SOMETIMES SOUND AND ALWAYS ENTERTAINING

 

“I know this author cannot be dependent on with regard to facts, but his general views are sometimes sound and always entertaining.” This modestly entertaining opinion of François-Marie Arouet, or simply Voltaire (1694-1778), belongs to David Hume. However, there is an even better opinion of Voltaire, expressed both in words and in deeds, which belongs to Catherine the Great of Russia...

 

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Biographical dictionaries call him a French writer, essayist, and philosopher, some more elaborate sources call him an Encyclopedist, on account of his participation in the creation of La Encyclopédie (1751-1772). Connoisseurs of Francophilia might prefer the French word philosophe, which tells more perhaps than the English word philosopher. This nifty French word happens to be perfectly attuned to the mind and soul of the Russian Intelligent, who would instantly recognize its meaning intuitively, but would find it impossible to formulate it in words. Should we try to express the Voltaire phenomenon in English, we might, perhaps, call him an overwhelming personality, or, even better, a Voltaire. In fact, the word Voltairian (in Russian, Voltairiánets) has come to characterize a daring free-thinker, the highest praise that can be bestowed on a homo sapiens. To impress an American reader with the opinion of his compatriot, one of the best-esteemed American freethinkers of the nineteenth century, Colonel Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899), had this to say about Voltaire’s legacy in a 1881 speech: Voltaire did more for human liberty than any other man who ever lived or died.

Needless to say, Nietzsche, who loves freethinking, values Voltaire particularly highly, as may be seen from Menschliches 26, where he speaks about “the banner of the Enlightenment with the three names: Petrarch, Erasmus, Voltaire. Petrarch represents the Renaissance in this triumvirate; Erasmus, Humanism; Voltaire, the Enlightenment.”

In fact, Nietzsche’s opinion of Voltaire is consistently high on all accounts, including his literary merit. He speaks of him as playwright later, in Menschliches 221, but, very importantly, discovers in him not just the literary talent he is talking about, but also the Greek spirit, which Nietzsche-the-pre-Socratic as few others has come to appreciate:

“After Voltaire, the French themselves suddenly lacked great talents who might have led the development of tragedy out of constraint onto the illusion of freedom; later they followed the German example, making the leap into a kind of Rousseauistic state of nature in art, and experimented. One should read Voltaire’s Mahomet from time to time, in order fully to take to heart what has been lost forever to European culture through that rupture with the tradition. Voltaire was the last of the great dramatists to restrict with Greek moderation his polymorphic soul equal to even the greatest tragic tempests. He achieved what no German has, because the French nature is much more closely related to the Greek than is the German. Also in the treatment of prose speech he was the last great writer to have a Greek ear, Greek artistic conscience, and Greek plainness and grace. Indeed, he was one of the last to unite in himself, without being inconsistent or cowardly, the highest freedom of spirit and a positively unrevolutionary frame of mind.”

Because of his freethinking passion (let the chips fall where they may, and they did!), Voltaire’s life was a chain of glorious triumphs and persecutions. Having been chased out of continental Europe, he ended up in England for a while, where he was for some reason not persecuted and not surprisingly henceforth became a powerful promoter of British liberties and values. As for Europe--- she took her time in recognizing him. It is ironic how the very same people, who, at one time or another, had been chasing him out of their cities, or countries, would later honor him profusely not on account of him changing his views, but on account of his growing fame, which had reached a world-historical scale already in his lifetime.

Coming now to the immense philosophical and literary legacy of Voltaire, it is impossible and unnecessary to give him his due within our tight structure. Instead, just a few examples of his profound insight into the nature of man and society.

“Ils (les gens) ne se servent de la pensée que pour autoriser leur injustices, et n’emploient les paroles que pour déguiser leurs pensées.”

“Le mieux est l’ennemi du bien.”

“La superstition met le monde entier en flammes; la philosophie les éteint.”

“Si Dieu n’existait pas, il faudrait l’inventer.”

“En effet, l’histoire n’est que le tableau des crimes et des malheurs.”

“Il faut, dans le government, des bergers et des bouchers.”

“Il faut qu’il y ait des moments tranquilles dans les grands ouvrages, comme dans la vie après les instants de passions, mais non pas des moments de dégoût.”

Aside from these, I must mention the already frequently quoted powerful call to arms in Écrazes l’infâme! Another Voltairian gem addresses my point in if proof were available, who would need the faith? Here is Voltaire on that account: “La foi consiste à croire ce que la raison ne croit pas.”

And I shall conclude not with a quote from Voltaire’s writings, but with an attribution to him of the famous phrase, which is often repeated in modern American democracy-talk without any attribution: I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.

To summarize it all, Voltaire was not a man who can be rationally described, but he was rather an event, an extraordinary phenomenon that must be intuitively perceived.