The main idea of ​​Voltaire and his philosophical and political views. Voltaire's philosophy Voltaire's attitude to the church

Two astrologers told Voltaire that he would live to be 33 years old. But the great thinker managed to deceive death itself, he miraculously survived due to a failed duel with a certain nobleman from the de Rogan family. The biography of the French philosopher is full of both ups and downs, but, nevertheless, his name has become immortal for centuries.

Voltaire, who left for England as a writer and returned as a sage, made an undeniable contribution to a special form of knowledge of the world, his name is on a par with and. The writer, in whose veins there was not a drop of noble blood, was favored by the great rulers - the Russian Empress, King of Prussia Friedrich "Old Fritz" II and the owner of the Swiss crown Gustave III.

The thinker left stories, poems, tragedies to posterity, and his books Candide, or Optimism and Zadig, or Fate dispersed into quotations and winged expressions.

Childhood and youth

Francois-Marie Arouet (the name of the philosopher at birth) was born on November 21, 1694 in the city of love - Paris. The baby was so frail and weak that immediately after birth, the parents sent for a priest. Unfortunately, Marie Marguerite Domar, Voltaire's mother, died when the boy was seven years old. Therefore, the future ruler of the thoughts of Western Europe grew up and was brought up with his father, who was in the bureaucratic service.

Not to say that the relationship between little Francois and his parent was friendly, so it is not surprising that already in adulthood, Arue declared himself the illegitimate offspring of the Chevalier de Rochebrune, a poor poet and musketeer. Francois Arouet Sr. gave his child to the Jesuit College, which is now called the Lyceum of Louis the Great.

In this college, Voltaire studied “Latin and all sorts of nonsense,” because the young man, although he received a serious literary training, hated for the rest of his life the fanaticism of the local Jesuit fathers, who put religious dogma above human life.

Voltaire's father wanted his son to follow in his footsteps and become a notary, so Francois was quickly attached to a law office. Soon the young man realized that legal science, favored by the ancient Greek goddess Themis, was not his path. Therefore, in order to dilute the green melancholy with bright colors, Voltaire took up the inkwell and pen not for the census of documents, but for composing satirical stories.

Literature

When Voltaire was 18 years old, he composed his first play and even then he had no doubt that he would definitely leave a mark on history as a writer. Two years later, Francois-Marie Arouet has already managed to win in Parisian salons and sophisticated ladies and gentlemen the glory of the king of ridicule. Therefore, some literary figures and dignitaries were afraid to find Voltaire's publication, exposing them to society in a bad light.

But in 1717, François-Marie Arouet paid the price for his witty satires. The fact is that a talented young man ridiculed the regent of the French kingdom under the minor king - Philip II of Orleans. But the ruler did not treat Voltaire's poems with due humor, so the writer was sent to the Bastille for a year.

But in the place of deprivation of liberty, Voltaire did not lose his creative fervor, but, on the contrary, began to intensively engage in literature. Once at large, Voltaire received recognition and fame, because his tragedy Oedipus, written in 1718, took place on the stage of the Comedy Française theater.

The young man began to be compared with eminent French playwrights, so Voltaire, who believed in his literary talent, composed one work after another, and these were not only philosophical tragedies, but also novels, as well as pamphlets. The writer relied on historical images, so theatergoers could see actors dressed as Brutus or Mohammed on stage.

In total, there are 28 works in the track record of Francois-Marie Arouet that can be attributed to classical tragedy. Voltaire also cultivated aristocratic genres of poetry, messages, gallant lyrics and odes often came out from under his pen. But it is worth saying that the writer was not afraid to experiment and mix seemingly incompatible things (tragic and comical) in one bottle.

He was not afraid to dilute rational coldness with notes of sentimental sensitivity, and exotic characters often appeared in his ancient works: Chinese, Iranian-speaking Scythians and coats of arms professing Zoroastrianism.

As for poetry, Voltaire's classic epic, the Henriade, was published in 1728. In this work, the great Frenchman condemned the despot kings for their fierce worship of God, using not fictional images, but real prototypes. Further, around 1730, Voltaire is working on the seminal satirical parody poem The Virgin of Orleans. But the book itself was first published only in 1762, before that anonymous editions were published.

Voltaire's Virgin of Orleans, written in twelve-syllable syllabics, plunges the reader into the history of a real-life personality, the notorious national heroine of France. But the work of the writer is by no means a biography of the commander of the troops, but a complete irony on the structure of French society and the church.

It is worth noting that he read this manuscript in his youth, the Russian poet even tried to imitate Voltaire in his poem "Ruslan and Lyudmila" (but, having matured, Pushkin addressed a very critical work to the "French mentor").

Among other things, Francois-Marie Arouet distinguished himself with philosophical prose, which gained unprecedented popularity among his contemporaries. The master of the pen not only immersed the book holder in adventure stories, but also made him think about the futility of being, the majesty of man, as well as the meaninglessness of pure optimism and the absurdity of ideal pessimism.

The work "Innocent", published in 1767, tells about the misadventures of an adherent of the "theory of natural law". This manuscript is a mixture of lyrical elements, a novel-education and a philosophical story.

The plot revolves around a typical character - a noble savage, a kind of Robinson Crusoe of the Enlightenment, who illustrates the innate morality of man before his contact with civilization. But it is also worth paying attention to Voltaire's short story "Candide, or Optimism" (1759), which instantly became a world bestseller.

The composition was gathering dust for a long time behind a hopeless curtain, as the work was banned due to obscenity. It is interesting that the writer of "Candide" himself considered this novel to be stupid and even refused to acknowledge his authorship. "Candide, or Optimism" is somewhat reminiscent of a typical picaresque novel - a genre that has developed in Spain. As a rule, the main character of such a work is an adventurer who causes sympathy.

But Voltaire's most quoted book is full of absurdity and angry sarcasm: all the adventures of the heroes are invented in order to ridicule society, government and church. In particular, the Saxon philosopher, who propagated the doctrine described in Theodicy, or Justification of God, fell under disgrace.

The Roman Catholic Church blacklisted this book, but this did not stop Candida from gaining admirers in the person of Alexander Pushkin, Gustave Flaubert, and the American composer Leonard Bernstein.

Philosophy

It so happened that Voltaire again returned to the cold walls of the Bastille. In 1725–1726, a conflict broke out between the writer and the Chevalier de Rogan: the provocateur allowed himself to publicly ridicule Francois-Marie Arouet, who, under the pseudonym Voltaire, allegedly tried to hide his non-noble origin. Since the author of the tragedies will not go into his pocket for a word, he allowed the offender to declare:

"Sir, glory awaits my name, and oblivion awaits yours!"

For these bold words, the Frenchman literally paid the price - he was beaten by de Rogan's lackey. Thus, the writer felt from his own experience what bias is, became an ardent defender of justice and social reforms. Having left the exclusion zone, Voltaire, unnecessary in his homeland, was expelled to England by order of the king.

It is noteworthy that the state structure of the United Kingdom, which was fundamentally different from the conservative monarchical France, struck him to the tips of his fingers. It was also useful to get acquainted with English thinkers, who unanimously asserted that a person can turn to God without resorting to the help of the church.

The French thinker outlined his impressions of the journey through the island state in the treatise “Philosophical Letters”, promoting teachings in it and denying materialistic philosophy. The main ideas of the Philosophical Letters were equality, respect for property, security and freedom. Voltaire also hesitated on the issue of the immortality of the soul, he did not deny, but did not affirm the fact that there is life after death.

But in the question of the freedom of the human will, Voltaire moved from indeterminism to determinism. Louis XV, having learned about the treatise, ordered Voltaire's work to be burned, and the author of the non-ceremonial work to be sent to the Bastille. To avoid a third imprisonment in a cell, Francois-Marie Arouet went to Champagne, to his beloved.

Voltaire, a supporter of inequality and a zealous opponent of absolutism, criticized the organization of the church to smithereens, but he did not support atheism. The Frenchman was a deist, that is, he recognized the existence of the Creator, but denied religious dogmatism and supernatural phenomena. But in the 1960s and 1970s Voltaire was overcome by skeptical thoughts. When contemporaries asked the educator if there was a "higher authority", he replied:

“There is no God, but my footman and wife should not know this, since I do not want my footman to stab me, and my wife to go out of obedience.”

Although Voltaire, contrary to the wishes of his father, did not become a lawyer, in the future the philosopher was also engaged in human rights activities. In 1762, the author of Candide participated in a petition to overturn the death sentence of the merchant Jean Calas, who was the victim of a biased trial because of a different confession. Calas personified Christian xenophobia in France: he was a Protestant, while others professed Catholicism.

The reason why Jean was executed on the wheel in 1762 was the suicide of his son. At that time, a person who committed suicide with his own hands was considered a criminal, because of which his body was publicly dragged on ropes and hung in the square. Therefore, the Calas family presented the offspring's suicide as a murder, and the court considered that Jean killed the young man because he had converted to Catholicism. Thanks to Voltaire, Jean Calas was rehabilitated three years later.

Personal life

In his free time from writing treatises and philosophical thoughts, Voltaire played chess. For 17 years, the Frenchman's rival was the Jesuit father Adam, who lived in the house of Francois-Marie Arouet.

Beloved, as well as the muse and inspiration of Voltaire was the Marquise du Chatelet, who passionately loved mathematics and physics. This young lady even happened to translate a fundamental work in 1745.

Emily was a married woman, but believed that all duties to a man should be fulfilled only after the birth of children. Therefore, the young lady, without transgressing the boundaries of decency, plunged into fleeting romances with mathematicians and philosophers.

The beauty met Voltaire in 1733, and in 1734 she provided asylum from re-conclusion in the Bastille - a dilapidated castle of her husband, in which the philosopher spent 15 years of his life, returning there from numerous trips.

Du Châtelet instilled in Voltaire a love for equations, the laws of physics and mathematical formulas, so lovers often solved complex problems. In the autumn of 1749, Emily died after giving birth to a child, and Voltaire, who had lost the love of his life, fell into depression.

By the way, few people know that in fact Voltaire was a millionaire. Even in his youth, the philosopher met bankers who taught Francois how to invest capital. Rich by the age of forty, the writer invested in the equipment of the French army, gave money to buy ships and bought up works of art, and pottery was located on his estate in Switzerland.

Death

In the last years of his life, Voltaire was popular, every contemporary considered it his duty to visit the Swiss home of the wise old man. The philosopher hid from the French kings, but with the help of persuasion he returned to the country and parmesan, where he died at the age of 83.

