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Voltaire

Voltaire. By: Thomas Denny, Grant Hawkins, Ben Godwin, Asher Paxton, and Steven Powlis. Voltaire’s Early Life.

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Voltaire

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  1. Voltaire By: Thomas Denny, Grant Hawkins, Ben Godwin, Asher Paxton, and Steven Powlis

  2. Voltaire’s Early Life • Francois-Marie Arouet was born in 1694 in Paris, France. He was born to a fairly wealthy and influential family. His family was very well off and could be described as noble. (Compare to Candide) His mother died when he was 7, so he also could have felt like an orphan (Candide). Voltaire received early education from Jesuits at a prestigious college in Paris. His father didn’t want him to be a writer, and pushed him to be a lawyer many times. Voltaire eventually gave up law, and went back to Paris to write. • His first successful work was a play, called Oedipe. Due to his connections through his already prominent family, Voltaire quickly gained fame and established himself as a prominent writer of the day. • However, his radical views expressed in religion and government got Voltaire arrested by the French Government. He spent 11 months in the Bastille prison.

  3. Exile to England In 1726, a powerful aristocrat accused Voltaire of defamation. To avoid indefinite imprisonment, Voltaire chose to be exiled to England. While he was there for the next three year, his ideas and writing were deeply influenced. He met many authors and influential people through a friend of his, Lord Bolingbroke. Voltaire may have been influenced by “Gulliver’s Travels”, which was an example of writing, coupled with political criticism. Voltaire was also influenced by the works of Shakespeare and the theories of Sir Isacc Newton.

  4. Leibniz Philosophy Leibniz and his philosophies are greatly important throughout Candide. He is important to understanding Voltaire’s point of view, especially as much as he satirizes him. His philosophy is based on Monads. (immaterial, simple, mindlike, entities) Each monad has a set system of internal programming. That causes them to distinct way of interacting, affecting, and communicating with other monads, people, and things. He believes God set up this system so that each person will have a supposed influence on each other. “Pre-established Harmony.” Under this he believes that the soul doesn’t tell the body what to do but the pre-established harmony lets the body know when the soul or mind wants to do something.

  5. (Cont.) He also talks about how our souls can feel pain, even though it happens to our physical bodies. Ex.-2 choirs. 2 clocks.

  6. Leibniz Philosophy on God Everything has a reason for existence. This has to be a good and sufficient reason. This reason is God. Believes we live in the best of all possible worlds. (Pangloss) God is infinitely good, and therefore all of his creations are good. The Earth is the excess of good over evil. Believes God is omnipotent, but also limited. God can only create possibilities but not do it. 2 types of evil. 1.Individual Monads are created imperfect (not God) 2.Every evil is for the greater part of good.

  7. Voltaire’s response through Candide Pangloss is representative of Leibniz’s ideas in Candide. Candide initially believes this philosophy as well. Through the entire book Voltaire makes fun of Leibniz by making Candide and Pangloss’s lives as horrible as possible. (Shipwreck, earthquake, hanging, etc) Eventually Candide concludes that things certainly can not be for the best, because things couldn’t possibly have been designed to be this bad. Perhaps this thinking is directly attributed to Voltaire.

  8. Oedipus(1718) The first literary work that Voltaire used his pseudonym “Voltaire” Adaptation of Sophocles’ Oedipus the king (original Greek work). He completed this work during his 11 month imprisonment in the Bastille.

  9. Henriade(1728) Voltaire’s attempt at an epic poem. Written in 10 cantos/chants. In honor of Henry IV and the celebration of his life. Deals with themes of twin evils of religious fanaticism and civil discord.

  10. Philosophical Letters(1773) Very controversial. Initially released in London in English, before French. Part of Voltaire’s “complete works”. Discusses social and political analysis after he was exiled into England. He was impressed by the religious toleration he found there, along with comparative liberty.

  11. Irene(1778) Written by Voltaire near the very end of his life, the last play he wrote. Play in 5 parts written like a Shakespearean tragedy. Set in Constantinople, this love story between Irene and Alexis Comnene. About philosophical ideas that Voltaire expresses. The play’s premiere was preformed for Voltaire, in Paris, just months before he died.

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