Voltaire
Voltaire (Voltaire, 1694-1778): Voltaire’s original name was Fran?ois-Marie. Arouet); Voltaire was his pen name. Voltaire was the standard-bearer of the French bourgeois Enlightenment in the eighteenth century and was known as the "King of Thoughts" and "the best poet in France". He was born in a wealthy middle-class family in Paris and received a good education since childhood. His father was a legal notary and wanted him to be a judge in the future, but he became interested in literature and later became a literati. Voltaire experienced the rule of the three feudal dynasties of Louis XIV, XV and XVI, witnessed the rise and fall of feudal despotism, and felt firsthand the decadence and reaction of feudal despotism. He profoundly foresaw that the revolution would inevitably come. He said to his friends: "Everything happening around me is removing the seeds of revolution. Although I may not be a witness to the revolution myself, it is bound to come."
Voltaire was quick-thinking and versatile. His works are known for their harsh language and satirical tone. He said: "Laughter can defeat everything. It is the most powerful weapon." He was thrown into the Bastille twice for his pungent satire on feudal absolutism. His books were banned and he was expelled from the country many times. In 1725, he was forced to go into exile in England and became deeply interested in the politics and culture of the British bourgeoisie. He studied the British bourgeois constitutional monarchy, Locke's materialist empiricism and Newton's theory of gravity.
Voltaire wrote a large number of literary works, among which the famous epic poems "Henriade" and "The Maid of Orleans", the tragedy "Odiper", the comedy "The Son of the Libertine", and the philosophical novel "Condide" people". He also wrote many historical works, such as "The Age of Louis XIV" and "On the Customs and Spirits of Various Nationalities". In terms of philosophy, his representative works include "Philosophical Dictionary", "Metaphysics", (4 Newton's Principles of Philosophy) and other works. One of the most influential books is "Philosophical Correspondence", which is known as "the first to invest in the old system". A bomb.
Voltaire's extraordinary intelligence, sharp thinking and his exposure of dark feudal absolutism gave him a high reputation among the people. The rulers also wanted to use him. On the 15th, he was invited to be the court historian. King Frederick II of Prussia treated him as a guest of honor. Empress Catherine II of Russia also received him. However, in the end, his rebellion resulted in displeasure due to his thoughts. The painful experience made him determined not to associate with any king.
Voltaire bitterly criticized the dark rule of the husband's church. He compared the pope to a "bipedal beast" and called the priests. A "civilized scoundrel", he said that Catholicism was "a most shameful trap laid by cunning people" and he called on "everyone to fight in his own way against the appalling religious fanaticism, some biting his ears; Others stepped on his stomach, and others scolded him from a distance. "But Voltaire was not an atheist, but a deist. He believed that religion was indispensable in order to rule the people. . He said, "Even if there is no God, a God must be created."
Voltaire believed in the theory of natural rights and believed that "people are essentially equal" and demanded that everyone enjoy "natural rights." . 'He advocated equality before the law, but believed that inequality of property rights was inevitable. He idealized the British constitutional monarchy and believed that the ideal was an "enlightened" monarch according to the opinions of philosophers. To govern the country. In philosophy, he acknowledged the objective existence of the material world and affirmed that knowledge comes from sensory experience. However, he also believed that God is the "first mover" of the universe. He despised working people and believed that they could only do things. It is not surprising that as a bourgeois thinker, Voltaire has limitations in all aspects. . Because he is also deeply imprinted with the era and class he lived in. However, his huge contribution in the anti-feudal enlightenment movement is still worthy of eternal memory.
Voltaire's literary views and tastes basically inherited the legacy of 17th-century classicism, which was mainly reflected in his poetry and tragedy creations. His epic poem "Henriade" (1728) is based on the religious wars in France in the 16th century. It tells the story of Henry IV of the Bourbon dynasty who ascended the throne after winning the civil war and issued the Edict of Nantes to protect the freedom of belief of Protestants. Henry IV in the epic is celebrated as an example of an enlightened monarch. Voltaire's philosophical poems are thorough in reasoning, and his satirical poems are witty and unique. Voltaire was mainly engaged in drama creation throughout his life and wrote more than 50 plays, most of which were tragedies. The most valuable of Voltaire's literary works are his philosophical novels. This is a new genre he created, using a joking tone to tell absurd stories, alluding to and satirizing reality, and elucidating profound philosophies.
In his later years, Voltaire settled at Manor Fernay on the border of France and Switzerland.
During this period, religious factional struggles broke out in France, resulting in a large number of refugees. Voltaire sheltered hundreds of families of refugees in his estate. He also fought against injustice many times, seeking justice for the poor and redressing unjust cases. The one with the greatest impact was the Kara incident.