Bibliography

• 1730 - "History of Charles XII"
• 1732 - "Zaire"
• 1734 - “Philosophical Letters. English Letters»
• 1736 - Newton's Message
• 1738 - "An Essay on the Nature of Fire"
• 1748 - "The World as It Is"
• 1748 - Zadig, or Fate
• 1748 - "Semiramide"
• 1752 - "Micromegas"
• 1755 - "The Virgin of Orleans"
• 1756 - "Lisbon earthquake"
• 1764 - "White and Black"
• 1768 - "The Princess of Babylon"
• 1774 - "Don Pedro"
• 1778 - Agathocles

Quotes

• “Believing in God is impossible, not believing in him is absurd”
• “For most people, to improve means to change their shortcomings”
• "Kings know no more about the affairs of their ministers than cuckolds know about the affairs of their wives"
• “Not inequality is painful, but dependence”
• "There is nothing more unpleasant than being hanged in obscurity"

fr. Voltaire; birth name Francois Marie Arouet fr. Francois Marie Arouet; anagram "Arouet le j(eune)" - " Arue Jr." (Latin spelling - AROVETLI)

one of the greatest French Enlightenment philosophers of the 18th century: poet, prose writer, satirist, tragedian, historian, essayist

short biography

Named at birth Marie Francois Arouet, - the great French writer, poet, playwright, philosopher-educator of the 18th century, historian, publicist - was born in Paris on November 21, 1694. In 1704, the notary father sent him to study at the Jesuit College of Louis the Great, where he studied until 171 . The boy studied well, but his passion for free-thinking literature and voiced doubts about Christian postulates, demonstrated already at such a young age, almost led to his expulsion. After graduating from college, Marie Francois, through the efforts of his father, ended up in a law office, but works in the literary field seemed to him more attractive.

Dreaming of recognition, the young Marie François took part in a competition organized by the Academy, writing "Ode on the Vow of Louis XIII", but considered himself hurt when the victory went to the protégé of an influential academic. His satirical poem "The Bog", ridiculing the Academy, was rewritten, it turned out to be very popular, and Marie Francois had to hide from her acquaintances from trouble. Since then, his literary activity has repeatedly become the cause of persecution by those in power, provoked events that played an important role in his biography. So, for satirical poems addressed to the Duke of Orleans in 1717, he landed in the Bastille for almost a year. Influential acquaintances helped him return to freedom, and already in 1718, the tragedy Oedipus was staged for the first time on the stage of the Comedy Française, which was awarded the status of the first classical French tragedy of the 18th century. She glorified the 24-year-old author and his creative pseudonym: from 1718 he became known as Voltaire.

Due to a conflict at the end of 1725 with a famous nobleman, whom Voltaire had the imprudence to ridicule, he again ended up in the Bastille, he was released from prison on the condition that he go abroad. Thus, in the spring of 1726, Voltaire ended up in England, where he was received as a prominent figure in literature, and he, in turn, paid great attention to the study of the social structure of the country, its historical, philosophical, and cultural heritage. As a result of his stay in England, from where he returned three years later, in 1733 he published Philosophical Letters, which drew very bold and unflattering parallels for France. The book was sentenced to be burned, and the disgraced author managed to escape arrest by flight, after which he did not risk appearing in the capital for a very long time.

For almost two decades, Voltaire lived near the border of Lorraine in the castle of Cyr, which belonged to the Marquise du Chatelet, a very educated woman who was fond of science and introduced her lover to them. This period of biography was decisive for the formation of Voltaire as an outstanding writer and thinker.

In 1736, a long-term correspondence began between him and the Crown Prince of Prussia, which contributed to an increase in the prestige of both the future ruler and Voltaire himself. In addition, in 1740, the prince became King Frederick II, and the French authorities took advantage of the relationship of trust, asking the writer to clarify some aspects of the foreign policy of the new monarch in relation to their country. Voltaire successfully fulfilled the mission entrusted to him, which contributed to the increase in his authority, which gradually increased not only in his homeland, but throughout the continent. In 1745 he was appointed to the post of royal historiographer and court poet, he became a member of the French Academy. However, his good relations with the court did not last long.

In the summer of 1750, Voltaire arrived in Potsdam, having accepted the invitation of Frederick II. Reassured at first by freer orders, the thinker then felt a chill towards the revision of the monarch's writings in French, which was charged to him. His dubious financial transactions and the conflict with the President of the Academy contributed to the deterioration of relations. As a result, in 1753 he left Germany in order to move to Switzerland for a total of a quarter of a century, where he acquired several estates.

Voltaire in his declining years was a very rich man, owned lands, watch and weaving workshops, solid capital, lent money to aristocrats, so financial independence was supplemented by the opportunity to freely, without fear of reprisals, be a herald of public opinion that criticized the existing system. And yet, the main occupation has always been creativity, speaking out with the denunciation of wars and the persecution of dissidents, defending political and religious freedoms.

The 84-year-old Voltaire did not leave creative activity, and when in February 1778, succumbing to persuasion, he returned to Paris. The townspeople gave him an enthusiastic welcome. The performance of his last play - "Irene" - became a real triumph. In the role of director of the Academy, Voltaire began to rework the academic dictionary, but died in May of the same year.

His creative - literary, historical, philosophical - heritage amounted to 50 volumes (Molan edition). The influence that the sage of Ferney, as Voltaire was called, had on the minds of contemporaries, including very high-ranking ones, for example, Catherine II or Gustav III, is difficult to overestimate. The 18th century and in our time are sometimes called by his name, despite the fact that the century gave the world many prominent figures of the Enlightenment.

Biography from Wikipedia

The son of an official, Francois Marie Arouet, studied at the Jesuit College "Latin and all sorts of nonsense", but preferred literature to law; began his literary activity in the palaces of aristocrats as a parasite poet; for satirical rhymes addressed to the regent and his daughter, he ended up in the Bastille (where he was later sent a second time, this time for other people's poems).

He was beaten by a nobleman, from the de Rogan family, whom he ridiculed, wanted to challenge him to a duel, but due to the intrigue of the offender, he again found himself in prison, was released on the condition of going abroad; interesting is the fact that in his youth, two astrologers predicted only 33 Earth years for Voltaire. And it was this failed duel that could make the prediction a reality, but the case decided differently. At the age of 63, Voltaire wrote about this: “I have deceived the astrologers out of spite for thirty years, for which I ask you to humbly excuse me.”

Later he left for England, where he lived for three years (1726-1729), studying its political system, science, philosophy and literature.

Returning to France, Voltaire published his English impressions under the title Philosophical Letters; the book was confiscated (1734), the publisher paid with the Bastille, and Voltaire fled to Lorraine, where he found shelter with the Marquise du Chatelet (with whom he lived for 15 years). Being accused of mocking religion (in the poem "Secular Man"), Voltaire fled again, this time to the Netherlands.

In 1746, Voltaire was appointed court poet and historiographer, but, having aroused the discontent of the Marquise de Pompadour, he broke with the court. Always suspected of political unreliability, not feeling safe in France, Voltaire followed (1751) the invitation of the Prussian king Frederick II, with whom he had been in correspondence for a long time (since 1736), and settled in Berlin (Potsdam), but, having caused the king’s displeasure with unseemly money speculation, as well as a quarrel with the president of the Maupertuis Academy (caricatured by Voltaire in the "Diatribe of Doctor Akaki"), was forced to leave Prussia and settled in Switzerland (1753). Here he bought an estate near Geneva, renaming it "Otradnoe" (Délices), then acquired two more estates: Tournai and - on the border with France - Fernet (1758), where he lived almost until his death. A man now rich and completely independent, a capitalist who lent money to aristocrats, a landowner and at the same time the owner of a weaving and watch workshop, Voltaire - the "Ferney patriarch" - could now freely and fearlessly represent "public opinion", omnipotent opinion, against old, surviving socio-political order.

Ferne became a place of pilgrimage for the new intelligentsia; friendship with Voltaire was proud of such "enlightened" monarchs as Catherine II, Frederick II, who resumed correspondence with him, Gustav III of Sweden. In 1774, Louis XV was replaced by Louis XVI, and in 1778, Voltaire, an eighty-three-year-old man, returned to Paris, where an enthusiastic meeting was arranged for him. He bought himself a mansion on Richelieu Street, actively worked on the new tragedy Agathocles. The staging of his last play, Irene, became his apotheosis. Appointed director of the Academy, Voltaire, despite his advanced age, set about reworking the academic dictionary.

Severe pain, the origin of which was initially unclear, forced Voltaire to take large doses of opium. In early May, after an exacerbation of the disease, the doctor of medicine Tronshen made a disappointing diagnosis: prostate cancer. Voltaire was still strong, sometimes even joking, but often the joke was interrupted by a grimace of pain.

The next medical consultation, held on May 25, predicted a quick death. Every day brought more and more suffering to the patient. Sometimes even opium did not help.

Voltaire's nephew Abbé Mignot, trying to reconcile his uncle with the Catholic Church, invited Abbé Gauthier and the parish curate of St. Sulpicia Tersaka. The visit took place on the afternoon of 30 May. According to legend, Voltaire replied to the offer of the clergy to "renounce Satan and come to the Lord": "Why acquire new enemies before death?" His last words were "For God's sake, let me die in peace." After opening the body, the brain was placed in a jar of alcohol, and the heart in a lead box. The body was smuggled out and buried in the Cathedral of Cellers, thirty leagues from Paris. The brain was kept by the pharmacist in Mituara and passed down from generation to generation. The heart was kept by the adopted daughter, the Marquise de Villette, and was inherited. On the casket where the heart was kept was engraved: "His spirit hovers everywhere, but the heart rests here"

In 1791, the Convention decided to transfer the remains of Voltaire to the Panthéon and to rename the Quai de Theatines to the Quai named after Voltaire. The transfer of Voltaire's remains to the Pantheon turned into a grandiose revolutionary demonstration. In 1814, during the Restoration, there was a rumor that Voltaire's remains were allegedly stolen from the Pantheon, which was not true. Currently, the ashes of Voltaire are still in the Pantheon.

Philosophy

Being a supporter of the empiricism of the English philosopher Locke, whose teaching he promoted in his "philosophical letters", Voltaire was at the same time an opponent of French materialistic philosophy, in particular Baron Holbach, against whom his "Letter of Memmius to Cicero" was directed; on the question of the spirit, Voltaire vacillated between denying and affirming the immortality of the soul; on the question of free will, in indecision he moved from indeterminism to determinism. The most important philosophical articles Voltaire published in the "Encyclopedia" and then published as a separate book, first under the title "Pocket Philosophical Dictionary" (fr. Dictionnaire philosophique portatif, 1764). In this work, Voltaire showed himself as a fighter against idealism and religion, relying on the scientific achievements of his time. In numerous articles, he criticizes the religious ideas of the Christian church, religious morality, exposes the crimes committed by the Christian church.

Voltaire, as a representative of the school of natural law, recognizes for each individual the existence of inalienable natural rights: freedom, property, security, equality.

Along with natural laws, the philosopher identifies positive laws, the necessity of which he explains by the fact that "people are evil." Positive laws are designed to guarantee the natural rights of man. Many positive laws seemed unjust to the philosopher, embodying only human ignorance.

Criticism of religion

An indefatigable and merciless enemy of the Church and the clerics, whom he persecuted with arguments of logic and arrows of sarcasm, a writer whose slogan was "écrasez l'infâme" ("destroy the vile", often translated as "crush the vermin"), Voltaire attacked both Judaism and on Christianity (for example, in “Dinner at the Citizen of Boulainville”), expressing, however, their respect for the person of Christ (both in the specified work and in the treatise “God and people”); for the purpose of anti-church propaganda, Voltaire published the "Testament of Jean Mellier", a socialist priest of the 17th century, who spared no words to debunk clericalism.

