Voltaire | |
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_-001.jpg) Portrait c. 1720s, the Musée Carnavalet | |
| Born | François-Marie Arouet 21 November 1694 Paris, France |
| Died | 30 May 1778 (aged 83) Paris, France |
| Resting place | Panthéon, Paris |
| Occupation | Writer, philosopher, historian |
| Education | Collège Louis-le-Grand |
| Genres | |
| Subjects | Religious intolerance, freedom |
| Literary movement | Classicism |
| Years active | From 1715 |
| Notable works | Candide The Maid of Orleans The Age of Louis XIV |
| Partner | Émilie du Châtelet (1733–1749) Marie Louise Mignot (1744–1778) |
Philosophy career | |
| Era | Age of Enlightenment |
| Region | Western philosophy French philosophy |
| School | |
Main interests | Political philosophy, literature, historiography, biblical criticism |
Notable ideas | Philosophy of history,[1] freedom of religion, freedom of speech, separation of church and state |
| Signature | |
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| This article is part of a series on |
| Liberalism in France |
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François-Marie Arouet (French: [fʁɑ̃swa maʁi aʁwɛ]; 21 November 1694 – 30 May 1778), known by his nom de plume M. de Voltaire (/vɒlˈtɛər, voʊl-/,[2][3][4] US also /vɔːl-/;[5][6] French: [vɔltɛːʁ]), was a French Enlightenment writer, philosopher (philosophe), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit and his criticism of Christianity (especially of the Roman Catholic Church) and of slavery, Voltaire was an advocate of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and separation of church and state.
Voltaire was a versatile and prolific writer, producing works in almost every literary form, including plays, poems, novels, essays, histories, and even scientific expositions. He wrote more than 20,000 letters and 2,000 books and pamphlets.[7] Voltaire was one of the first authors to become renowned and commercially successful internationally. He was an outspoken advocate of civil liberties and was at constant risk from the strict censorship laws of the Catholic French monarchy. His polemics witheringly satirized intolerance and religious dogma, as well as the French institutions of his day. His best-known work and magnum opus, Candide, is a novella that comments on, criticizes, and ridicules many events, thinkers and philosophies of his time, most notably Gottfried Leibniz and his belief that our world is of necessity the "best of all possible worlds".[8][9]
- ^ Voltaire, La philosophie de l'histoire, Changuion, 1765.
- ^ "Voltaire". Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.
- ^ "Voltaire". Collins English Dictionary. HarperCollins. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
- ^ "Voltaire". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 22 March 2020.
- ^ "Voltaire". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (5th ed.). HarperCollins. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
- ^ "Voltaire". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
- ^ "Voltaire Biography |". Biography Online.
- ^ "Pangloss | fictional character | Britannica". Britannica. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
- ^ owen.pham (20 August 2021). "The Voltaire–Rousseau Debate and Their Views on Evil". Wondrium Daily. Archived from the original on 27 June 2023. Retrieved 27 June 2023.