The Age of Enlightenment

In a sense, then, Europeans were sensing that they were living in a new age--an age in which the past was termed a time of barbarism and intellectual and philosophical darkness. There was a new sense of progress, and an idea that all things were discoverable through the intellect using the tools of science and philosophy (Strauss and Cropsey). Similarly, the Enlightenment changed the ideas about natural law and natural rights. With this came a greater spirit of individualism, and the idea that all things were possible (Palmer and Colton 302-49).

This paper will concentrate on one singular aspect of Enlightenment thought, that of Francois Voltaire. After a brief introduction to his life and thought, the paper will turn toward Voltaire's conception of history, which was an integral part of his philosophical thought. Then, Voltaire's most famous work, Candide, will be discussed as a satirical criticism of society. Finally, the paper will conclude with an assessment of Voltaire to the mode

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ty, that history does not simply happen by a random series of events, and that the individual is an important component of history, that makes Voltaire an enlightened philosopher (Ayer 100-5). In his own words, Voltaire describes the particularly ironic nature of history by saying: "When a nation is mistress of the arts, when it is not subjugated and deformed by foreigners, it rises easily from its ruins, and always regains its health" (Ayer 106). From his studies of history, in 1750 Voltaire began a Philosophical Dictionary. The work was begun while he was at the court of Frederick the Great, but not published until 1764. it is a bridge, in a sense, between the poet Voltaire, and the later novelist and social critic. In essence, the Dictionary is not a dictionary at all, but more of a philosophical tract, defining and emphasizing certain platitudes of Voltaire's thought and reason (Richter and Ricardo 108-12). When Voltaire moved to Geneva in the mid-1750s, he was particularly concerned with the nature and value of society. In his correspondence with other thinkers of the Enlightenment, Rousseau for example, Voltaire conceived the idea of replying to other ways of thinking about society through prose. Candide was to be
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Approximate Word count = 2459
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)

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