Fighting in word and deed (intercession for the victims of religious fanaticism - Calas and Servetus) against the domination and oppression of religious superstitions and prejudices, against clerical fanaticism, Voltaire tirelessly preached the ideas of religious "tolerance" (tolérence) - a term that meant in the 18th century, contempt for Christianity and unbridled advertising of anti-Catholicism - both in his publicistic pamphlets (Treatise on Religious Tolerance, 1763), and in his works of art (the image of Henry IV, who put an end to the religious strife of Catholics and Protestants; the image of the emperor in the tragedy "Gebra"). A special place in the views of Voltaire was occupied by the attitude towards Christianity in general. Voltaire considered Christian myth-making a deception.

In 1722, Voltaire wrote the anti-clerical poem For and Against. In this poem, he proves that the Christian religion, which prescribes to love a merciful god, actually paints him as a cruel tyrant, "whom we should hate." Thus, Voltaire proclaims a decisive break with Christian beliefs:

In this unworthy image, I do not recognize the god whom I should honor ... I am not a Christian ...

Criticism of atheism. Deism of Voltaire

Fighting against the church, the clergy and the religions of "revelation", Voltaire was at the same time the enemy of atheism; Voltaire devoted a special pamphlet to criticism of atheism ("Homélie sur l'athéisme"). A deist in the spirit of the English bourgeois freethinkers of the 18th century, Voltaire tried with all sorts of arguments to prove the existence of a deity who created the universe, in whose affairs, however, he does not interfere, operating with evidence: “cosmological” (“Against atheism”), “teleological” (“Le philosophe ignorant”) and "moral" (article "God" in the "Encyclopedia").

But in the 60s and 70s Voltaire is imbued with skeptical moods ":

But where is the eternal geometer? In one place or everywhere without taking up space? I don't know anything about it. Did he arrange the world out of his substance? I don't know anything about it. Is it indefinite, characterized by neither quantity nor quality? I don't know anything about it.

"Voltaire departs from the position of creationism, says that 'nature is eternal'." “Voltaire's contemporaries told about one episode. When Voltaire was asked if there is a God, he asked first to close the door tightly and then said: “There is no God, but my footman and wife should not know this, since I do not want my footman to stab me, and my wife went out of obedience” ".

In the Edifying Sermons, as well as in philosophical stories, the argument of “usefulness” is repeatedly encountered, that is, such a conception of God in which he acts as a social and moral regulative principle. In this sense, faith in him turns out to be necessary, since only she, according to Voltaire, is able to keep the human race from self-destruction and mutual extermination.

Let us at least see, my brethren, how useful such faith is, and how interested we are in having it imprinted on all hearts.

These principles are necessary for the preservation of the human race. Deprive people of the notion of a punishing and rewarding god - and here Sulla and Marius bathe with pleasure in the blood of their fellow citizens; Augustus, Antony and Lepidus surpass Sulla in cruelty, Nero cold-bloodedly gives the order to kill his own mother.

Rejecting medieval church and monastic asceticism in the name of the human right to happiness, which is rooted in reasonable egoism (“Discours sur l'homme”), for a long time sharing the optimism of the English bourgeoisie of the 18th century, which transformed the world in its own image and likeness and asserted through the mouth of the poet Pope: “Whatever is, is right” (“everything is good that is”), after the earthquake in Lisbon, which destroyed a third of the city, Voltaire somewhat reduced his optimism, declaring in a poem about the Lisbon catastrophe: “now not everything is fine, but everything will be fine” .

Socio-philosophical views

According to social views, Voltaire is a supporter of inequality. Society should be divided into "educated and rich" and those who, "having nothing", "obliged to work for them" or "amuse" them. Therefore, there is no need for workers to educate: “if the people begin to reason, everything is lost” (from Voltaire’s letters). When printing Mellier's "Testament", Voltaire threw out all his sharp criticism of private property, considering it "outrageous". This also explains Voltaire's negative attitude towards, although there was a personal element in their relationship.

A staunch and passionate opponent of absolutism, he remained until the end of his life a monarchist, a supporter of the idea of ​​enlightened absolutism, a monarchy based on the "educated part" of society, on the intelligentsia, on "philosophers". The enlightened monarch is his political ideal, which Voltaire embodied in a number of images: in the person of Henry IV (in the poem "Henriad"), the "sensitive" king-philosopher Teucer (in the tragedy "The Laws of Minos"), who sets as his task "enlighten people, soften the morals of their subjects, to civilize a wild country, ”and King Don Pedro (in the tragedy of the same name), who tragically dies in the fight against the feudal lords in the name of the principle expressed by Teucer in the words: “The kingdom is a great family with a father at the head. Whoever has a different idea of ​​the monarch is guilty before humanity.”

Voltaire, like Rousseau, sometimes tended to defend the idea of ​​the "primitive state" in plays such as The Scythians or The Laws of Minos, but his "primitive society" (Scythians and Sidonians) has nothing to do with Rousseau's depicted paradise of small proprietors. -farmers, but embodies the society of enemies of political despotism and religious intolerance.

In his satirical poem "The Virgin of Orleans" he ridicules knights and courtiers, but in the poem "The Battle of Fontenoy" (1745) Voltaire glorifies the old French nobility, in such plays as "The Right of the Seigneur" and especially "Nanina", he draws with enthusiasm landlords of a liberal bias, even ready to marry a peasant woman. Voltaire for a long time could not come to terms with the intrusion on the stage of persons of non-noble status, “ordinary people” (fr. hommes du commun), because this meant “depreciate the tragedy” (avilir le cothurne).

Connected by his political, religious-philosophical and social views is still quite firmly with the "old order", Voltaire, especially with his literary sympathies, firmly rooted in the aristocratic XVIII century of Louis XIV, to whom he dedicated his best historical work - "Siècle de Louis XIV".

Shortly before his death, on April 7, 1778, Voltaire joined the Parisian Masonic Lodge of the Grand Orient of France - the Nine Sisters. At the same time, Benjamin Franklin (at that time - the American ambassador to France) accompanied him to the box.

Literary creativity

Dramaturgy

Continuing to cultivate the aristocratic genres of poetry - epistles, gallant lyrics, odes, etc., Voltaire was the last major representative of classical tragedy in the field of dramatic poetry - he wrote 28; among them the most important: "Oedipus" (1718), "Brutus" (1730), "Zaire" (1732), "Caesar" (1735), "Alzira" (1736), "Mohammed" (1741), "Meropa" ( 1743), "Semiramide" (1748), "Saved Rome" (1752), "Chinese Orphan" (1755), "Tancred" (1760).

However, in the context of the decline of aristocratic culture, the classical tragedy was inevitably transformed. In its former rationalistic coldness, notes of sensitivity broke in more and more abundance ("Zaire"), its former sculptural clarity was replaced by romantic picturesqueness ("Tankred"). The repertoire of ancient figures was invaded more and more decisively by exotic characters - medieval knights, Chinese, Scythians, Hebras and the like.

For a long time, not wanting to put up with the ascension of a new drama - as a form of "hybrid", Voltaire ended up defending the method of mixing the tragic and the comic (in the preface to The Spender and Socrates), considering this mixture, however, legitimate only a feature of “high comedy” and rejecting “tearful drama” as a “non-fiction genre”, where there are only “tears”. For a long time resisting the invasion of the plebeian heroes on the stage, Voltaire, under the pressure of the bourgeois drama, gave up this position too, opening wide the doors of the drama "for all classes and all ranks" (preface to "Scotch", with references to English examples) and formulating (in "Discourse on the Hebras") essentially the program of the democratic theater; “In order to more easily inspire people with the valor needed by society, the author chose heroes from the lower class. He was not afraid to bring a gardener to the stage, a young girl helping her father in rural work, a simple soldier. Such heroes, who stand closer to nature, speak in simple language, will make a stronger impression and reach their goal sooner than princes in love and princesses tormented by passion. Enough theaters thundered with tragic adventures, possible only among monarchs and completely useless for the rest of the people. The type of such bourgeois plays includes "The Right of the Seigneur", "Nanina", "The Spender", etc.

Poetry

If, as a playwright, Voltaire went from orthodox classical tragedy through its sentimentalization, romanticization and exoticism to the drama of the New Age under the pressure of the growing movement of the "third estate", then his evolution as an epic writer is similar. Voltaire began in the style of the classical epic (“Henriad”, 1728; originally “The League or the Great Henry”), which, however, like the classical tragedy, was transformed under his hand: instead of a fictional hero, a real one was taken, instead of fantastic wars - in fact, the former, instead of gods - allegorical images - concepts: love, jealousy, fanaticism (from "Essai sur la poésie épique").

Continuing the style of the heroic epic in "The Poem of the Battle of Fontenoy", glorifying the victory of Louis XV, Voltaire then in "The Virgin of Orleans" (La Pucelle d'Orléans), caustically and obscenely ridiculing the entire medieval world of feudal-clerical France, reduces the heroic poem to the heroic farce and gradually, under the influence of Pope, from a heroic poem to a didactic poem, to “discourse in verse” (discours en vers), to a presentation in the form of a poem of his moral and social philosophy (“Letter on the Philosophy of Newton”, “Discourse in verse about man”, “Natural Law”, “Poem about the Lisbon catastrophe”).

philosophical prose

From here there was a natural transition to prose, to a philosophical novel (“Vision of Babuk”, “Innocent”, “Zadig” or Fate, “Micromegas”, “Candide, or Optimism”, “The Princess of Babylon”, “Scarmentado” and others, 1740- 1760s), where, on the core of adventures, travels, exoticism, Voltaire develops a subtle dialectic of the relationship between chance and predestination (“Zadig”), the simultaneous baseness and greatness of a person (“Vision of Babuk”), the absurdity of both pure optimism and pure pessimism (“Candide”), and about the only wisdom, which consists in the conviction of Candide, who has known all the vicissitudes, that a person is called to “cultivate his garden” or, as the Innocent from the story of the same name begins to understand in a similar way, to do his own thing and try to correct the world not with loud words, but a noble example.

As for all the "enlighteners" of the XVIII century, for Voltaire, fiction was not an end in itself, but only a means of propagating his ideas, a means of protest against autocracy, against churchmen and clericalism, an opportunity to preach religious tolerance, civil freedom, etc. According to this attitude, his work is highly rational and journalistic. All the forces of the "old order" violently rose up against this, as one of his enemies christened him, "Prometheus", overthrowing the power of the earthly and heavenly gods; Freron was especially zealous, whom Voltaire branded with his laughter in a number of pamphlets and brought out in the play "Scotch" under the transparent name of the informer Frelon.

Human rights activities

In 1762, Voltaire launched a campaign to overturn the sentence of the Protestant Jean Calas, who was executed on charges of murdering his son. As a result, Jean Calas was found not guilty and the rest of those convicted in this case were acquitted. The French historian Marion Sigot argues that the Case of Calas was used by Voltaire to express his hatred of the Church, and not at all to protect the rights of the executed Calas (acquitted due to procedural errors).

Attitude towards Jews

In his "Philosophical Dictionary" Voltaire wrote: "... you will find in them (the Jews) only an ignorant and barbarous people who have long combined the most disgusting greed with the most contemptible superstitions and with the most irresistible hatred for all peoples who tolerate them and at the same time their but they enrich ... Nevertheless, they should not be burned. ” Louis de Bonald wrote: “When I say that philosophers treat the Jews kindly, one must exclude from their number the head of the philosophical school of the XVIII century Voltaire, who throughout his life demonstrated a decisive hostility to this people ...”.

followers of Voltaire. Voltairianism

Voltaire was forced to publish his works often anonymously, renouncing them when rumor declared him the author, publish them abroad, and smuggle them into France. In the struggle against the dying old order, Voltaire could, on the other hand, rely on a huge influential audience both in France and abroad, ranging from "enlightened monarchs" to the broad cadres of the new bourgeois intelligentsia, right up to Russia, to which he dedicated his "History of Peter" and partly "Charles XII", while in correspondence with Catherine II and Sumarokov, and where his name was baptized, although without sufficient reason, a social movement known as Voltairianism.

