Download Voltaire Voltaire (real name François-Marie Arouet) (1694

Voltaire
Voltaire (real name François-Marie Arouet) (1694 - 1778) was a French philosopher and writer of the
Age of Enlightenment. His intelligence, wit and style made him one of France's greatest writers and
philosophers, despite the controversy he attracted.
He was an outspoken supporter of social reform (including the defense of civil liberties, freedom of
religion and free trade), despite the strict censorship laws and harsh penalties of the period, and made use of his
satirical works to criticize Catholic dogma and the French institutions of his day. Along with John Locke,
Thomas Hobbes and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, his works and ideas influenced important thinkers of both the
American and French Revolutions.
Voltaire was a prolific writer, and produced works in almost every literary form (plays, poetry, novels,
essays, historical and scientific works, over 21,000 letters and over two thousand books and pamphlets). Many
of his prose works and romances were written as polemics, and were often preceded by his caustic yet
conversational prefaces. "Candide" (1759), one of the best known and most successful, for example, attacked
the philosophy of Gottfried Leibniz and his religious and philosophical optimism in a masterpiece of satire and
irony. However, Voltaire also rejected Blaise Pascal's pessimistic philosophy of man's depravity, and tried to
steer a middle course in which man was able to find moral virtue through reason.
Voltaire's largest philosophical work was the "Dictionnaire philosophique" ("Philosophical Dictionary"),
published in 1764 and comprising articles contributed by him to the "Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des
sciences, des arts et des métiers" ("Encyclopedia, or a systematic dictionary of the sciences, arts and crafts")
(1751 - 1772) and several minor pieces. It directed criticisms at French political institutions, Voltaire's personal
enemies, the Bible and the Roman Catholic Church.
He is remembered and honoured in France as a courageous polemicist who indefatigably fought for civil
rights (the right to a fair trial, freedom of speech and freedom of religion) and who denounced the hypocrisies
and injustices of the Ancien Régime, which involved an unfair balance of power and taxes between the First
Estate (the clergy), the Second Estate (the nobles), and the Third Estate (the commoners and middle class, who
were burdened with most of the taxes). Voltaire saw the French bourgeoisie as too small and ineffective, the
aristocracy as parasitic and corrupt, the commoners as ignorant and superstitious, and the church as a static
force useful only to provide backing for revolutionaries.
Montesquieu
Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (January 18, 1689 – February 10,
1755), more commonly known as Montesquieu, was a French political thinker and jurist, who lived during the
Enlightenment and made significant contributions to modern political sociology and the philosophy of history.
His Lettres Persanes (“Persian Letters”), published in 1721 just after the end of the reign of Louis XIV, was a
satirical portrayal of Parisian civilization as seen through the eyes of two Persian travelers.
The Spirit of the Laws
Montesquieu wrote The Spirit of the Laws as an explanation of human laws and social institutions. He
believed that laws and social systems must be understood as a whole, and in the context of a variety of factors
which affect them.
Understanding the reason for the laws we have was important in itself, but also served the practical
purpose of discouraging misguided attempts at reform. Montesquieu was not a utopian, either by temperament
or conviction. He believed that a stable, non-despotic government that left its law-abiding citizens more or less
free to live their lives should not be tampered with. An understanding of our laws would clarify the aspects
which were in need of reform, and how these reforms might be accomplished. Montesquieu believed that the
laws of many countries could be made be more liberal and humane, and that they could be applied less
arbitrarily and with less scope for the unpredictable and oppressive use of state power. Reforms such as the
abolition of religious persecution and slavery, and the encouragement of commerce would generally strengthen
monarchical governments by enhancing the freedom and dignity of citizens. Lawmakers who understood the
relations between laws, and physical conditions and the principles of government in their countries would be
able to carry out such reforms without undermining the governments they sought to improve.
Forms of Government
Montesquieu identified three types of governments: republican governments, which can take either
democratic or aristocratic forms; monarchies; and despotisms. Each form of government has a principle, a set of
"human passions which set it in motion" (SL 3.1); and each can be corrupted if its principle is undermined or
destroyed.
In a democracy, the people are sovereign and must have the power of choosing their ministers and
senators for themselves. The principle of democracy is political virtue, by which Montesquieu means "the love
of the laws and of our country," including its democratic constitution. In an aristocracy, one part of the people
governs the rest, and the principle is moderation, which leads those who govern to restrain themselves. In a
monarchy, one person governs "by fixed and established laws," the principle of monarchical government is
honor. In despotic states "a single person directs everything by his own will and caprice," and the principle of
despotism is fear.