I was surprised to learn that Voltaire was one of the first commercially successful internationally as an Author. He greatly influenced the thinkers in Europe and the U.S. of his time. His stance on Freedom of Religion made it's way even into our founding father's ideas when they first created our government here in the U.S. after 1776.
begin partial quote from:
Voltaire was one of the first authors to become renowned and commercially successful internationally. He was an outspoken advocate of civil liberties and was at constant risk from the strict censorship laws of the Catholic French monarchy. His polemics witheringly satirized intolerance and religious dogma, as well as the French institutions of his day. His best-known work and magnum opus, Candide, is a novella that comments on, criticizes, and ridicules many events, thinkers and philosophies of his time, most notably Gottfried Leibniz and his belief that our world is of necessity the "best of all possible worlds".[8][9]
No comments:
Post a Comment