The cult of Voltaire reached its apogee in France during the Great Revolution, and in 1792, during the performance of his tragedy The Death of Caesar, the Jacobins adorned the head of his bust with a red Phrygian cap. If in the 19th century, in general, this cult waned, then the name and glory of Voltaire were always revived in the era of revolutions: at the turn of the 19th century - in Italy, where the troops of General Bonaparte brought the principle of declaring the rights of man and citizen, partly in England, where the fighter against Holy Alliance, Byron, glorified Voltaire in the octaves of "Childe Harold", then - on the eve of the March Revolution in Germany, where Heine resurrected his image. At the turn of the 20th century, the Voltaire tradition flared up again in a peculiar refraction in the “philosophical” novels of Anatole France.

Voltaire Library

After the death of Voltaire (1778), the Russian Empress Catherine II expressed a desire to acquire the writer's library and instructed her agent in Paris to discuss this proposal with Voltaire's heirs. It was specifically stipulated that Catherine's letters to Voltaire should also be included in the subject of the transaction. The heiress (Voltaire's niece, widow Denis) willingly agreed, the amount of the transaction amounted to a large amount for those times of 50,000 ecu, or 30,000 rubles in gold. The delivery of the library to St. Petersburg was carried out on a special ship in the autumn of 1779, it consisted of 6,814 books and 37 volumes with manuscripts. The empress did not receive her letters back, they were bought and soon published by Beaumarchais, however, Catherine agreed with him in advance that she would be given the opportunity to remove individual fragments of the letters before publication.

Initially, the Voltaire Library was housed in the Hermitage. Under Nicholas I, access to it was closed; only A. S. Pushkin, by special order of the tsar, was admitted there in the course of his work on the History of Peter. In 1861, by order of Alexander II, the Voltaire library was transferred to the Imperial Public Library (now the Russian National Library in St. Petersburg).

There are many Voltaire's notes in the books, which constitutes a separate object of study. Employees of the National Library of Russia have prepared for publication a seven-volume "Corpus of Voltaire's Reader's Marks", from which the first 5 volumes have been published.

Bibliography

• Collected works in 50 vols. - R. 1877-1882.
• Correspondence of Voltaire, ibid., vols. 33-50.
• Languages ​​D. Voltaire in Russian literature. 1879.
• Novels and stories, translated by N. Dmitriev. - St. Petersburg, 1870.
• Voltaire M.-F. Candide. - Pantheon, 1908 (abbreviated reprint - "Spark", 1926).
• Voltaire M.-F. Princess of Babylon. Publishing house "World Literature", 1919.
• Voltaire M.-F. Maid of Orleans, in 2 vols., with notes and articles, 1927.
• Voltaire. Aesthetics. Articles. Letters. Foreword and reasoning, 1974.
• Ivanov I.I. The political role of the French theater in the 18th century. - M., 1895. on the Runivers website
• Voltaire. Philosophy. M., 1988
• Voltaire. God and people. 2 volumes, M., 1961
• Hal Hellman. Great confrontations in science. The Ten Most Exciting Disputes - Chapter 4 - M .: "Dialectics", 2007. - S. 320.
• Desnoiresterres G. Voltaire et la société du XVIII siècle, 8 vv. - P., 1867-1877.
• Morley J. Voltaire. - London, 1878 (Russian translation. - M., 1889).
• Bengesco G. Voltaire. Bibliographie de ses uvres. 4 vv. - P., 1889-1891.
• Champion G. Voltaire. - P., 1892.
• Strauss D. F. Voltaire. - Lpz., 1895 (Russian translation. - M., 1900).
• Crousle L. La vie et les œuvres de Voltaire. 2 vv. - P., 1899.
• Lanson G. Voltaire. - P., 1906.
• Brandes. Voltaire. 2 vv. - P., 1923.
• Maugras G. Querelles des philosophes Voltaire et Rousseau. - P., 1886.
• Brunetiere F. Les epoques du theatre français. - P., 1892.
• Lion H. Les tragédies et les theories dramatiques de Voltaire. - P., 1896.
• Griswald. Voltaire als Historiker. - 1898.
• Ducros L. Les encyclopedistes. - P., 1900 (there is a Russian translation).
• Robert L. Voltaire et l'intolérance réligieuse. - P., 1904.
• Pellissier G. Voltaire philosophe. - P., 1908.

Philosophical works

• "Zadig" ( Zadig ou la Destinee, 1747)
• "Micromegas" ( Micromegas, 1752)
• "Candide" ( Candide, ou l'Optimisme, 1759)
• "Treatise on Tolerance" ( Traite sur la tolerance, 1763)
• "What Ladies Like" Ce qui plaît aux dames, 1764)
• "Philosophical Dictionary" ( Dictionnaire philosophiques, 1764)
• "Innocent" ( L'Ingenu, 1767)
• "Babylonian Princess" La Princesse de Babylon, 1768)

Screen versions of works

• 1960 Candide, or Optimism in the 20th century
• 1994 Innocent

Voltaire's translators into Russian

• Adamovich, Georgy Viktorovich
• Gumilyov, Nikolai Stepanovich
• Ivanov, Georgy Vladimirovich
• Lozinsky, Mikhail Leonidovich
• Sheinman, Cecil Yakovlevna
• Fonvizin, Denis Ivanovich

• A large number of portraits of the philosopher were left by his friend, the Swiss artist Jean Hubert, a significant part of them was acquired by Catherine II and is kept in the Hermitage.
• The philosopher's hobby was chess. His constant opponent for 17 years was the Jesuit father Adam, who lived in the house of the philosopher in Fern. Their game of chess from nature was captured by Jean Hubert in the painting Voltaire Playing Chess with Father Adam, kept in the Hermitage.
• From the 80s of the 18th century until the 20th century, the clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church struggled with the ideas and books of French materialist philosophers who exposed the essence of religion. In particular, the spiritual department published literature in which it criticized the ideas of Voltaire, sought the confiscation and burning of his works.
  • In 1868, Russian spiritual censorship destroyed Voltaire's book "Philosophy of History", in which spiritual censors found "mockery at the truths and refutation of the Holy Scriptures".
  • In 1890, Voltaire's Satirical and Philosophical Dialogues were destroyed, and in 1893 his poetic works, in which "anti-religious tendencies".
• The asteroid (5676) Voltaire, discovered by astronomer Lyudmila Karachkina at the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory on September 9, 1986, is named after Voltaire.

Myths about Voltaire

Voltaire and the British Bible Society

There is a popular anecdote among Christian apologists that after the death of Voltaire, the headquarters of the Bible Society was located in his house, as well as a printing house and a shipping center for the distribution of religious literature.

The world-famous Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire amazed the world with his revolutionary and controversial views on society, the system of power and the relationship between the state and its citizens. His works in our time have not lost their relevance and cause controversy, and philosophical ideas about the state of society and the position of a person in society require a long study and understanding. And although Voltaire worked in the 18th century, his studies are quite modern and in the light of political events require a special approach and detailed study.

Short biography of Voltaire

Marie Francois Arouet (future Voltaire) was born on November 21, 1694 in one of the districts of Paris in the family of a notary and tax collector Francois Arouet. His mother, Marie Marguerite Demars, was the daughter of a secretary of the criminal court. The Voltaire family led a life of respectable bourgeois. Much later, the future philosopher abandoned his father and declared himself the illegitimate offspring of the Chevalier de Rochebrune, a poor musketeer and poet, since the life of a rentier and bourgeois caused a protest in the young man that he could not put up with.

Since at that time it was customary for teenagers to follow in the footsteps of their parents, at the insistence of his father, young Voltaire went to study at the Jesuit Lyceum, where he studied law for seven years (1704-1711). But the freedom-loving nature of the young man took its toll and he stopped studying boring laws and set about writing bold, freedom-loving poems and threw himself into the maelstrom of secular life.

Very soon, in May 1717, the young poet ended up in the Bastille, a terrifying fortress for everyone - an unshakable symbol of royal power, for writing an epigram on the Duke of Orleans, regent of France, but one year of imprisonment did not force the young poet to reconsider his worldview.

Early experiences in dramaturgy

In 1718, his first play Oedipus, based on Greek myths, was staged in a Parisian theater, but in fact it was the first injection of the existing system of power and social laws. The play was well received by the audience. At this time, the playwright performed for the first time under the pseudonym "du Voltaire".

The next major play, The League, soon renamed the Henriade, brought young Voltaire success as a fighter for the idea and civil liberties. The play depicted the time of religious wars in France (16th century) and was dedicated to King Henry VI, the idea of ​​the play was the conflict between the views on the society of the king - a despot who does not tolerate any objections, and a king who is tolerant of public opinion.

As Voltaire continued to revolve in the whirlwind of secular life, clashes were bound to arise between the witty poet and high-born nobles who did not tolerate superiority in anyone. In 1726, a similar skirmish took place between Voltaire and the Chevalier Rogan, who reproached the writer for hiding a low origin behind a pseudonym.

Departure for England

The young man boldly answered the nobleman, but he did not consider it necessary to challenge him to a duel, but simply ordered his lackeys to beat the playwright. This humiliation greatly affected the moral state of the philosopher, he understood that he lives in a class society, but he hoped that his mind, education and brilliant abilities would help him rise in the eyes of the world.

Armed with dueling pistols, he tried to answer for the insult, but was again arrested and thrown into the Bastille. A few months later, the young man left inhospitable France and went to England. Staying in England for two years in conditions of religious tolerance and the struggle for political freedom, greatly changed the young man and helped complete the formation of his convictions. New views were reflected in the collection of articles "Philosophical Letters", which were published in 1733 in English, and in 1734 in French.

In this work, again at the reception of contrast, the English liberal order was compared and the political situation in France was described in a gloomy light.

Upon Voltaire's return to his homeland, the book was recognized as heretical and, by the verdict of the French Parliament, was burned, and the author himself was under investigation for a long time. The threat of imprisonment in the Bastille again hung over him.

Stay in Champagne

In the same year, in order not to tempt fate, Voltaire went away from Paris to Champagne, to the Sirey castle, which belonged to his mistress, the Marquise de Chatelet. For her time, a woman extremely educated, she shared the risky views of Voltaire, was fond of metaphysics, natural sciences and seriously studied the Bible. The ten years that Voltaire and his beloved spent in a secluded castle were extremely fruitful.

It was here that the dramas "Alzira", "Mohammed", the large "Treatise on Metaphysics" and "The Foundations of Newton's Philosophy" were written. Reports of laboratory experiments, confirming his conclusions, were constantly sent to the Royal Academy of Sciences. At the same time, the great historical work "The Life and Age of Louis XIV" was almost completed.

