REFORMATIONpolitical thought, the education of these
virtues in society by the church is essential to a just,
peaceful country.
The revival of social concern for virtue in the latter
20th century (for example, by William BENNETT) draws
from both classical and Christian notions of virtue and
sees their restoration as necessary for overcoming
social and personal problems.
Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet) (1694–1778)
French playwright, novelist, and philosopher
Voltaire was born in Paris into a prosperous middle-
class family. He attended the Jesuit college of Louis le
Grand, where he received an excellent classical educa-
tion. Voltaire began to study law but soon abandoned
it in favor of a literary career. Much of Voltaire’s writ-
ings were satirical critiques of religion and injustice,
and he frequently offended the French authorities,
with the result that he was imprisoned and forced into
exile several times during his life. After a brief period
in prison following the publication of his epic poem Le
Henriade(1723), Voltaire went to England in 1726.
There, he spent nearly three years studying English lit-
erature, science, politics, and philosophy, especially
the works of John LOCKE. Locke’s influence on the
development of Voltaire’s philosophy was manifested
in Voltaire’s Letters Concerning the English Nation,pub-
lished in 1733. In this book, Voltaire praised the cul-
tural, economic, and political achievements of
England, writing in favor of religious TOLERATION, the
fair distribution of taxes, and equal legal status for
noble and merchants. Viewed in France as an attack on
the power of the church, the privileges of the aristoc-
racy, and the despotism of the king, the Letterswere
condemned, and Voltaire was ordered arrested. He fled
Paris and spent the next 15 years living with Mme. du
Châtelet in a château at Cirey in Lorraine. He then
wrote a number of tragedies for the stage and contin-
ued his study of science, publishing Éléments de la
philosophie de Newtonin 1738. In recognition of his
outstanding contributions to scholarship, Voltaire was
elected to the French Academy in 1746.
In addition to his support of political LIBERALISM
and religious toleration, Voltaire addressed the moral
problem of the existence of evil, most famously in his
masterpiece Candide (1759). In this novel, Voltaire
uses the character of Candide, a young disciple of Doc-
tor Pangloss, to criticize the philosophical optimism of
G. W. Leibniz, who had declared this to be the “best of
all possible worlds.” According to Leibniz, because
this is the best possible world the presence of evil in it
must be necessary, and any world with less evil than
this one would actually be worse overall. In the novel,
Candide saw and suffered such adversity and misfor-
tune that he was unable to believe that this was the
best of all possible worlds. Suggesting that Leibniz’s
idealism can offer little consolation to the suffering
individual, Voltaire believed instead that positive
action must be taken to limit the political and religious
abuses found in society.
Voltaire argued that moral principles cannot be
derived from abstract theological premises and that
they have meaning only in relation to the satisfaction
of social INTERESTS. He held that human beings are nat-
urally endowed with a sense of JUSTICEand a sentiment
of benevolence, which assist us in promoting the well-
being of society against a variety of moral evils. As an
example of Voltaire’s own sense of justice, he worked
diligently for the reform of the judicial system and
condemned the courts and judges involved in several
cases that resulted in the deaths of innocents, most
notably that of the Protestant Jean Calas. He proposed
that criminal laws be standardized and written, that
judicial procedures be public, that torture be abol-
ished, and that the accused be provided legal counsel
and be judged by a jury of his or her peers. Voltaire’s
HUMANISMled him to suggest other sweeping social
reforms, concerned mostly with the freedoms provided
by liberal political and economic institutions, includ-
ing the rights to own PROPERTY, to engage in commerce,
and to express and publish one’s opinions. Voltaire also
became an advocate of the democratic changes that
occurred in America, although he regarded the steady,
peaceful progress of civilization to be preferable to
sudden, violent revolutions.Further Reading
Gay, P. Voltaire’s Politics: The Poet as Realist.New Haven, Conn.:
Yale University Press, 1988.Voltaire 303