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Essai sur les mœurs et l'esprit des nations (translated to English as "An Essay on Universal History, the Manners, and Spirit of Nations") [1] [2] is a work by the French writer, historian, and philosopher Voltaire, published for the first time in 1756. [3]
Voltaire was a versatile and prolific writer, producing works in almost every literary form, including plays, poems, novels, essays, histories, and even scientific expositions. He wrote more than 20,000 letters and 2,000 books and pamphlets. [7] Voltaire was one of the first authors to become renowned and commercially successful internationally.
Letters on the English (or Letters Concerning the English Nation; French: Lettres philosophiques) are a series of essays written by Voltaire based on his experiences living in Great Britain between 1726 and 1729. The book was published first in English in 1733 and then in French the following year, where it was seen as an attack on the French ...
1. “Better is the enemy of good.” 2. “I cannot imagine how the clockwork of the universe can exist without a clockmaker.” 3. “Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will ...
The philosophical movement was led by Voltaire and Rousseau, who argued for a society based upon reason rather than faith and Catholic doctrine, for a new civil order based on natural law, and for science based on experiments and observation.
Candide, ou l'Optimisme (/ k ɒ n ˈ d iː d / kon-DEED, [5] French: ⓘ) is a French satire written by Voltaire, a philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment, [6] first published in 1759. . The novella has been widely translated, with English versions titled Candide: or, All for the Best (1759); Candide: or, The Optimist (1762); and Candide: Optimism (1947)
Its thinkers did not necessarily agree to a set of counter-doctrines but instead each challenged specific elements of Enlightenment thinking, such as the belief in progress, the rationality of all humans, liberal democracy, and the increasing secularisation of European society.
Although Voltaire sent Catherine advice on the subject, he never pushed his ideas, nor did he condemn Catherine for not taking more progressive action against the institution. Nevertheless, Voltaire made clear his stance regarding serfdom in his submission for an essay competition held by the Free Economic Society of St. Petersburg in 1767.