The scientific approach to the study of the world gradually changed the views of the scientist, who was already critical of the Christian explanation of the appearance of the Universe. An inquisitive mind tried to scientifically explain the causes of the emergence of the state and social relations, laws and private property.

It was during this period that the drama The Virgin of Orleans, which made a lot of noise, was written, dedicated to one of the most difficult periods in French history and its national heroine Jeanne D, Arc. The poem was completed in 1735, but it was officially published only in 1762.

In this work, the playwright tried to debunk the duplicity and hypocrisy of the Jesuits - churchmen. To do this, he was not afraid to slightly ironically show the mysticism and religious visions of the young Jeanne, he laughed at the miracles allegedly created by the girl and clearly did not believe in her divine destiny.

Even speaking about Jeanne's virginity, he was ironic about the words of the Jesuits that only an innocent girl could save France at that time.

But at the end of the work, Voltaire abandoned irony and skepticism, with pathos and enthusiasm he showed Jeanne's dedication, her faith in the success of the cause, her ability to lead an entire army and inspire confidence in her soldiers in victory.

He directly blames the king and the Jesuits for the terrible death of the girl at the stake, he angrily denounces her executioners and traitors to the national heroine.

Voltaire - courtier

Voltaire's career as a courtier was rather short and very unsuccessful. In 1745 he was appointed historiographer of France, and in 1746 he was appointed an active member of the French Academy of Sciences.

And at that moment, the philosopher wanted to win the approval of the king and receive permanent income from the treasury, but all his work, known to the government, did not win the approval of the crown.

The death of his beloved Marquise du Chatelet, disappointment in high society, the indifference of the king - all this prompted the philosopher to seek refuge in Prussia, at the court of King Frederick II. Their relationship began as early as 1736, when the young crown prince sent an enthusiastic letter to Voltaire. Now (in 1750) Voltaire left France for Prussia, where he hoped to gain understanding and respect, and also counted on the generosity and benevolence of the philosopher king.

But Voltaire did not stay long at the Prussian court, only three years. During this time, he discovered in his "friend" not only a breadth of views and a sharp mind, but also despotism, swagger and rejection of other people's points of view. Therefore, in 1753 he left Prussia and traveled around Europe for almost a year, until he settled in Switzerland in 1754.

Creation of the "Encyclopedia"

In Switzerland, not far from Geneva, Voltaire bought a small estate and named it "Joy". It was here, together with Denis Diderot and Jean D. Alembert, that the famous "Encyclopedia" was created, which glorified the names of these philosophers throughout the world.

Already in 1755, in the fifth volume of the publication, the articles “Spirit and Soul”, “Eloquence”, “Elegance”, written by Voltaire, were published.

In his article “History”, the philosopher doubted many historical events and their correct coverage, especially in that part of it where various miracles and visions were described.

In the essay “Idols and Idolatry”, he reproached Christians for worshiping idols no less than pagans, only Christians at the same time cover themselves with higher ideas and beautiful words, but they do not offer sacrifices directly, as was the case with the pagans, but secretly under the cover of darkness and ignorance.

In 1757, the article "Geneva" was published, which made a lot of noise and was later recognized as unsuccessful. In this article, Voltaire took up arms against the theorists of the Reformed Church and, in particular, John Calvin.

On the one hand, he sang of the freedom-loving Swiss and their political system, and it sounded like a criticism of French politics. But on the other hand, Voltaire showed Calvin and his followers as people intoxicated with one idea and for the sake of this they were able to initiate another "Bartholomew's Night".

This article had a negative impact not only on the attitude towards Voltaire himself, but also called into question the authority of his friends - philosophers.

Creativity in Ferney

Fearing reprisals from the Swiss clergy, Voltaire decided to protect himself and acquired two small estates on both sides of Lake Geneva, near the border with France.

The Ferney estate became his small state, where he carried out reprisals and courts, likening "enlightened monarchs." By this time, Aviaire's financial situation had improved considerably, and he was able to afford an almost luxurious lifestyle. He received several pensions from those in power from around the world. Plus, the inheritance received from his parents, the reprinting of his literary works, and the ability to properly conduct financial transactions - all this by 1776 turned the once poor philosopher into one of the richest people in France.

It was the Ferney estate that became a place of pilgrimage for philosophers from all over the world. Here Voltaire spent almost twenty happy years. All enlightened travelers considered it their duty to visit the philosopher-hermit. It was from here that he conducted extensive correspondence, and with many august persons: the Prussian King Frederick II, the Russian Empress Catherine the Great, the Polish monarch Stanislaw August, King Gustav III of Sweden and King Christian VII of Denmark.

Even at the age of 65, Voltaire wrote and sent hundreds of letters. By order of the Russian government, he wrote The History of the Russian Empire under Peter the Great, published in 1763. His work showed Peter Alekseevich as a great reformer who managed to break with barbarism and ignorance.

It was during the Ferney period that the most famous stories "Candide" and "Innocent" were written, showing the lies and hypocrisy of modern society.

At the same time, Voltaire took up arms against the role of the Catholic Church in political persecution and defended its victims, such prominent figures as Serlin, Calas, Comte de Lally, Chevalier le La Bar. The appeal of the philosopher from a letter to Alamber (1760): “Crush the vermin!” was directed against Catholicism and the absolute power of the Jesuits.

However, another catchphrase of Voltaire is no less famous: "If God did not exist, he would have to be invented." He, like a true son of his time, believed that only religion could restrain the people, and only the help of the church would help the government keep the third estate in check.

Death in Paris

In his declining years, in 1778, the philosopher decided to visit the city of his childhood and youth for the last time. In February he arrived in Paris, where he was greeted with great enthusiasm.

The visit to the capital of France was very eventful: Voltaire attended several meetings of the French Academy of Sciences, saw the premiere performance of his Irene drink, joined the Nine Sisters Masonic lodge, and died three months later.

Realizing before his death that the Catholic Church would try to take revenge on him for all the attacks, he formally confessed and took communion. But the archbishop of France, Christophe de Beaumont, considered that the repentance of the heretic was clearly insufficient, and refused the philosopher a Christian burial.

Relatives of the philosopher took his body to Champagne, where he was buried. Such neglect of the world-famous man, who glorified his homeland, aroused indignation among the general public. In 1791, the body of the philosopher was solemnly brought to Paris, where it was again buried in the Pantheon, which served as the burial place for all the famous people of France.

Voltaire's main ideas (briefly)

The main ideas of the Enlightenment philosophers were the moral re-education of society, which must rise to the revolution and win its freedom with arms in hand.

Voltaire was an opponent of the existing materialistic school, and adhered to the empirical (experimental) direction in science.

The philosopher defended the natural rights and freedoms of every person: life, liberty, security, property rights and universal equality without classes and estates. At the same time, he understood that people are deceitful and evil by nature, so society must create reasonable laws to harmonize social relations.

Interestingly, while defending equality, Voltaire nevertheless divided society into two large groups: the rich and educated people and the uneducated and poor, who must work for the upper class. At the same time, it is not necessary for the poor and working people to be educated, since their unnecessary education and incorrect reasoning can ruin the entire state system.

Philosophy of Voltaire (briefly)

Any philosophical school must, first of all, answer the question that has been of interest to all enlightened mankind since ancient times. These questions are: Who am I? Why did you come into this world? What is the meaning of human existence?

In his philosophical writings, Voltaire considered the Catholic Church and its absolute power over the world to be the cause of all evils in society. Judging by church canons, a person lives and dies according to the will of God, and cannot resist divine providence.

It is the church that destroys freedom of conscience and freedom of speech. But Voltaire, as a true son of his time, could not deny the existence of God and the necessity of religion. At the same time, he believed that evidence for the existence of God should be obtained empirically, and not by blind faith.

With all the freedom-loving views, Voltaire was not a supporter of democracy, he stood up for an "enlightened monarchy." He was afraid of democracy and believed that the people needed to be kept in check. At the same time, the philosopher sharply criticized the foundations of feudal society, its laws and class prejudices. All his works are permeated with humanism and tolerance.

Voltaire's worldview was formed in his younger years, when he was in exile, in England, and, then, these rules of his life never changed, until the very last days.

Voltaire's thoughts about man, about religion, about the state are of great interest, both from the point of view of characterizing him, both as a person, and from the point of view of analyzing and studying social relations.

Voltaire about man.

Voltaire explains all the actions of people with self-love, which “is as necessary for a person as the blood flowing in his veins,” and he considers the observance of his own interests to be the engine of life. Our self-esteem “tells us respect for the self-esteem of other people. The law directs this self-love, religion perfects it.

Voltaire is convinced that every person has a sense of decency “in the form of some antidote for all the poisons with which he is poisoned; and in order to be happy, it is not at all necessary to indulge in vices, rather, on the contrary, by suppressing our vices, we achieve peace, a comforting evidence of our own conscience; surrendering to vices, we lose peace and health.

Voltaire divides people into two classes: "those who sacrifice their selfishness to the good of society" and "complete rabble, in love only with themselves."

Considering a person as a social being, Voltaire writes that “man is not like other animals that have only the instinct of self-love”, for a person “natural benevolence is also characteristic, not seen in animals”

However, often a person’s love for himself is stronger than benevolence, but, in the end, the existence of reason in animals is very doubtful, namely, “these gifts of his (God’s): reason, love for oneself, goodwill towards individuals of our species, the needs of passion are means with which we have established society."

Voltaire on Religion.

Voltaire vigorously opposed the Catholic Church, against the atrocities of the clergy, obscurantism and fanaticism. He regarded the Catholic Church as the main brake on all progress, boldly exposed and ridiculed the dogmas of the church, the pitiful scholasticism that the clergy presented to the people. In his attitude towards the Catholic Church, Voltaire was irreconcilable. Every word of his was imbued with a fighting spirit. In the fight against the Catholic Church, he put forward the slogan "Crush the reptile", calling on everyone to fight the "monster" that torments France.

Religion, from the point of view of Voltaire, is a grandiose deception with selfish ones, Voltaire characterizes Catholicism as "a network of the most vulgar deceptions composed by clever people."

Voltaire was always extremely negative about religious fanatics. The source of fanaticism is superstition, a superstitious person becomes a fanatic when he is pushed to any villainy in the name of the Lord. "The most stupid and evil people are those who are more superstitious than others." Superstition for Voltaire is a mixture of fanaticism and obscurantism. Voltaire considered fanaticism to be a greater evil than atheism: “Fanaticism is a thousand times more disastrous, because atheism does not inspire bloody passions at all, but fanaticism provokes them; atheism opposes crimes, but fanaticism causes them. Atheism, Voltaire believes, is a vice of some smart people, superstition and fanaticism are a vice of fools.

However, fighting against the church, the clergy and religion, Voltaire was at the same time the enemy of atheism, Voltaire devoted his special pamphlet Homélie sur l "athéisme" to criticism of primitive atheism.

Voltaire, by his convictions, was a deist. Deism - (from lat. deus - god) - a religious and philosophical trend that recognizes the existence of God and the creation of the world by him, but denies most supernatural and mystical phenomena, divine revelation and religious dogmatism. Deism suggests that reason, logic, and observation of nature are the only means to know God and his will. God only creates the world and no longer participates in its life.

Deism highly values ​​human reason and freedom. Deism seeks to harmonize science and the idea of ​​the existence of God, and not to oppose science and God.

