Francois Marie Arouet

Vastly considered one of France's most famous and influential enlightenment authors, Voltaire wrote the following quote, “No problem can stand the assault of sustained thinking”. This quote means that no matter how tough a problem is, you can always solve it by thinking it through.

Voltaire was the author of the novella Candide, also known as "Optimism". The the novella, Voltaire portrays the idea of Optimism as being illogical and absurd. In Candide, Voltaire satirizes the doctrine of Optimism, an idea that was greatly used during the Enlightenment time period by philosophers. In this narrative, Candide is a young man who goes through a series of undertakings and ventures around the the globe where he experiences evil and adversity. Throughout his journeys, Candide maintained the ideas of the teachings of his tutor, Pangloss. Candide and Pangloss believed in the idea that “All is for the best in the best of all possible worlds...” (Voltaire 4). This belief is what Voltaire pointed out to be an irrational way of

Throughout the Lais of Marie de France there are several themes presented as central to the various stories. Some of these themes are present in all of the lais. One such example is that of courtly love and it's implications. Courtly love being one of the more prominent themes in all of medieval literature, it is fittingly manifested in all of the lais as well. Another theme present in two of the lais is isolation. The theme of isolation plays a large role in the stories of Guigemar and Lanval. In each of these lais we see isolation as a factor in determining the fates of the central figures. Within each lai isolation is represented on several different occasions, each time having a direct impact on the outcome. These instances of

In 1976 Rene Levesque won the provincial election and became premier of Quebec with his party, Parti Quebecois. The separatists wanted to strengthen the French language and didn’t care about official bilingualism. So not long after taking office, the Parti Quebecois passed Bill 101, which is also known as the Charter of the French Language. It decreed that French was the single official language of the province of Quebec and that employees of the government had to work in French. Outdoor commercial signs had to be in French only and the children of immigrants would have to go to French schools. The Quebecois likes this new law because they thought their language and culture was becoming endangered. Birth rates in Quebec had gone down and the

“Being right is dangerous when the government is wrong”-Voltaire. Voltaire’s quote relates directly to the novel Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. The definition of a catch-22 is a dilemma or difficult circumstance from which there is no escape because of mutually conflicting or dependent conditions, essentially, the government uses the law of catch-22 to ensure that they are always right. This quote is proven to be truthful throughout the novel as well as in more realistic and personal experiences. Through small and defiant acts Yossarian makes his opinion clear, whether the government likes it or not.

Mentioned above, Candide fervently attacks the idea that optimism, which says that rational thought can restrain the evils committed by humans. It can be concluded that Voltaire attacks optimism because he did not believe that the sole power of thought and reason could overcome modern social institutions with.

Candide 's hyperbolic optimism is Voltaire’s way of jeering at the German philosopher and mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz. In the Leibniz’s theodicy (1710) he wrote that the world must be “the best of all possible Worlds” which is clearly where Pangloss’ statement comes from. Another dig is at John Locke who believed that the human brain is like a blank tablet, or tabularasa, on which the natural world produces the individual 's understanding and beliefs. By having Candide be an example of a student who has no ideas of his own and acts like a tabularasa, Voltaire mocks the famous physician and member of the Royal Society.

“I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to death your right to say it,” were the famous words of Fracois Marie Arouet, more commonly known under the pen name of Voltaire. He was known for being very outspoken and rebellious, which got him into trouble with the authorities for most of his life. Voltaire advocated the French bourgeoisie as being ineffective, the aristocracy as being corrupt, and the commoners as being too superstitious. Voltaire’s beliefs on freedom and reason is what ultimately led to the French Revolution, the United States Bill of Rights, and the decrease in the power of the Catholic Church, which have all affected modern western society.

