Voltaire

[[File:Atelier de Nicolas de Largillière, portrait de Voltaire, détail (musée Carnavalet) -002.jpg|thumb|165px|Another helping of grilled butt cheek?<ref>[http://candide.nypl.org/text/chapter-12 "And at the end of a few days they resolved also to devour the women."]</ref> Why, yes, I'd love some.]]{{philosophy|1}}
{{cquote|I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to misattribute it to Voltaire.|||Voltaire<ref>[http://lesswrong.com/lw/26y/rationality_quotes_may_2010/1yi3 sketerpot on LessWrong] about Evelyn Beatrice Hall</ref>}}

'''François-Marie Arouet''' {{lived|1694|1778}}, better known by his [[Pseudonym|"trade" name]] '''Voltaire''', was a poet, playwright, novelist, [[historian]], and [[philosopher]] who embodied the [[Enlightenment]] in eighteenth-century [[monarchy|absolutist]] [[France]].  Voltaire was an Anglophile, and was instrumental in bringing the works of [[Isaac Newton|Newton]] and [[John Locke|Locke]] from [[England]] to French intellectual circles. He is widely considered one of the greatest and most gifted Enlightenment writers.<ref>http://www.biography.com/people/voltaire-9520178#early-life</ref>

==Views and ideas==
{{cquote|Though I dislike to differ with such a great man, Voltaire was simply ludicrous when he said that if God did not exist it would be necessary to invent him. The human invention of God [[Antitheism|is the problem to begin with]].|||[[Christopher Hitchens]], ''[[God_Is_Not_Great|God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything]]''<ref>''God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything'' by Christopher Hitchens (May 2007) Hatchette Book Group ISBN 978-0-446-57980-3</ref>{{rp|96}}}}
As self-proclaimed [[deism|deist]], Voltaire loathed organized [[religion]] and intolerance between [[Christian]] [[sect]]s. Strong [[clergy|anti-clericalism]] pervades most of Voltaire's writings. He believed that all religions attempt to teach [[morality]] and that all are based on just precepts&nbsp;— it is only the particulars of religious [[belief]]s that are "absurd." As a deist, he was a supporter of the "clockmaker" argument for the existence of [[God]] (a [[creationist]] [[argument from design]]). Voltaire despised [[superstition]] and optimism, themes that surface in the novel ''Candide'', his most widely-known work. Voltaire subscribed to the [[revolution]]ary Enlightenment notion that "custom is a greater decider of difference than nature," a principle that still holds for today's [[anthropology|anthropologists]] and all who practice [[multiculturalism]].  

Voltaire was also something of a [[popular science]] writer. For example, he published a condensed version of [[Isaac Newton]]'s ''Principia'', ''Elements of the Philosophy of Newton'', to teach the French people about Newton's work on [[physics]] as well as counteract the influence of [[Cartesian]] philosophy, which he felt was clinging on to illusions rather than fully committing to [[skepticism]].<Ref>[https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/voltaire/ Voltaire] (First published Mon Aug 31, 2009; substantive revision Fri May 29, 2020) ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy''</ref>

That said, no man is perfect. Voltaire was also a virulent [[Antisemitism|anti-Semite]],<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/1990/09/30/books/l-voltaire-and-the-jews-590990.html The New York Times: Voltaire and the Jews] Arthur Hertzberg, September 30, 1990</ref> referring to the [[Judaism|Jewish people]] as "calculating animals," "[[plagiarism|plagiarists]] in everything," and "the biggest tramps who have ever spoiled the face of the earth."<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=w39m4aohL9gC&pg=PA90&lpg=PA90&dq=voltaire+anti-semitism&source=bl&ots=vwI01hq9Zd&sig=YoS58KnqLyPBjbUHWWLmgak9IlA&hl=en&ei=BXkoTf6CD8T7lwePpbzKAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBcQ6AEwADgK#v=onepage&q&f=false The History of Anti-Semitism: From Voltaire to Wagner] pg. 89</ref>  He was also a [[Eurocentrism|Eurocentric]] [[racist]], a critic of Islam ([[fundies|some people]] take that to be [[Islamophobia]]) and derided [[Africa]]ns as "[[Racialism|less intelligent than apes]]." In ''A Pocket Philosophical Dictionary'' he denounced the [[Egypt]]ians as being "contemptible" and argued that their characters were fundamentally flawed simply because he disagreed with Egyptian governmental policy regarding [[slavery]].

Despite this, he ''does'' sympathetically portray a mutilated black slave in ''Candide'', who laments his treatment and says that if, as the priests taught, all people descend from [[Adam]], that means they're cousins, and "no one could treat their relatives more horribly." This wasn't so contradictory as it might seem, as [[abolition]]ists weren't immune from the racial prejudices of their time. While a handful were genuine egalitarians, most (including [[Abraham Lincoln]]) still believed that black people were inferior, though opposing their enslavement. Some, most notably within the {{wpl|Free Soil Party|Free Soil movement|,}} also opposed slavery less on moral and humanitarian grounds than on pragmatic, working-class economic ones, seeing slavery as putting downward pressure on the wages of free white farmers and workers.

