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Ideas Of The Philosophers In The Enlightenment

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The Philosophers in the Enlightenment
With important ideas from important people comes great importance in change. A certain group of people who were well educated in Western Europe were called the Philosophes. They explored ideas on how to make society grow and how to make it a better place to live. Voltaire was a believer in freedom of religion. “If one religion only were allowed in England the government would very possibly become arbitrary [unrestrained] ; if there were but two, the people would cut one another’s throats; but as there are such a multitude, they all live happily in peace.” (Voltaire) Agreeing with Voltaire, freedom of religion is an important concept in life. If there was only one religion to world would be in chaos. His main idea about religion is that he strongly believed in the idea of expressing and having any religion. Like Locke, Voltaire plays an important role on individual freedom. Voltaire believes that having citizens choose their own religion would bypass all of the religious conflict it would create if everyone would have only one religion. …show more content…

“Reason and experience convince me that the only method of leading women to fulfill their peculiar duties is to free them from all restraint.” (Wollstonecraft) Wollstonecraft believed that the way the women were being treated at the time, wasn’t fair. Nor did Wollstonecraft believe that really anyone was being treated with respect. To render [make] mankind more virtuous, and happier of course, both sexes must act from the same principle;...” (Wollstonecraft) She recommends for women to be as equal as men by allowing them to participate with the men, getting an education, making their skills worthy of being treated like individuals instead of objects or

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Voltaire believed in freedom of speech, religion, and press. Which was the basis for the United States First Amendment. The founding fathers used his beliefs to shape today's government. Voltaire is significant because his philosophy of freedom of speech, religion, and press is still relevant today. Mary

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Voltaire: A New Stance to the Enlightenment The Enlightenment was a critical time for political and social reform amongst society in Europe as many notable faces came to question the way of ruling a country. One of these thinkers was Voltaire, a French philosopher who was instrumental in bringing the ideas of the Enlightenment age to France. Baptized on November 21, 1964 in Paris, France, dying May 30, 1778 in Paris he had a big impact on Western European society.

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Which brings me to the next Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire. Voltaire had a very big impact on society as he encouraged people to start having their own ideas. In Voltaire 's time period people were constantly punished for not agreeing with the church or the government. Voltaire believed that society would be much better off if there was freedom to have your own ideas. Voltaire believed that diversity was the key to success for society as he stated in The Philosophical Dictionary, "To be a good patriot is to wish that one 's city may be enriched by trade, and be powerful by arms"(Voltaire).

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Voltaire is most known for his philosophical ideas including, freedom of speech, love truth and pardon error, God is necessary for governments, the process of thinking logically, and the idea that we are all equal, but virtue separates us. Voltaire knew that it was dangerous to be right when the government was wrong, but governments need to permit freedom of speech among the people. This is, because the people of a country need to the government know when there needs to be a governmental change. François believed that virtue separates us from others, and so we are differentiated by how we treat one another. François Marie Arouet was sent to Tulle in 1715, and imprisoned twice, in 1717 and 1726.

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In society back then women didn't have any rights. Until Mary Wollstonecraft wrote a book about women's rights. She wrote multiple books until she got to the conclusion of women's rights. In one of her books she specified that “By ignorance and low desire, as not to deserve to be ranked with them” (Wollstonecraft 19). In this she shows how women feel and are treated by society.

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Wondering from one belief to the next, people started to develop their own religions until their where many. The three main points that will be addressed are the organization of religions and their corruption, and lastly religion and power. Furthermore, I will be tying in the class system and how it relates to these two major topics. These topics revolve around the main question which is “In terms of a religious perspective, how does Voltaire use the story of Candide to satirize and criticize organized religion and religious hypocrisy?” As we know today there is not just one singular religion there are 4,200 religions, but back during the enlightenment there was not this many.

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In his letter “Letters Concerning the English Nation”, he gives a satire example of a trade exchange at the Royal Exchange. If there were traders of all different religions ready to trade their good, it won’t really matter how they worship their god, it only matters about the money at the moment. Voltaire believed that if there was only one religion in all of England, “the government would very possibly become arbitrary”. (Doc B) This means that if there was only one religion everything would be under only one person’s control, all the laws would only please their personal whim.

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In advocacy for justice, there were times when the issues at hand were inevitably interwoven with his fight against religious oppression. A great example was in the tremendous help he provided in bringing justice to the name of Jean Calas. In the Calas affair, a father was sentenced to death after being accused of killing his son over his conversion to Catholicism from Protestantism. The punishment of the father was swift and yet through investigation, Voltaire proved his innocence. Restitution was later made in restoring the father’s good name as well as donations provided to the family by society, but at what cost?

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They also embraced the ideas of Voltaire who believed in religious freedom and freedom of speech and also the ideas of Montesquieu who believed

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Voltaire was a key figure of the Enlightenment in that he emboldened those fighting for reason, rights and reform in both Europe and America. Many of the the founding fathers of the United States studied Voltaire’s work and related to Voltaire’s experiences of being oppressed by governments. The Founding Fathers included ideals about protecting citizens from any one Church or religion, setting up a legal separation of Church and state as they often heeded Voltaire’s warnings of a government that persecuted those with differing opinions or beliefs. Voltaire identified the manner in which his countrymen were controlled by the fear that they could be arrested and/or killed for dissention. Some of the specific political changes Voltaire campaigned for included the right to a fair trial, an end of government censorship and ending the right of a politician or clergy member to have an individual arrested without substantial reason.

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The Enlightenment has definitely embraced a rich diversity of religious thought. “The views of Voltaire, Rousseau, and the various materialists diverged in important ways.” Voltaire has embraced the conception of natural religion and has embraced the polemics against the intoleration of the Church as well as the philosophy of the the Church. Voltaire believed that natural morality and religion are not entirely innate ideas, but rather simple and universally prevalent conditions standing in need of development.

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Voltaire had an immense reputation for his radical views, sexual freedom, and negative views about Christianity. Voltaire was extremely vocal with his opinions which showed in his writings. Voltaire impacted the Western

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Voltaire believed that if man had reasonable thought and knowledge and took out their superstition and ignorance the world would be better, but still not perfect. He thinks man could be better leading to a better world. He states, “As long as people believe in absurdities they will continue to commit atrocities”. This means he was comparing believing religions, “absurdities”, will make people commit horrible things, “atrocities”. In a country man is supposed to be entitled to certain liberties and

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The Age of Reason has one of the biggest impact on how our society is structured today. There was a social system where countries had absolute rulers and people wasn’t equal. The four Enlightenment thinkers who impacted our society the most are John locke, Mary Wollstonecraft, Voltaire, and Adam Smith. John Locke believed in people and their natural ability. For example, he believed that all men have the right to do what they want and the right to manage their possessions.

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Although some did not agree with Voltaire's beliefs, he continued to fight for them. Voltaire is known to be an atheist, so he fought especially hard for freedom of religion. This strike broadened beliefs amongst the people, and it separated the church and states decisions. This developed a great shift in the world because religion and government discussions did not intervene with one another. Voltaire opened a broad spectrum of beliefs and practices in our world today.

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