Voltaire by no means rejects religion and religiosity as such. He believed that a religion freed from layers of obscurantism and superstition is the best way to control social ideology. His words became winged: "If God did not exist, he would have to be invented."

Voltaire on the state

Voltaire believed that the state must meet the needs of the era, and can act in various organizational forms.

The duality of Voltaire's judgments is that he was an opponent of absolutism, but at the same time he had no other ideas of managing society. He saw a way out in the creation of enlightened absolutism, a monarchy based on the "educated part" of society, on the intelligentsia, on "philosophers". Such will be the existing political system if an "enlightened" monarch appears on the royal throne.

Being in another exile, living in Berlin, Voltaire, in a letter to the Prussian king Friedrich, expressed his point of view as follows: “Believe me that only those who, like you, began by improving themselves in order to get to know people, with love, were truly good sovereigns. to the truth, with aversion to persecution and superstition ... there cannot be a sovereign who, thinking in this way, would not return the golden age to his possessions .... The happiest time is when the sovereign is a philosopher.

But only education and wisdom does not exhaust the set of qualities necessary for an “enlightened” monarch. He must also be a merciful sovereign, listening to the needs of people, his subjects. "A good king is the best gift heaven can give to earth." Voltaire wanted to believe that the institutions of an absolutist state had not outlived their usefulness and could overcome their own socio-economic, legal and ideological foundations as soon as a highly learned moral autocrat began to rule the country.

Of course, such a point of view was naive, even Voltaire himself probably understood the impossibility of such an ennobled absolutism. Therefore, after some time he quarreled with Frederick and was forced to flee from there.

In the last years of his life, Voltaire talked a lot about the republic. He even wrote in 1765 a special essay "Republican Ideas". But again, he believed that the head of the republic should be, if not the monarch, then the sole leader, using the mechanisms of the republican structure to reflect the aspirations of all sectors of society. It must be said that it was these ideas that formed the basis of the first and second French republics. And now, at the present time, the right combination, the balance of republican government with individual leadership is the basis of the strength of the state

According to social views, Voltaire is a supporter of inequality. Society should be divided into rich and poor. This is what he considers the engine of progress.

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Introduction

1. The life and works of Voltaire

2. Philosophical views of Voltaire

3. The main provisions of the philosophy of Voltaire

Introduction

An intolerable situation developed in feudal France in the 18th century. The old order of things became more absurd and more destructive for the nation from hour to hour. Sometimes the bread produced in the country was only enough for four or five months. Famine came every three years, bread riots shook the country; in 1750, the rebellious artisans of the Parisian suburbs called for the burning of the royal palace in Versailles. The peasant, dependent on the seigneur, did not want to work in the fields anymore: after taxes, requisitions, taxes, direct and indirect, he had nothing left and he fled the village in search of at least some kind of income or simply became a beggar. Nobles - nobles, leaving their empty castles, parks and huge hunting reserves, lived at the court, filling their leisure time with palace gossip, intrigues and petty claims. The king had ten palaces. A quarter of the state income was spent on their maintenance. The favorites, courtiers, numerous royal relatives demanded money, and the state treasury was empty.
There were four thousand monasteries in the country, sixty thousand monks and nuns, six thousand priests, and the same number of churches and chapels. Two privileged classes - the clergy and the nobility owned almost half of the national lands, the best. On these lands stood palaces and castles with luxurious furniture, paintings, marble statues and a huge number of servants - and all this required money, money, money. Meanwhile, what could increase the influx of this money, in other words, the material production of the country developed extremely slowly. The "third estate" - merchants, owners of manufactories, that is, the wealthy and gaining strength of the bourgeoisie - was fettered in their initiative, limited in their activities by complete political lack of rights. The state system of estate monarchy was outdated and hindered the development of productive forces. The economic, social, political and cultural conditions of the French society of the period under review could not do without a radical break. The bourgeois revolution of the late 18th century was brewing.

Such was the France of the second half - the end of the 18th century, the century of the Enlightenment, the century of Voltaire, who, earlier than others, felt the approach of future changes and, together with the best minds of his country, contributed to the ideological preparation of a revolutionary explosion.

1. The life and works of Voltaire

Francois-Marie Arouet (1694-1778), the son of a Parisian notary, known to the world under the literary name Voltaire, very early began to disturb the Parisian authorities with impudent epigrams to influential people. For poems that denounced the Prince Regent Philip of Orleans, he was kept behind bars in the Bastille for eleven months. But the punishment did not work. Years, books, meetings with critically thinking people, personal life experience, talent did their job. Mature Voltaire is the first poet of France, the first playwright and, moreover, a historian, philosopher, a great mocker, an implacable opponent of the church, fanaticism, inveterate dogmatic thinking - in the end, the ruler of the thoughts of his age, "the leader of minds and fashion" (Pushkin) . His performance is enormous. He showed himself in all areas of literary creativity, breaking the established canons, while declaring that "all genres are good, except boring." "He flooded Europe with lovely trinkets, in which philosophy spoke in a generally accessible and playful language," Pushkin wrote about him. Crowned persons court Voltaire. True, Louis XV hates him and is afraid, but Pope Benedict XIV sends him a flattering message, Empress Catherine II enters into a lengthy correspondence with him, Frederick II, King of Prussia, showers him with favors. However, in his native France, Voltaire is always on the alert. And not without reason. One of his readers, almost a boy, nineteen-year-old De la Bar, was executed in 1766 for godlessness: Voltaire's "Philosophical Dictionary" found in his possession served as evidence.

Pushkin called Voltaire "sly and bold." The characterization is correct. Few in his day dared a desperate battle with prejudices rooted for centuries, with the official ideology. Voltaire made up his mind. He acted boldly, sometimes even boldly, but also slyly. "Throw arrows without showing your hand," he instructed his comrades-in-arms. For sixty years, from the first performance of the tragedy "Oedipus" (1718) until his death, he tirelessly shook the spiritual foundations of feudalism, making a revolution in the minds of his contemporaries.

In March 1735, Voltaire changed his usual caution. He took a rash step: he read to his friends the first songs of his new poem "The Virgin of Orleans"

Rumors about the poem, which he had been writing since 1730 and kept so far in the strictest confidence, spread around Paris, and reached the ears of Cardinal Fleury, and he was omnipotent under Louis XV. I had to hide immediately. And Voltaire went to Luneville, to Lorraine, to wait out the storm there.

Meanwhile, the Marquise du Châtelet, his good friend, secured permission for him to settle in her estate, in Syre, promising the minister - custodian of the press not to allow "reprehensible" publications. The minister told Voltaire at the meeting that if even a line of his poem appears in print, then - the Bastille, and forever! The police chief tried to reason with the poet: "No matter how much you write, Mr. Voltaire, you will not be able to destroy the Christian religion." As the legend goes, Voltaire replied: "We'll see!"

However, he did not want to destroy religion at all. Voltaire was not an atheist. He, of course, rejected all existing religions, with any personified gods (Christ, Allah or Buddha). But he believed in the idea of ​​a "supreme mind", a higher power that rules the world, unknown to people, that is, he was a supporter of a special "philosophical" religion, the so-called deism, which was adhered to by many enlightened minds of his time.

As for the "unenlightened minds" (the people), Voltaire left Christ, Allah, and Buddha to them. He owns the famous phrase: "If God did not exist, he would have to be invented." Voltaire, not without reason, believed that religion is needed by the people as a moral bridle. "Undoubtedly, in the interests of society, that there should be some deity who punishes that which cannot be suppressed by human justice" ("Philosophical Dictionary").

And yet, in the 18th century, there was no person who would inflict such sensitive blows on religious convictions as Voltaire. He never spoke directly and openly against Christianity, often he even lavished praises on him, but what praises! "The pagan religion shed a little blood, and ours flooded the whole earth with it. Ours is undeniably the only good, the only true, but, using it, we have committed so much evil ..." ("Philosophical Dictionary").

Voltaire also owns the following lines: "The most absurd of all despotisms, the most humiliating for human nature, the most incongruous and the most pernicious is the despotism of the priests; and of all priestly dominions, the most criminal is, without a doubt, the dominion of the priests of the Christian Church."

The theater was Voltaire's main tribune. In the course of sixty years he wrote thirteen tragedies, twelve comedies, many librettos, divertissements, and a total of fifty-four plays. As a master, he was inferior to Corneille and Racine, but in the 18th century he was the only playwright capable of adequately continuing their aesthetic traditions.

Speaking about Voltaire's attitude to absolute power, one cannot fail to mention his tragedy "Fanaticism, or the Prophet Mohammed", which was staged back in 1741 in Lille and in 1742 in Paris. in fact he challenged all the churches, the prophets and all the "powerful ones".

In essence, Voltaire is engaged in this tragedy with a well-known political figure, the Italian Nicolo Machiavelli, who in his treatise The Sovereign (1515) proclaimed that all means are good for the ruler to achieve and maintain power. Voltaire's Mohammed - a negative character - embodies the qualities of an "ideal" sovereign according to Machiavelli's program, but this is precisely what makes him a tyrant. It is curious that the young Prussian prince, later King Frederick II, not without the influence of Voltaire, undertook to write the treatise Anti-Machiavelli.

The main thing for which Voltaire condemns Mohammed is his deep contempt for the people, his attitude towards the masses as a crowd of slaves sacrificed to his personal egoism and ambition.

There are no gods among people; any deification of an individual leads, in the end, to its uncontrolled power over other people, to tyranny - such is the thought of Voltaire. It runs like a red thread throughout the play, the problems of which are extremely characteristic of the Enlightenment of the 18th century, when the very principle of absolute monarchy was called into question, and its support, the Catholic Church, was sharply criticized.

At the invitation of Frederick II, Voltaire leaves for Prussia. There, in 1752, he wrote a small philosophical story "Micromegas", which he himself considered a trifle. And yet this charming trifle is still read with enthusiasm.

Today, the theme of space travel in a work written more than two hundred years ago seems almost a scientific prediction. But the story has a different task. When creating "Micromegas", Voltaire least of all thought about science fiction. He needed the inhabitants of Saturn and Sirius only to "refresh" the reader's perception - a device that he uses in almost every of his philosophical stories. This technique consists in the fact that ordinary things are put on display by "foreign" characters, outside the given system of life, who are able to assess the established order of things in a new way, critically and impartially. These "beginners" have particularly sharp eyesight, not weakened by habit, prejudice, dogma, they immediately notice negative phenomena and absurdities with which people have become accustomed, resigned and accepted as the norm. In "Micromegas" the absurdities of European civilization are revealed and seen through the eyes of aliens from outer space.

The story "Micromegas" is philosophical par excellence. Here are mentioned the names of the philosophers Leibniz, Malebranche, Pascal, with whom Voltaire did not agree, the names of Locke and Newton, whom he promoted in every possible way. Here are arguments about epistemological problems, and a system of perceptions, about sensations, moral and philosophical questions are posed here. But the main idea of ​​Voltaire comes down to the fact that people do not know how to be happy, that they have managed to make their tiny world full of evil, suffering and injustice. The reader will learn that our planet is infinitely small on the scale of the universe, that man is infinitely small on the scale of this infinitely small planet. The ironic shift of scale helps Voltaire to destroy the seemingly unshakable medieval authorities, to show the imaginary earthly grandeur of the "powerful world" and the absurdity of the established state orders of his time. The earth is just a lump of dirt, a small anthill; The Mediterranean Sea is a swamp, and the Great Ocean is a tiny pond. And disputes over an extra segment of this "lump of dirt" are absurd, ridiculous; meanwhile, people, at the behest of their rulers, exterminate each other in absurd and destructive wars.