==Famous quotes==
{{Ctransquote|Man is free at the moment he wishes to be.|French|L'homme est libre au moment qu'il veut l'être.|||''Brutus'', act II, scene I (1730)}}
{{Ctransquote|Love truth, but pardon error|French|Aime la vérité, mais pardonne à l'erreur.|||"Deuxième discours: de la liberté", ''Sept Discours en Vers sur l'Homme'' (1738)}}
{{Ctransquote|To hold a pen is to be at war.|||French|Qui plume a, guerre a.|||Letter to Jeanne-Grâce Bosc du Bouchet, comtesse d'Argental (4 October 1748)}}
{{Ctransquote|It is dangerous to be right in matters where established authorities are wrong.|French|Il est dangereux d'avoir raison dans des choses où des hommes accrédités ont tort.|||''Le Siècle de Louis XIV'' (1752)}}
{{Ctransquote|A witty saying [[Style over substance|proves nothing]].|French|Un bon mot ne prouve rien.|||''Le dîner du comte de Boulainvilliers'' (1767)}}
{{Ctransquote|If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.|French|Si Dieu n'existait pas, il faudrait l'inventer.|||''Épître à l'Auteur du Livre des Trois Imposteurs'' (10 November 1770)}}
{{Ctransquote|Ours [<nowiki></nowiki>[[Christianity]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> is assuredly the most ridiculous, the most absurd and the most bloody religion which has ever infected this world.|French|La nôtre [religion] est sans contredit la plus ridicule, la plus absurde, et la plus sanguinaire qui ait jamais infecté le monde.|||''Letters of Voltaire and Frederick the Great'', translated by  Richard Aldington (1927){{efn|And he was good friends with [[Benjamin Franklin]]. Let's see what the "[[The United States as a Christian nation|America is a Christian nation]]" crowd thinks about that.}}}}
{{Ctransquote|This body which called itself and which still calls itself the [[Holy Roman Empire]] was in no way [[holy]], nor [[Roman]], nor an [[empire]].|French|Ce corps qui s'appelait et qui s'appelle encore le saint empire romain n'était en aucune manière ni saint, ni romain, ni empire.|||French|''Essai sur l'histoire générale et sur les mœurs et l'esprit des nations'' (1756)}}

===Famous non-quotes===
{{cquote|To determine the true rulers of any society, all you must do is ask yourself this question: Who is it that I am not permitted to criticize?|||Kevin Alfred Strom, "All America Must Know the Terror That is Upon Us" (1993)<ref name='WikiQuote1'/><ref name='WikiQuote2'/><ref name='Guardian'/>}}
A paraphrased version of this statement ("To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize") has been widely misattributed to Voltaire. The actual quote is from [[neo-Nazi]] and [[Holocaust denier]] [[Kevin Alfred Strom]].<ref name='WikiQuote1'>[https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Voltaire#Misattributed Voltaire]. Wikiquote.</ref><ref name='WikiQuote2'>[https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/List_of_misquotations  List of misquotations]. Wikiquote.</ref><ref name='Guardian'>Hunt, Elle. [https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/nov/27/cory-bernardi-mistakenly-quotes-voltaire-on-twitter-with-supposed-neo-nazis-line Cory Bernardi mistakenly 'quotes' Voltaire on Twitter with neo-Nazi's line]. ''The Guardian''. November 27, 2015.</ref>

A thorough search of his writings has never turned up his saying that while he disagrees with someone, Voltaire defends his right to say it. The quote was falsely attributed to him due to the fact that its creator, {{wpl|Evelyn Beatrice Hall||,}} was a woman. Hall wrote it as part of a biography on him, and few to this day grant her credit as its creator.

{{Ctransquote|Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.|French|‘Ceux qui peuvent vous faire croire à des absurdités peuvent vous faire commettre des atrocités.}}

This fake quote appears more often in English than in the original French (a hint as to its fakeness). It does not appear in any of Voltaire's writings. Norman Torrey, a Voltaire scholar, wrote sentence that expresses a similar sentiment, and may be the source of the later fake quote.<ref>[https://voltairefoundation.wordpress.com/2021/02/16/voltaire-on-capitol-hill-anyone-who-can-make-you-believe-absurdities-can-make-you-commit-atrocities/ Voltaire on Capitol Hill: ‘Anyone who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities’] (16 February 2021) ''Voltaire Foundation''.</ref>

There is a claim that on his [[Deathbed conversion|deathbed]], a priest called on him to renounce the [[devil]] but he said "This is no time to be making new enemies". This appears to have originated in a joke about a dying Irishman that was first published 78 years after his death.<ref>[https://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/08/13/no-enemies/ Deathbed Remark: This Is No Time To Be Making New Enemies] (13 August 2013) ''Quote Investigator''.</ref>

==See also==
*[[Just world hypothesis]]
*[[Age of Enlightenment]]

==External links==
*Works of Voltaire in [[wikisource:fr:Voltaire|French]] and [[wikisource:en:Author:Voltaire|English]] on Wikisource

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

[[Category:Antisemites]]
[[Category:Authors]]
[[Category:Classical liberalism]]
[[Category:Deists]]
[[Category:Frequently misquoted people]]
[[Category:Islamophobes]]
[[Category:Liberals]]
[[Category:Philosophers]]
[[Category:Racists]]

Categories: Antisemites, Authors, Classical liberalism, Deists, Frequently misquoted people, Islamophobes, Liberals, Philosophers, Racists