The Thought and Influence of Voltaire Essay -- Writer Literature Paper

The Thought and Influence of VoltaireIThe legacy of Franois Marie Arouet, or Voltaire is non only a vast collection of writings, but as well as a world that has been radically and directly affected by these whole caboodle and the activities of their author. While Voltaire did not create many of the ideas he professed, his success at disseminating these is unparalleled. He summed up with the most panache of anyone of his day the central issues of the Enlightenment, and rallied with the superlative fervour to see his beliefs tangibly realised.This paper will focus on Voltaires stances on vital issues, their weight versus the ideas and practices against which they are reactions, and their influence on both 18th century Europe and the modern West.II recordVoltaires interpretation of history, its value, and the best methods for dealing with it, reveal clearly that his get-go love is literature. The important qualities of an historical work were, for him, character development, drama , and setting.11 But whereas antecedent historians may have been loath to give any texture to their descriptions of onetime(prenominal) civilisations, instead preferring value-laden generalisations (Golden Ages and Dark Ages) and whereas it was rare for one to make the attempt to elapse their setting and beliefs for the sake of better understanding their subjects,22 Voltaire emphasised that it was vital not just to look at significant events, but also to wipe out oneself in the quotidian details of a society, thus understanding the character of the people behind the events.33 This deliberate identification with other cultures is characteristic of the relativism that the philosophes proficient and that influenced their ethical theories. Drama aside, V... ...rsity Press, 1959) pp.288-291.1111 Gay. p.129.1212 Lauer. p.75.1313 Voltaire. portable Voltaire. p.85.1414 Wade. p.785.1515 Voltaire. Portable Voltaire. p.142.1616 Voltaire. Portable Voltaire. p.144.1717 Wade. p.786.1818 Vol taire. Lettres Philosophiques. (Paris Garnier Frres, 1964) p.34.1919 Wade. p.785.2020 Voltaire. Portable Voltaire. p.212.2121 Voltaire. Portable Voltaire. pp.134-136.2222 Voltaire. Portable Voltaire. pp.152-155.2323 Gay. p.289.2424 Wade. p.786.2525 Gustave Lanson. The Voltairian Reformation of France in Voltaire. ed. William F. Bottiglia. (Englewood Cliffs Prentice-Hall, 1968) p.139.2626 Norman L. Torrey. Duplicity and prophylactic Lying in Voltaire. pp.19-30.2727 David D. Bien. The Calas Affair. (Princeton Princeton University Press, 1960) p.25-26.2828 Gay. pp.278-281.