony, the author depicts Quakers, Anglicans and Presbyterians, the English system of government, Parliament. He promotes vaccination against smallpox, introduces the philosopher Locke to readers, outlines the main provisions of the Newtonian theory of gravity, characterizes the tragedies of Shakespeare in several sharply written paragraphs, as well as the comedies of W. Wicherley, D. Vanbrugh and W. Congreve. In general, a flattering picture of English life is fraught with criticism of Voltaire's France, which is losing against this background. For this reason, the book, published without the name of the author, was immediately condemned by the French government and subjected to public burning, which only contributed to the popularity of the work and increased its impact on the minds. Voltaire paid tribute to Shakespeare's ability to build stage action and appreciated his plots drawn from English history. However, as a consistent student of Racine, he could not help but be indignant at the fact that Shakespeare neglects the classicist "law of three unities" and mixes elements of tragedy and comedy in his plays. A treatise on religious tolerance (Trait sur la tolrance, 1763), a reaction to the outbreak of religious intolerance in Toulouse, was an attempt to rehabilitate the memory of Jean Calas, a Protestant who fell victim to torture. Philosophical Dictionary (Dictionnaire philosophique, 1764) conveniently, in alphabetical order expounds the author's views on the nature of power, religion, war, and many other ideas characteristic of him. Throughout his long life, Voltaire remained a staunch deist. He genuinely sympathized with religion moral conduct and brotherly love, which does not recognize the power of dogma and persecution for dissent. Therefore, he was attracted to the English Quakers, although much in their everyday life seemed to him an amusing eccentricity. Of all the writings of Voltaire, the most famous philosophical story Candide (Candide, 1759). The fast-paced story describes the vicissitudes of a naive and simple-minded young man named Candide. Candide studied with the philosopher Pangloss (literally, “one word”, “windbag”), who inspired him, following Leibniz, that “everything is for the best in this best possible world.” Little by little, after repeated blows of fate, Candide is filled with doubt about the correctness of this doctrine. He is reunited with his beloved Cunigunde, who, due to the hardships she endured, has become ugly and quarrelsome; he is again next to the philosopher Pangloss, who, although not so confidently, still professes the same view of the world; his small society is made up of several other characters. Together they organize a small commune near Constantinople, in which a practical philosophy triumphs, obliging everyone to "cultivate his garden", doing the necessary work without overzealous clarification of the questions "why" and "for what purpose", without trying to unravel the insoluble speculative mysteries of the metaphysical sense. The whole story seems to be a light-hearted joke, and its irony hides a deadly refutation of fatalism.