On October 13, 1761, a terrible tragedy occurred in a house on rue Feratier in Toulouse. The owner of the house, Jean Carat, was a respected Huguenot businessman. Late that night, Jean Carat discovered that her eldest son, Marc-Antoine, had committed suicide by hanging from a beam in the shop. The whole family panicked, and his mother burst into tears, alarming the neighbors. Suddenly, someone in the crowd of onlookers said: "Mark Antony was killed by his parents because he chose Catholicism." Catholicism and Protestantism have experienced religious wars in the 16th century, and have been in opposition for more than two hundred years. Still very sharp. A judge from Toulouse came after hearing the news. Without investigating or interrogating, without even looking at the scene, he arrested all the people who were at home on the night of the "murder" incident. Why did Mark Antony commit suicide? It turned out that this 28-year-old young man had studied law and wanted to be a lawyer, but because he could not get a Catholic certificate, he was forced to engage in business. He wanted to get a sum of money from his father to start a business, but was rejected by his father. Disappointed, he went to a cafe every day to drink to drown his sorrows. Later, because he was in debt, he felt that his future was bleak, so he committed suicide in a single thought. How could a gray-haired, nearly 70-year-old man hang a young and strong young man to death? The crime of "murder" is obviously difficult to establish. Prosecutor Diku was upright and went to court to defend Lao Kara, but was suspended for three months. Lawyer Sudel wanted to clarify the truth, but the judge, who was caught up in the excitement, refused to listen. Instead, he thought the lawyer was incompetent. The presiding judge abused his power and forced Carla to confess his accomplice. Carla said sternly: "Since there is no crime, how can there be an accomplice?" On March 10, 1762, the court, regardless of all the evidence of innocence, brutally sentenced Carla. Punishment of car breaking. Before his execution, Lao Carla said sadly and angrily: "I have told the truth, and I died innocently..." Not long after the incident, Voltaire heard various rumors. He has always been skeptical of the church and believes that both Catholics and Protestants are shameless people. The tragic experience of the old man Kara aroused his incomparable indignation against the church and judicial authorities, and he was determined to fight for human dignity and freedom of belief. He calmly and personally investigated and collected evidence through various channels, and summoned Carla's two sons, who had been exiled to Geneva, to Fernay, based on the details provided by them and the reflections heard from passing travelers. Compare and make a personal judgment on the entire event. During this period, he published the confessions of the two Carla brothers, wrote a pamphlet exposing this inhumane injustice, and provided all expenses for Mrs. Carla and brought her to Paris to attract the attention of public opinion. On February 3, 1763, Voltaire personally wrote a letter of appeal, concluding that "I am certain that this family is innocent." On March 7, the Privy Council ordered a retrial of the case, and the old man Kara and his family who had suffered injustice were finally vindicated.
At the end of this year, Voltaire published the famous "On Religious Tolerance", which violently criticized the religious persecution of the reactionary church and the dark phenomenon of the autocratic government that disregarded human life, and elaborated on his idealism and materialism thoughts.
Later, he also campaigned for Labar, a 19-year-old knight who was also persecuted by the church, and Sylvan, a Feng Shui master over fifty years old, and finally vindicated these two unjust cases. .
Throughout his later years, Voltaire engaged in a large number of creations with more vigorous fighting spirit. He wrote 613 entries for the "Encyclopedia" and compiled it into a volume in 1764 as the "Philosophical Dictionary" Publicly published on the topic. In addition, he also published philosophical novels "Zadig" and "Innocent Man", historical works "History of Russia under Peter the Great" and "On Parliament", etc.
It is worth mentioning that during his settlement in Fernay, he maintained frequent correspondence with people from all walks of life in various European countries. According to statistics, there are more than 10,000 letters from Voltaire that have been preserved, and as many as 700 people corresponded with him. He used this method to discuss various social issues with correspondents and promote his anti-authoritarian and anti-church enlightenment ideas. Voltaire's tireless struggle won great reputation. His name resounded throughout Europe, and many celebrities came to Ferney to seek an audience. Fernay became the center of European public opinion, and the progressives at that time respectfully called Voltaire "The Father Fernay."
In February 1778, the 84-year-old Voltaire returned after an absence of 28 years. of Paris. As soon as the news spread, the whole city was in uproar. Some young people who had only heard his name but never seen him were even more ecstatic and flocked to his hotel, making the surrounding streets crowded. As he passed by, the women secretly plucked one or two hairs from his fur coat and kept them as holy relics.
