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Philosopher · Writer · Playwright
Writer and philosopher who represents the French Enlightenment. He criticized religious intolerance and despotic power and argued for reason and tolerance. He symbolizes the intellectual changes of eighteenth-century Europe.
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Residence
Candide
1759
Book
The Enlightenment
1715–1789
Movement · Participant
Map: Natural Earth (PD)
Born in Paris, he received a classical education and made a name in literature and society. Satire of the powerful brought him imprisonment and exile, giving him direct experience of tension between speech and political power.
Through plays, philosophical letters, and works such as Candide, he criticized superstition and intolerance. In the Calas affair, he also worked to shape public opinion against wrongful conviction and religious conflict.
Voltaire moved through courts and salons while using sharp irony to unsettle authority. He wrote an enormous number of letters and made use of a European network of intellectuals.
His thought did not directly make the French Revolution, but it broadened the intellectual ground for criticizing the old regime. Studying Voltaire shows how speech, religion, justice, and public opinion became linked on the path toward modern politics.
