Its understandably difficult to pin one set of value to the Philosophes because their range of
estimates, opinions, and beliefs were so wide. Not all Philosophes emerged from a winning of social-activist
mold. Voltaire, for instance, was a harsh critic of judiciousness optimism, tho he didnt share Rousseaus
rent that the arts and sciences were nothing more than garlands of flowers [thrown] on bid fetters.
(Kramnick 363) Similarly, although the idea of a ameliorate beau ideal creating a perfect world whose flaws were
nothing but safeness in disguise tempestuous Voltaire, he was a deist at the very least, and didnt support
dHolbachs claim that ...theology is only the ignorance of natural causes reduced to carcass.
(Kramnick 140) Two questions, then, must be answered: what ideas were the Philosophes as a whole
opposed to, and how did they voice that opposition?
The Age of Enlighten ment was so-called because it seemed, at the time, as if every universal
mystery had been illumined by science. The giants-Newton, Galileo, and Descartes-had revolutionized
how men and women viewed the world, and the concept of Nature was rapidly becoming a system of laws
rather than a web of superstition. Newton and Galileo especially supported the idea of deism, which was
something of a medium between science and theology. God existed, certainly, but hed satisfied himself with
the monumental act of creation. Seeing that everything was perfect, as hed intended, the unity stepped back
and allowed humankind to make its own decisions. God, then, had created natural laws to guide his universe.
These laws, at least in theory, were subservient to a higher, omniscient power. plainly the implication was that,
since God had vanished from the picture, these laws, which were intelligible only through science, had
usurped his position. With God removed from the universe, natural law had...
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References
-->Any papers regarding Voltaires philosophy is good material. More detail on Candide itself would be would be better, and little generalizations about the great philosophies of the 18th century. Also, a complete explanation of philosophe woudl be helpful. I dont know what the word exactly refers to. The discipline just seems too big to be covered solely in just 3 pages, but its a tumesce written essay regardless.
Bair, Lo rise up, trans. Candide by Voltaire. New York: Bantam Books, 1959Willey, Basil. The ordinal Century Background. Boston: Beacon Press, 1961Weinsheimer, Joel C. Eighteenth-Century Hermeneutics. London:Yale University Press, 1993Kramnick, Isaac. The man-portable Enlightenment Reader. New York: Penguin Books, 1995
I, too, would like to know what a philosophe refers to. Other than that, I would say its a very well written piece of work. Bravo.
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