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The Essai is a work of Enlightenment philosophy as much as of history. It urges the active rejection of superstition and fable , and the need to replace them with knowledge based on reason. [ 3 ] Voltaire traced common themes across various human cultures and languages, explained by a shared reality but also by shared human failings, such as ...
Jean le Rond d'Alembert's Preliminary Discourse of l'Encyclopédie provides a history of the Enlightenment which comprises a chronological list of developments in the realm of knowledge—of which the Encyclopédie forms the pinnacle. [150] In 1783, Mendelssohn referred to Enlightenment as a process by which man was educated in the use of ...
Voltaire explains his view of historiography in his article on "History" in Diderot's Encyclopédie: "One demands of modern historians more details, better ascertained facts, precise dates, more attention to customs, laws, mores, commerce, finance, agriculture, population." Voltaire's histories imposed the values of the Enlightenment on the ...
Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment is a monographic series which has been published since 1955. [1] Originally edited by Theodore Besterman , [ 2 ] [ 3 ] the series now comprises more than 600 books - edited volumes and monographs, in either English or French - on diverse topics related to the Enlightenment or the eighteenth century.
It publishes the definitive edition of the Complete Works of Voltaire (Œuvres complètes de Voltaire), as well as Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment (previously SVEC, Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century), a monograph series devoted to the eighteenth century, and the correspondences (letters) of several key French ...
In the 1720s, Voltaire exiled himself in England, where he absorbed Locke's ideas. The philosophers were, in general, less hostile to monarchical rule than they were to that of the clergy and the nobility. [19] In his defence of Jean Calas, Voltaire defended Royal justice against the excesses of fantastical provincial courts. [20]
Voltaire first addresses religion in Letters 1–7. He specifically talks about Quakers (1–4), Anglicans (5), Presbyterians (6) and Socinians (7). In the Letters 1–4, Voltaire describes the Quakers, their customs, their beliefs, and their history. He appreciates the simplicity of their rituals.
The publication of new editions of The Age of Louis XIV in the late 20th century helped to renew interest in Voltaire as a historian. [2] Modern scholars have described it as "the foundational text of French literary history" and "a milestone on the road to modern history-writing". [10]