"I even wanted to ... crush this anthill inhabited by pitiful killers with three blows of my heel," says the angry resident of Sirius. "Do not work. They themselves ... are working on their own destruction," the inhabitant of Saturn answers, - this statement has not lost its relevance today, and in the light of recent events - global terrorism and inadequate measures to combat it - has become especially acute.

The absurdity of the state of affairs lies in the fact that people could live happily, because no matter how small our planet is, it is beautiful. Space aliens are delighted with her, and with the mind of human beings. But the trouble is that human society is poorly organized and must be remade on the basis of reason. People, "thinking atoms", in the words of the giant Micromegas, should have "tasted the purest joys" on their planet, spent their days "in love and reflection", as befits truly rational beings.

In 1753, Voltaire left the court of Frederick II. In fact, he flees from Prussia, having more than seen enough of the abominations both in the court of the king and beyond its walls. He later described his impressions in his Memoirs, which he was afraid to publish and even, according to rumors, tried to destroy. The ubiquitous publishers, however, did not doze off, and the little book was published as soon as Voltaire died, and even in one of the secret printing houses in Berlin, right next to Frederick II himself.

Having left the borders of the Prussian state, Voltaire wandered for some time, not finding a permanent home, and finally settled in his home, having bought Ferne Castle not far from the Swiss border (for safety's sake!). Here, hiding in his bedroom and saying to the sick, so as not to interfere with pesky guests, he reads, writes, dictates, sending up to thirty letters on a different day to all corners of Europe. His head is full of the most extensive plans, and the world requires his constant intervention.

All the creative activity of Voltaire, from the very beginning to the end, had a pronounced political orientation. He was first and foremost a public figure. And, perhaps, the crowning achievement of this activity was his exposure of the "murder committed by people in judicial robes" (letter to d'Argental, August 29, 1762) - in the famous "case of Calas", a Protestant, that stirred up all of Europe (thanks to Voltaire). , brutally executed on March 9, 1762 in Toulouse for religious reasons.The absurdity of the accusation, the cruelty of torture and execution (wheeling, burning), hysteria, savagery, revelry of fanatical passions acquired under the enlightening pen of Voltaire the ominous features of universality - ignorance, obscurantism, savagery of the morals of the century. Calas was acquitted posthumously. In 1793, the Convention decided to erect a marble column "Calas - the victim of fanaticism" at the place of his execution. "Philosophy has triumphed!" Voltaire triumphed (letter to d "Argental, March 17, 1765). The name of Voltaire sounded in the speech of people far from literature and philosophy, "non-literary" people as the name of the defender of the oppressed and the "scourge of the oppressors."

"The world is furiously liberated from stupidity. The great revolution in the minds declares itself everywhere," Voltaire reported to his friends.

Now, near the shores of Lake Geneva, almost free, almost independent, decrepit in body, young in soul and mind, Voltaire created his artistic masterpieces.

In 1758 he wrote his best philosophical story, Candide, or Optimism. Here again the question of the moral meaning of the world is raised.

It is appropriate to recall some details of the spiritual life of the XVII-XVIII centuries. The famous astronomer Kepler in 1619 in his work "The Harmony of the Worlds" established the laws of planetary motion - everything in the world appeared orderly and expedient. Later, Leibniz developed the doctrine of world harmony. Good and evil turned out to be equally necessary in his understanding and seemed to balance each other. Many minds agreed with this, including Voltaire.

But in 1755, an earthquake destroyed the city of Lisbon. More than thirty thousand of its inhabitants perished. The question of world evil again became the subject of philosophical reflection. From natural disasters in nature, thought moved to social disasters. In the poem "On the death of Lisbon" (1756), Voltaire declared that he refuses to recognize "world harmony" and from Leibnizian optimism. The story "Candide, or Optimism" is devoted to debunking this theory. ("What is optimism?" - "Alas," said Candide, "this is the passion to assert that everything is good, when in reality everything is bad").

Rejecting the philosophy of Leibniz and the English writers of the 18th century, whose optimism led to reconciliation with evil, as if "a necessary element of world harmony", Voltaire was an optimist in another sense, namely, he believed in the perfection of mankind and all its social institutions.

Voltaire's prose is vivid and politically accurate. He did his job. Serving as a true philosopher to all nine muses, he never for a moment forgot about his educational mission. Tireless and mocking, he was irresistible and omnipotent. There was danger in his joke, his laughter cut like a sword. The European aristocracy tasted the honey of his speeches, not always feeling the taste of poison in them. With his withered hand he ruled public opinion. The dominion of Voltaire excluded the tyranny of prejudice, dogmatic compulsion. It was a free realm of the mind, where everyone was admitted. Here it was easy to breathe, here the thought reached the reader instantly, because it was presented with elegant simplicity, the most complex problems acquired clarity and comprehensibility. He did not live to see the Revolution, but the Revolution did him justice.

The remains of Voltaire, taken away from Paris on the night of June 1, 1778, secretly, in great haste (the church authorities forbade the official funeral ceremony), were solemnly returned to the capital and buried in the Pantheon on July 11, 1791. voltaire religious god atheism

Voltaire today is a recognized authority with almost three hundred years of experience. But he is not a monument, in front of which everyone stops equally and impartially. "And today there are still many good souls who would burn it with pleasure," wrote the French magazine "Erop" in 1959. Voltaire's writings are a school of sober, sound thinking. His satirical irony is beneficial. It ridicules affectation that speculates on noble feelings, dispels illusions, and, finally, miraculously breaks heavy dogmas and prejudices, which are by no means poor in our 21st century.

2. Philosophical views of Voltaire

Voltaire's attitude to religion and God.

An important place in the philosophy of Voltaire is occupied by his attitude to religion and to God. Formally, Voltaire can be attributed to the deists, since he wrote that he believes in God, but at the same time God was considered only as a mind that designed an expedient "machine of nature" and gave it laws and movement. God does not set in motion the mechanisms of the world's activities all the time. “God once commanded, the universe obeys forever.” Voltaire defines God as "a necessary being, existing in itself, by virtue of its rational, good and powerful nature, a mind many times superior to us, for it does things that we can hardly understand." Although Voltaire writes that the existence of God does not require proof (“reason forces us to recognize it and only madness will renounce to its definition”), he himself still tries to give them. Voltaire believes that it is absurd if "everything - movement, order, life - was formed by itself, without any plan", so that "only movement created the mind", therefore, God exists. “We are reasonable, so there is a higher mind. Thoughts are not inherent in matter at all, which means that a person received these abilities from God.

But the further Voltaire goes in such reasoning, the more contradictions can be found in them. For example, at first he says that God created everything, including matter, and a little further he writes that "God and matter exist by virtue of things." In general, the more Voltaire writes about God, the more faith and fewer arguments: "... let's worship God, not trying to penetrate into the darkness of his sacraments." Voltaire writes that he himself will "worship him as long as he lives, not trusting any school and not directing the flight of his mind to limits that no mortal is able to reach." Most of Voltaire's arguments in favor of the existence of God cannot be taken into account because of their inconsistency.

Voltaire believes that God is “the only one who is powerful, because he created everything, but is not overly powerful,” since “every creature is limited by its nature” and “there are things that the supreme intellect cannot prevent, for example to prevent the past from not existing, from the present being subject to constant fluidity, from the future not flowing from the present.” The Supreme Being "made everything out of necessity, for if his creations were not necessary, they would be useless." But this necessity does not deprive him of will and freedom, because freedom is the ability to act, and God is very powerful and therefore the most free. Thus, according to Voltaire, God is not omnipotent, but simply the most powerful; not absolutely, but the most free.

This is Voltaire's concept of God, and if we judge the views of the philosopher by it, then he can be attributed to the deists. But Voltaire's deism is essentially a disguised atheism and materialism, since, in my opinion, Voltaire needs God to live in peace with himself and have a starting point for reflection.

Voltaire wrote: “Let us take comfort in that. that we do not know the relationship between the web and the ring of Saturn, and will continue to explore what is available to us. I think that's exactly what he does. And, considering further study of being inaccessible, Voltaire proceeds to reasoning on the topic of religion. It should be noted here that Voltaire always clearly separated philosophy and religion: “You should never entangle Holy Scripture in philosophical disputes: these are completely heterogeneous things that have nothing in common with each other.” In philosophical disputes, we are talking only about what we can learn from our own experience, therefore one should not resort to God in philosophy, but this does not mean that philosophy and religion are incompatible. In philosophy, one cannot resort to God only when it is necessary to explain physical causes. When the dispute is about primary principles, turning to God becomes necessary, because if we knew our primary principle, we would know everything about the future and would become gods for ourselves. Voltaire believes that philosophy will not harm religion, since man is not able to figure out what God is. “A philosopher never says that he is inspired by God, for from that moment on he ceases to be a philosopher and becomes a prophet.” The conclusions of philosophers contradict the canons of religion, but do not harm them.

What does Voltaire understand by the word "religion": constantly"? Firstly, Voltaire debunks the official religion in his works, since, in his opinion, the official religion is very different from the true one. And the ideal religion (which is true) is a religion that unites us with God as a reward for good and separates for crimes, "the religion of serving your neighbor in the name of love for God, instead of persecuting him and killing him in the name of God." This is a religion that “would teach tolerance towards others and, having thus earned universal favor, would be the only one capable of turning the human race into a people of brothers ... It would not so much offer people redemption for sins, but would inspire them to social virtues ... would not allow (her servants) to usurp ... power that could turn them into tyrants. This is precisely what the Christian religion lacks, which Voltaire considered the only true one, and so true that "it does not need dubious evidence."

Voltaire has always been extremely negative about religious fanatics, believing that they are capable of doing much more harm than all atheists. Voltaire is a resolute opponent of religious intolerance. “Anyone who tells me: “Think like me or God will punish you,” says to me: “think like me or I will kill you.” The source of fanaticism is superstition, although in itself it may be harmless patriotic enthusiasm, but not dangerous fanaticism. A superstitious person becomes a fanatic when he is pushed to any villainy in the name of the Lord. If a believer and an unbeliever break the law, then the first of them remains a monster all his life, while the second falls into barbarism only for a moment, because "the latter has a bridle, while nothing holds the first."

“The most stupid and evil people are those who are “more superstitious than others,” since the superstitious believe that they do out of a sense of duty what others do out of habit or in a fit of madness. Superstition for Voltaire is a mixture of fanaticism and obscurantism. Voltaire considered fanaticism to be a greater evil than atheism: “Fanaticism is a thousand times more disastrous, because atheism does not inspire bloody passions at all, but fanaticism provokes them; atheism opposes crimes, but fanaticism causes them. Atheism, says Voltaire, is a vice of some smart people, superstition and fanaticism is a vice of fools. In general, atheists are for the most part bold and misguided scientists.

In fact, Voltaire had an ambiguous attitude towards atheism: in some ways he justified it (atheists “trampled the truth with their feet, because it was surrounded by lies”), but in something, on the contrary, he accuses (“it almost always turns out to be disastrous for virtues"). But still, it seems to me, Voltaire was more an atheist than a believer.