When he arrived in Paris, Voltaire was overly excited and had a uremia attack, and was forced to stay in bed. But he still insisted on dictating the last five-act poetic tragedy "Irena". Although the script was mediocre, when it was performed, the reaction in Paris and Versailles was very strong. The queen attended the performance, and Voltaire also dragged his sick body to appreciate the last honor and happiness.
The church people had ulterior motives and wanted to use Voltaire's prestige to increase their own worth, so they took advantage of Voltaire's death in an attempt to make some money from it.
One day, a priest sneaked into Voltaire's ward and asked Voltaire to make a deathbed confession. Although Voltaire was not an atheist but a deist, he was always at odds with the church. He knew the priest's purpose and sent him away unceremoniously.
A few days later, another abbot named Morey repeated his old trick. As soon as Voltaire saw him coming in, he asked:
"Where do you come from, priest?"
"Ah, sir, I come from God!"
"Really? Can you show me God's edict?"
Although Voltaire was seriously ill, he still maintained a clear mind and ruthlessly expressed his thoughts with his unique bitter irony. Expose the ugly face of these "wolves in monk's clothes".
On May 12, Voltaire couldn't help coughing up blood and his temperature rose sharply. The Duke of Richelieu couldn't bear to see his old friend suffer like this, so he sent him opium tincture. Voltaire was so confused that he drank all of this potent sedative. Three priests broke in while he was unconscious. After he regained consciousness, they asked him if he recognized the sanctity of Christ. Voltaire had already given a negative answer in the "Philosophical Dictionary". When he heard the words "Christ" and "Holy", he became furious, made an astonishing move, propped up the sick body, and pushed the priest angrily A handful and said: "Let me die in peace."
At 11 o'clock in the evening on May 30, 1778, Voltaire passed away. The reactionary church hated this blasphemous old enemy and ordered his body to be transported out of Paris overnight and abandoned in a deserted grave.
However, Voltaire’s contribution to the French Enlightenment in the 18th century cannot be erased. For most of his life he was recognized as a leader and mentor of his people. His thoughts and doctrines will educate generations, lay the theoretical foundation for the anti-feudal struggle, and arm the minds of the French people for the coming bourgeois revolution.
After the Bourgeois Revolution, Voltaire's bones were moved to the Cemetery of the Great.
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The Enlightenment was the second cultural movement carried out by the Western bourgeoisie in the 18th century after the Renaissance to oppose the theocracy of the church and feudal autocracy. It pursued political and academic freedom of thought, advocated science and technology, and respected reason. The basis of thought and behavior. The word "Enlightenment", Aufkl?rung in German and Enlightenment in English, means enlightenment. It was extended in the Enlightenment movement to illuminate the problems caused by the superstition and deception of the church and aristocratic despotism with the radiance of cultural knowledge of modern philosophy and literature and art. Restore the authority of reason to an ignorant and backward society. The Enlightenment Movement not only unfolded in the cultural sector, but also involved various aspects such as economy, politics, law, science, philosophy, and even social systems and social customs.
The Enlightenment occurred after the death of Louis XIV in France and before the French Bourgeois Revolution. Although the Renaissance had fought against the church and feudal rule for three to four hundred years from the 13th and 14th centuries to the 15th and 16th centuries, the Christian church and feudal aristocrats had ruled Europe for more than a thousand years and were deeply rooted; at that time, industry and commerce had not yet When developing on a large scale, the bourgeoisie is still in a powerless position, weak in strength, not completely revolutionary, and prone to compromise with reactionary forces. Social development in Western European countries is very uneven. In the 17th century, France was in the so-called "Great Century", that is, the century of Louis XIV. It was also the century when the combined autocratic power of the feudal nobles and senior church monks was at its strongest. The bourgeoisie and the common people combined into the "third estate" and were still in a powerless position. Culture and education were completely in the hands of the Catholic Jesuit monks, who only respected the Bible and a few Latin classics. The general public is in a state of considerable ignorance. This is the historical background of the Enlightenment.
In the 18th century, the economic and political situation began to undergo great changes. France and Britain are separated by the sea, and France is a century behind Britain economically and politically. Britain already has maritime hegemony and developed industry and commerce; the bourgeoisie has stepped onto the political stage and begun the industrial revolution; the working class has become increasingly active; the Chartist movement has emerged in politics, laying the foundation for parliamentary democracy. In literature, after Shakespeare, new novels with citizens as protagonists appeared by Richardson, Sterne and others. Voltaire, Montesquieu and Rousseau, the leaders of the French Encyclopedia School, once stayed in England. They formed close friendships with British empiric philosophers such as Locke and Hume. They all admired Britain's three powers and parliamentary democracy. The Encyclopedia, or Dictionary of Science, Arts and Crafts, compiled by the Enlightenment thinker Diderot in France, was inspired by the Encyclopedia edited by Chambers in England, which disseminated knowledge of modern philosophy and science.
