Rousseau vs. Voltaire
...ing on all fours after reading your work.”) His sentences flowed, and his expressions were always effortless and unforced. Voltaire lashed out at the Catholic Church on numerous occasions; not because he was a morally wicked man who wanted his freedom to sin, but because he saw the institution of the Church a source of evil. He thought that none of the change he so desperately wanted would be possible without lessening the power of the church. This is why he spent so much of his time and writing ridiculing and defaming it. Unlike his supposed “arch rival” philosophe, Jean-Jaques Rousseau, Voltaire was not a democrat. And despite the assumption of the Enlightenment being a movement of simplistic optimism, he was very pessimistic towards human nature; he never imagined creating a perfect world, despite his depiction of one in his Candide. He only said that the world would be a better place if humanity could replace ignorance and superstition with intelligent and reason. A lot can be learned about Voltaire when you look at his history. He received his education at “Louis-le-Grand”, a Jesuit college in Paris where he learned nothing but “Latin and stupidities.” At the age of 17, he left school, and became a quick favorite in society circles for his wit and humorous verses. He was exiled, had an affair with a married woman, and established his home near the French-Swiss border as the intellectual capital of the world. While in his home he produced a constant flow of books, plays and pamphlets. He was always the voice of reason, and was an outspoken critic of religious intolerance and persecution. Some believe that Voltaire’s works eventually catalyzed the French Revolution. Voltaire’s main adversary was Jean-Jaques Rousseau. Unlike Voltaire, who courted the aristocracy, Rousseau distrusted aristocrats because he believed that they were betraying traditional values. The theatre was Voltaire’s pride and joy; Rousseau opposed and destested it. Rousseau was a man who fought for something borderline like democratic revolution. He argued that inequality was not only unnatural, but it restricted the possibility of having a decent government. (Voltaire backed the idea that equality was impossible.) Rousseau was not a witty charmer like Voltaire- he insisted on his correctness, even while contradicting himself. Instead of insisting on the superiority of intellect, Rousseau appealed to the emotions of humans, which in turn made him a contr...