Written Assignment Unit 7: The Philosophy of Voltaire

Voltaire was a French philosopher and writer who had interests in literature, theatre, and

social life. He lived between 1694 and 1778 (Shank, 2009). His was full of scandals and

struggles, having been exiled and jailed several times. I am particularly interested in this

philosopher because of his views on the church. Religion is one of my interests in philosophy,

and I always want to explore the views of different philosophers concerning religion. This paper

discusses the philosophy of Voltaire, highlighting his views on freedom of speech, religious

tolerance, separation of church and state, respect for human rights, and others. In this paper, I

will be able to make a comparison between Voltaire’s views with my views on the same topics.

Voltaire’s viewpoints can be well understood by first studying about his life. Most of his

viewpoints can be linked to his life experiences right from children. To start with, Voltaire’s

mother passed on when he was around 7 years old (Shank, 2009). He was not on good terms with

his father and therefore, his life was mostly influenced by his godfather, who was a freethinker.

In the center of freethinking society, Voltaire was able to shape his philosophy as a freethinker,

which I believe informed his advocacy of freedom of speech and expression. He believed that

individuals should be allowed to express their thoughts without fear. One of his famous quotes is

"I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it"

(Drozd, 2017).

Voltaire was a churchgoer. According to Gottmann (2011), Voltaire was committed to

going to the Temple during his youth. In the Temple, Voltaire could listen to summons and

internalize the messages. He became skeptical about the teachings of the Temple, before holding

the belief that organized religions are a scam. By going to the Temple, he gathered the necessary

information he needed to back up his viewpoints on religion and God. Particularly, Voltaire did
not believe in organized religion and he believed that God created the universe, but does not

involve Himself in its affairs.

Voltaire lived during times of military disasters and religious persecution. He was able to

witness disheartening events during his time, which influenced some of his philosophical views.

According to his views, the church and state should be separated and no one should involve itself

in the affairs of the other. In his passion to champion religious tolerance and reforms in the

judicial systems, he involved himself in the famous Calas affair (Quastana, 2023). In this case,

Calas was accused of killing his son to prevent his conversion to the Roman Catholic Church.

Voltaire was angered by the decision of the court where Calas was convicted of murder and

struggled to death. He joined his family to rally for a petition.

I can describe Voltaire as a man with a heart of steel. Despite the many disappointments

which included being put in prison, exiled, and the many unsuccessful theatres, he still did not

give up. One of Voltaire’s exiles, the exile to England, did him more good than harm. While in

exile, he was able to learn to read, write, and speak English. This enabled him to interact with

great England scholars in literature including Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift.

I believe that Voltaire did his best in championing for what he believed in, during a very

difficult time. I would like to present my thoughts on the topics that were addressed by Voltaire.

First, freedom of speech and expression. Voltaire believed that people should be free to say what

they want to say concerning an issue. My thought about this is that speech should be closely

monitored and every person should be accountable for what they say. Particularly, in the digital

world, anything you say will reach so many people in such a short time. Depending on the

content of the speech, it can act to destroy or build the society, especially in a volatile political

atmosphere like the one we are in.

 Other topics where my views contradict this philosopher are the role of religion in society

and the views about God. Voltaire was against organized religion but my views are that

organized religions shape our society by instilling good morals and ethics in the people. In

addition, while Voltaire believed that God created the world and is no longer interested in its

affairs, I believe that God watches all our moves and is the one who holds our destiny.

Voltaire believed in religious tolerance. He believed that religious persecution needed to

end so that people could live together in harmony. I second Voltaire on this, that religions should

not rise against each other. I believe that in the current society, there are more diverse religions

than there were during Voltaire’s time. Any religious intolerance during this time can be worse

than history has ever recorded. To avoid disasters from happening, it is good for the religions to

be tolerant of each other.

In conclusion, Voltaire is one of the greatest French philosophers, and some of his great

works in literature including the Candide are still read to date. Voltaire believed in religious

tolerance, respect for human rights, separation of church and state, and freedom of speech and

expression. While I disagree with his thoughts on various topics including freedom of speech and

expression and the role of the church, I agree with him on various topics, for example, religious

tolerance and humanitarianism.

 References

Drozd, E. (2017). TRADITIONS OF HUMANISTIC ETHICS: FROM VOLTAIRE TO

FROMM. Modern Science Moderní věda, 55.

Gottmann, F. (2011). The eighteenth-century luxury debate: the case of Voltaire (Doctoral

dissertation, Oxford University, UK).

Quastana, F. (2023). Voltaire. In Handbook of the History of the Philosophy of Law and Social

Philosophy: Volume 1: From Plato to Rousseau (pp. 381-387). Cham: Springer

International Publishing.

Shank, J. B. (2009). Voltaire.