While the good Jacques is drowning (as a result of his own philosophical beliefs in altruistic behavior, no less) Pangloss attributes the event in typical nonsensical fashion to the fact that “the bay of Lisbon had been formed expressly for the Anabaptist to drown in" and acts with similar reluctance and self-absorption after the earthquake when Candide asks for assistance. In sum, far from being a treatise on the beneficial nature of philosophy in bringing about positive change, Voltaire is suggesting that philosophy is, in itself, useless and even damaging. While her presents a number of ways of looking at the world philosophically, none of them are ever proven right. Martin’s extreme cynicism is not the way, Pangloss’ blinding optimism isn’t either, therefore it seems that the only way for a true revolution to come about is if one turns off from philosophy completely. This seems like a strange message coming from an author who was one of the most recognized philosophes of his time, and thus it seems rather ironic that the ultimate message about philosophy and its use is so grim. Again, it would seem that most of Voltaire’s uses of philosophy are not aimed at gearing up the masses for a revolution, rather, they are just ironic statements on a society that is recognizable for those contemporary readers. It is also apparent in his

Francois-Marie Arouet, better known by his pen name “Voltaire”, once said “Nothing is more dangerous than ignorance and intolerance armed with power”. This quote criticizes the government and the Catholic Church - two institutions known for their lack of tolerance, respect, and value of the common person’s life. Voltaire was a French author, historian, and philosopher who was active during the age of enlightenment in the 18th century. It was a time characterized by the discussion of four new values: Humanitarianism, ending suffering; Progress, furthering society; Rationality, using logic and reason to improve the world; and Freedom of Thought, challenging traditional authority, blind obedience, and superstition. Voltaire is known for

Unlike many other disciplines and ways of studying the world, the philosophical approach can vary from person to person and take many shapes, without restricting itself to one specific method at all time. That quality alone has given enormous freedom and variation to the work of many great philosophers, even on the subject of philosophy. To this end, we now turn our attention to Socrates and Voltaire, two of the great philosophers and their concerns and though on philosophy.

Voltaire uses a lot of sarcasm to explain how he views the world. He believes that it is not just enough to believe in some values and morals. What is important is that the actions of a person ought to reflect on their beliefs perfectly. Voltaire goes ahead to argue that the experiences of life are vital to the functionality of reason. Meaning that the knowledge one will have is dependent on their experiences in life.

During the period of Enlightenment, many philosophers began a new way of thinking. For philosopher Alexander Pope in An Essay on Man, Pope believed that, “Whatever is, is right” (L. 294), in that God is in control and every human being is a part of a greater design of God. Voltaire later challenged that belief in Candide with the idea that God does not produce order, but instead, we must produce it ourselves and use reason to give our lives meaning. Pope’s position is more optimistic, while Voltaire’s position takes on a pessimistic view in that it does not allow for the belief in some sort of higher purpose. Drawing from personal experience, Pope’s belief that we perceive troubles as troubles only because

The information condensed in this quote demonstrates the autonomous nature of all human beings. Strenuous obstacles hinder everyone from achieving whatever they desire, which can range from everyday obstacles such as a coffee maker not functioning properly to excruciating impalements like a person deleting the final prototype design on the deadline day. When humans encounter these challenges, the sole way to resolve and gain knowledge from that experience is to kinesthetic maneuver one’s way through the complication, the implications that Galileo Galilei exerted in his statement. Individuals learn nothing if they do not unearth the alternative themselves; another person rambling instructions, a video blaring instructions, and a didactic book showing

Georges Seurat painted Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte in 1884. Geroges Seurat’s style is categorized as post-impressionism and is referred to as pointillism. Pointillism is a painting technique involving the application of precise dots of a pure color placed adjacent to one another (“Georges Seurat”). By using a series of dots, it generates luminous colors that optically blend creating a more harmonious piece of work as opposed to mixing and overlapping colors (“Georges Seurat”). When viewing Seurat’s works from a distance it looks as though they have been painted with normal brushstrokes, but up close you are able to see the series of dots similar to how pixels make up a photograph. During the19th century in France, a period