Voltaire clearly sympathizes with atheists and is convinced that a society consisting of atheists is possible, since society forms laws. Atheists, being also philosophers, can lead a very wise and happy life under the shadow of laws, in any case, they would live in society with more ease than religious fanatics. Voltaire constantly compares atheism and superstition, and invites the reader to choose the lesser evil, while he himself made his choice in favor of atheism.

Of course, despite this, Voltaire cannot be called a champion of atheistic ideas, but his attitude to God and religion is such that Voltaire can be attributed to those thinkers who have not completely decided on their attitude to faith. However, it can be said that Voltaire draws a sharp line between belief in God and religion. He believes that atheism is better than blind faith, which can give rise not just to superstition, but to prejudices brought to the point of absurdity, namely fanaticism and religious intolerance. “Atheism and fanaticism are two monsters that can tear apart and devour society, but atheism in its delusion retains its mind, tearing teeth out of its mouth, fanaticism is struck by madness, sharpening these teeth.” Atheism can at most allow the public virtues to exist in a quiet private life, but in the midst of the storms of public life, it must lead to all sorts of villainies. “Atheists holding power in their hands would be just as ominous for humanity as superstitious people. Reason extends a saving hand to us in the choice between these two monsters. The conclusion is obvious, since it is known that Voltaire valued reason above all else and considered it to be the basis of everything.

Thus, Voltaire's atheism is not our usual atheism, which categorically denies the existence of God and everything that is inaccessible to the human mind, but rather simply a choice of the lesser two evils, and Voltaire accompanies this choice with quite convincing evidence that this is precisely evil is the lesser.

3 . The main provisions of the philosophy of Voltaire

Of course, Voltaire's materialism is also not materialism in the truest sense of the word. It’s just that Voltaire, reflecting on what matter is, what is its role in the worldview, etc., eventually begins to adhere to views that somewhat coincided with the views of materialists (in particular, Voltaire was completely agreed that matter is eternal ), but in some ways differed from them: Voltaire does not agree that matter is primary and believes that only empty space exists necessary, and matter - thanks to the will of God, since space is a necessary means of God's existence. "The world is finite, if there is an empty space, then matter does not necessarily exist and received its existence from an arbitrary cause."

Voltaire does not agree that there is some primary matter capable of forming any form and making up the entire Universe, since he could not imagine “a generalized idea of ​​an extended substance, impenetrable and without outlines, without tying his thought to sand, gold, etc. And if such matter existed, then there would be no reason for, for example, whales to grow from grains.” Nevertheless, as mentioned above, Voltaire, like the materialists, believed that matter is eternal, but gave his own explanation for this. According to him, the eternity of matter follows from the fact that “there is no reason why it would not exist earlier”, God created the world not from nothing, but from matter, and “the world, in whatever form it appears, is just as eternal, like the sun. “I perceive the universe as eternal, because it could not be formed from non-existence…, nothing comes from nothing.” The last phrase is the most universal of Voltaire's axioms. Matter is inextricably linked with motion, but Voltaire considers matter to be an inert mass, it can only preserve and not transmit motion, and not be its source, therefore, motion is not eternal. If matter "had in itself even the slightest movement, this movement would be inherent in it, and in this case the presence of rest in it would turn out to be a contradiction." This is one of the arguments that Voltaire expressed against atheism, since it follows from this that since matter cannot move by itself, it means that it receives movement from outside, but not from matter, but from an immaterial being, which is God. But Voltaire gives no arguments against the argument that motion is absolute and rest is relative. Despite all the previous arguments, Voltaire, in the end, had to admit that movement is eternal, since not a single law of nature operates without movement, and all beings, without exception, obey "eternal laws." Thus, one cannot call Voltaire a materialist, but even talk about it. that materialistic ideas are alien to him - to sin against the truth.

In addition, in his judgments about the soul, Voltaire did not go far from the materialists: he does not agree with the statement that a person consists of two entities - matter and spirit, which have nothing in common with each other and are united only thanks to the will of God. According to Voltaire, a person thinks not with the soul, but with the body, therefore, the soul is mortal and is not a substance. The soul is the ability, the properties of our organism. In general, in his reasoning about the soul, Voltaire is close to the materialists. “The ability to feel. to remember, to combine ideas - and there is what is called the soul. However, Voltaire does not deny the possibility of the existence of an indestructible soul. He writes: "I cannot know their (God and soul) substance." It is unlikely that he accidentally uses here the term "substance" for the soul. Previously, he categorically rejected it. The soul, according to Voltaire, is not the sixth sense, since in a dream we do not have ideas and feelings, therefore, it is not material. Matter has extension and density and would have to think and feel constantly. The soul is not a part of the universal soul, since the universal soul is God, and a part of God is also a deity, but a person with his soul is too weak and unreasonable. There can be no soul, since all our abilities for movement, thinking, volition are given to us by God; » Voltaire reads that the soul is mortal, although he admits that he cannot prove this, which does not prevent him, due to lack of evidence, from not believing in the transmigration of souls. Voltaire does not know whether God made the human soul immortal. But in order for a person (the totality of body and soul) to become immortal, it is necessary that after death he retains "his organs, his memory ... - all his abilities." And this does not happen, therefore, immortality is unreal. Thus, it is clear that in his reflections on the soul and matter, Voltaire is somewhere between idealists and materialists. His point of view cannot be attributed to either one or the other direction, many of the above statements differ significantly from the generally accepted opinion. It can be said that Voltaire, trying to comprehend for himself such philosophical concepts as soul, matter, movement, etc., is quite close to the materialists, although he considers the soul and thinking a gift from God: “God arranged the body for thinking exactly just as he arranged it for eating and digesting food. Thoughts and feelings are also a gift from God, since we think and feel in a dream when we do not control our behavior. "My thoughts do not come from me ... and I bow before God, who helps me to think, without knowing how I think." Voltaire's thought is not a creation of matter, since it does not have its properties (to be crushed, for example), therefore, it is not a complex matter, it is a creation of God. All parts of the human body are capable of sensations, and there is no need to look for a substance in it that would feel instead of it. “I absolutely do not understand with the help of what art of movement, feelings, ideas, memory and reasoning are placed in this piece of organized matter, but I see it, and I myself am proof of this.” The diversity of human feelings, according to Voltaire, is not at all a consequence of the fact that we have several souls, each of which we are able to feel one thing, but a consequence of the fact that a person falls into different circumstances.

In general, Voltaire's feelings are far from the last place in his reasoning about basic philosophical concepts, such as "ideas", "principles", "good", "freedom". For example, he writes that we receive all ideas through the senses from external objects, that is, we have neither innate ideas nor innate principles. “Ideas come from a sense of experience,” is the concept put forward by Voltaire, and feelings are always reliable, but in order to make a correct judgment, definition, one must perceive it not with one, but at least with several senses.

Despite the important role given by Voltaire to the senses, he seems to place thought higher: “I admit that I do not flatter myself with the thought that I would have ideas if I were always deprived of all my five senses; but I will not be persuaded that my thinking ability is the result of the five combined potencies, since I continue to think even when I lose them one by one. Our first ideas are our sensations, then complex ideas appear from sensations and memory (memory is the ability to link concepts and images “and associate some small meaning with them at first”), then we subordinate them to general ideas. So, "all the vast knowledge of man follows from this one ability to combine and thus order our ideas."

As already mentioned, the main goal of Voltaire is to study what is available to him. Therefore, in studying ideas, feelings, thinking, etc., he only makes an attempt to explain how they are interconnected and, if possible, to establish their source, but he believes that “to ask the question how we think and feel, and how our movements obey our will”, that is, the mechanisms of the emergence of ideas and feelings, “means to extort the Creator’s secret.”

Of great interest are Voltaire's reflections on life, on the basic principles of its structure, on man and society. Here his views are very progressive (naturally, for that time, since more daring ideas are now known).

Our whole life is "pleasure and pain", which are given to us from God, since we ourselves cannot be the cause of our own suffering. Although people believe that they do everything fairly and reasonably, their actions in all cases of life are guided by routine; they usually indulge in reflection extremely rarely, on special occasions and, as a rule, when there is no time left for it. Even those actions that seem to be the result of upbringing and education of the mind, “Are in fact instincts. All people seek pleasure, only those who have the grosser sense organs seek sensations in which the soul does not take part; those who have more refined senses tend to more elegant amusements.

Voltaire explains all the actions of people with self-love, which “is as necessary for a person as the blood flowing in his veins,” and he considers the observance of his own interests to be the engine of life. Our self-esteem “tells us respect for the self-esteem of other people. The law directs this self-love, religion perfects it. It may seem that Voltaire, generally speaking, has a low opinion of people, since he explains all their actions by base reasons, but, in my opinion, he is still right. After all, explaining our actions by the desire for pleasure, he does not make it the goal of his whole life. In addition, Voltaire is convinced that every person has a sense of decency “in the form of some antidote for all the poisons with which he is poisoned”; and in order to be happy, it is not at all necessary to indulge in vices, rather, on the contrary, “by suppressing our vices, we achieve peace, a comforting evidence of our own conscience; surrendering to vices, we lose peace and health. Voltaire divides people into two classes: "those who sacrifice their selfishness to the good of society" and "complete rabble, in love only with themselves."

Considering man as a social being, Voltaire writes that "man is not like other animals that have only the instinct of self-love", for man "natural benevolence, not seen in animals, is also characteristic." However, often in a person love for oneself is stronger than benevolence, but, in the end, the presence of reason in animals is very doubtful, namely, “these gifts of his (God): reason, love for oneself, goodwill towards individuals of our species, the needs of passion - essence of the means by which we have established society. No human society can exist for a single day without rules. He needs laws, since Voltaire believes that the good of society is the only measure of moral good and evil, and only fear of the punishment of laws can keep a person from committing antisocial acts. However, Voltaire believes that in addition to the laws, God's vcro is necessary, although it has little effect on life. The existence of a society of atheists is unlikely because people who do not have a bridle are not capable of coexistence: laws are powerless against secret crimes, and it is necessary that an "avenging god" punish those who eluded human justice. At the same time, the need for faith does not mean the need for religion (remember that Voltaire always separated faith and religion).

Voltaire identifies obedience to God and laws: “an ancient maxim said that one should obey not people, but God; the opposite view is now accepted, namely, that to obey God means to follow the laws of the land. Another thing is that the laws may be imperfect or the ruler may turn out to be bad, but for bad government, people should only scold themselves and the worthless laws established by them, or their lack of courage, which prevents them from forcing others to comply with good laws. And if the ruler abuses power, then this is the fault of the people who tolerate his rule. And if this is the case, then although it is bad for people, it is indifferent to God. Contrary to popular belief, Voltaire always argued that the monarch is not God's anointed: "the relationship of man to man is incomparable with the relationship of creation to the supreme being, ... to honor God in the guise of a monarch is blasphemy." In general, Voltaire did not see the need for the existence of a monarch (or a similar ruler). He wrote, for example, that the form of government adopted in England is much more progressive than in France, and therefore opposed the revolution in France, since "what becomes a revolution in England is only a rebellion in other countries."

So, to summarize everything written, we can say that Voltaire's views were mostly very progressive and new for his time, many of them went against public opinion.

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