During the 20 years of French Encyclopedia activities, they have been constantly counterattacked and persecuted by reactionary forces. Some people were imprisoned and some were forced to live in exile abroad. Encyclopedias were banned or burned. At that time, the prosecutor's accusation in the Supreme Court's prosecution of the Encyclopedists was that "they formed a group to support materialism, destroy religion, advocate independence and freedom, and corrupt customs." But the encyclopedia finally came out in 1772. In 1789, the Bourgeois Revolution broke out in France. Condorcet, one of the leaders of the Encyclopedia faction, participated in the revolution and was elected to the revolutionary government as a member of the court. The two "Declarations of Human Rights" during the revolution declared that human rights are natural (that is, innate) rights of human beings, including The four major items of "equality, liberty, security and property" embody the ideals of the Encyclopedia School. It can be seen that the Enlightenment Movement made necessary ideological preparations for the French Bourgeois Revolution. Engels pointed out in the introduction to "Anti-Dühring" that "modern socialism...in its theoretical form, it initially appeared as a further and seemingly more thorough development of the various principles proposed by the great French Enlightenment scholars of the 18th century. development".
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Voltaire (1694-1778), French philosopher, historian, and writer. Her real name is Fran?ois-Marie Arouet, and she was born in a family of notaries in Paris. Received secondary education in Jesuit school. After graduation, he socialized with the aristocratic children. He was imprisoned twice for writing poems that satirized the powerful. He fled to England from 1726 to 1729 and concentrated on studying the British political system, philosophy, literature and art. After returning to China, he published the "Philosophical Letters" (also known as the "British Letters", 1734), which promoted the achievements of the British bourgeoisie after the revolution and criticized French autocracy. Government. The tablets were banned immediately after publication, and the Paris court ordered the arrest of the author. He fled to his girlfriend, Mrs. Atlet's manor in Xirei Village, and lived in seclusion for 15 years. During this period, he was once appointed as a historian by the court, and in 1746 he was elected as an academician of the French Academy. Voltaire, holding the illusion of an enlightened monarch, came to Berlin in 1750 at the invitation of King Friedrich II of Prussia. He originally wanted to make a difference in politics, but Frederick II treated him as a literary acolyte. During this period, he got close to the younger generation of Enlightenment thinkers and wrote articles for the Encyclopedia, which were later included in his book "Philosophical Dictionary" (1764). He left Berlin in 1753 and lived in Switzerland. From 1760, he settled in Fernay Manor on the border between France and Switzerland. He maintained frequent correspondence with people from various European countries and actively participated in social activities. He wrote a large number of pamphlets to expose religious persecution and authoritarian regimes. Darkness in the judiciary. In 1778, he returned to Paris to attend the first performance of his tragedy "Irena" and was warmly welcomed by the people.
Among the thinkers of the Enlightenment, Voltaire reflected the interests of the upper bourgeoisie and advocated an enlightened monarchy. Philosophically, he believed in the empiricism of the British materialist philosopher Locke. Voltaire was a deist who advocated a tolerant attitude toward different religious beliefs. He struggled with religious prejudice throughout his life, but believed that religion was indispensable as a means of restraining human passions and vices. His major historical works include "History of Charles XII" (1731), "The Age of Louis XIV" (1751) and "On Customs" (1756). His view of history is basically idealistic, viewing historical development as a struggle of reason against error, especially religious fanaticism, and over-exaggerating the role of outstanding figures in history.
Voltaire's literary views and tastes basically inherited the legacy of 17th-century classicism, which was mainly reflected in his poetry and tragedy creations. His epic poem "Henriade" (1728) is based on the religious wars in France in the 16th century. It tells the story of Henry IV of the Bourbon dynasty who ascended the throne after winning the civil war and issued the Edict of Nantes to protect the freedom of belief of Protestants. Henry IV in the epic is celebrated as an example of an enlightened monarch. Voltaire's philosophical poems are thorough in reasoning, and his satirical poems are witty and unique. Voltaire was mainly engaged in drama creation throughout his life and wrote more than 50 plays, most of which were tragedies. The most valuable of Voltaire's literary works are his philosophical novels. This is a new genre he created, using a joking tone to tell absurd stories, alluding to and satirizing reality, and elucidating profound philosophies.