How Did Voltaire Spread The Ideals Of The Enlightenment

The eighteenth century was an era in which cultural and intellectual forces, as well as reason and analysis were extremely important and emphasized throughout everyday life. It was encouraged by philosophers to challenge powerful authorities, authorities like the Catholic Church. Famous texts such as the "Encyclopedie," The Social Contract," and "Wealth Of Nations" all helped and were revolutionary in spreading the ideals of the Enlightenment. Religion in the Enlightenment period was enormous. Critical of the church and the corruption within it, was a philosopher by the name of Francois-Marie Arouet. Better known as "Voltaire."

Enlightenment era religion was a response to the previous century of the religious conflict in Europe, especially …show more content…
He earned a name for himself as a respected political and literary figure. Voltaire admired the English system of government, writing that "The English are the only people on earth who have been able to prescribe limits to the power of kings by resisting them, and who be a series of struggles, have at last established that wise Government, where the Prince is all powerful to do good and at the same time is restrained from committing evil." Voltaire, considered himself a Deist, he did not believe that faith alone, based upon any religious text or tradition of revelation, was necessary to believe in God. He wrote, "It is perfectly evident to my mind that there exists a necessary, eternal, supreme, and intelligent being. This is no matter of faith, but of reason". While he was not an atheist, he was opposed to organized religion, which was what the Catholic Church was built off of. He was very critical of Catholicism, and believed that the bible was outdated. He believed the Bible was a work of man and not a divine spirit, which obviously gained him a negative reputation amongst the Catholic Church. One of Voltaire's main beliefs was that humans who were capable of understanding the rights and wrongs of others' actions through their own reasoning. And once we take responsibility for our actions, only …show more content…
It was a satire of the prevalent philosophical optimism by Gottfried Willhelm Leibniz. Voltaire was also moved by events like The Seven Years' War, and the 1775 Lisbon earthquake. He felt like optimism was a naive and irregular way of viewing the world. Throughout Candide, he deconstructs optimism by writing its ingenuous beliefs with the true horrors of reality. He was not fond of the idea of the Church having its followers under its complete demand and insisting that everything that occurred in their lives was all in the hands of God. He believed that we, as humans are much more