Voltaire

 Voltaire Created by Erin Palmer, Katelyn Chovance and Chantal Gray

" Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her: but once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game."

[|François-Marie Arouet], more commonly known as Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher. He was born on November 21st 1694 and he passed away on May 30th 1778. Voltaire passed away in a [|house] in Paris, France. When Voltaire was born, the Enlightenment, or "the Age of Reason" had been going on for approximately six years. A few years after his birth, another enlightenment figure, John Locke, wrote the "Essay Concerning Human Understanding". This was one of the first opinionated pieces that the enlightenment would see. His essay also established this as a time period when individuals began to use their own reason to discover the world. Others would follow, and start to rebel against the authority of the church and state. Although some called him an atheist, Voltaire claimed to be deist, meaning he did not believe that any single religious test or tradition of revelation was needed to believe in God. Rather, Voltaire believed in the idea of a universe based on reason and the respect for nature.
 * Voltaire in the Enlightenment **

The third estates people, prior to the time of the enlightenment, had very little knowledge of their rights as citizens. Voltaire had a great impact on the people of this time period, as he was able to influence their decisions through his writings. His best selling pieces had the power to make people revolt, by educating them of their rights as humans. Voltaire was known for his advocacy for freedom of religion and free trade. He was constantly criticising the Catholic church and the French government, which would eventually get him into trouble with the French authorities. An example of this was in 1717 when Voltarie wrote a harsh satire about the [|Duke of Orleans]. His consequence for this was eleven years of imprisonment in the Bastille.
 * Voltaire's Role in the Enlightenment **

Voltaire did not support the dogmatic theology of institutional religions, his religiosity was anticlerical. He constantly defended religious tolerance and attacked religious piety. As a humanist, Voltaire advocated religious and social tolerance, but not necessarily in a direct way. He wrote a lot of satire to get his point across. A lot of this satire insulted the French government, and he would eventually be jailed for it. He wrote a book entitled "Philosophical Letters on the English" in which he praised English law, science, philosophy and religious tolerance. Much of this was over exaggerated and meant as a deliberate critique of France. His main ideas were based upon religious intolerance and free trade.
 * Voltaire's "Big Idea" **

" This horrible discord, which has lasted for so many centuries, is a very striking lesson that we should pardon each other's errors; discord is the great ill of mankind; and [|tolerance] is the only remedy for it".- [| The Philosophical Dictionary] by Voltaire
 * Primary Document Quote **



**Voltaire Reflected in the Enlightenment** The Enlightenment was a time where philosophes were able share there views on different topics, such as religion and government. Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary discussed many topics, such as tolerance. Since Voltaire was a deist, in his writing he dicussed that everyone deserves religious freedom and tolerance. Voltaire is an Enlightenment figure because of these actions.

= Voltaire's Early Life  =

media type="youtube" key="TW-uxvUd_eI" height="311" width="511" align="center"