Voltaire - The Sarcastic Thinker of the Enlightenment - The Great Thinkers

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  • Опубликовано: 23 апр 2024
  • Voltaire, pseudonym of François-Marie Arouet, was an 18th-century French Enlightenment philosopher, renowned for his wit and criticism of religious fanaticism and intolerance. His thinking was marked by skepticism, humanism, and support for freedom of expression and the separation of Church and State. Author of various works, including the famous "Candide", Voltaire profoundly influenced Western thought, advocating for justice, civil liberty, and societal reform.
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Комментарии • 140

  • @deborahdavis6801
    @deborahdavis6801 Месяц назад +192

    He wrote, "If you can make people believe absurdities, you can make them commit atrocities." How relevant today.

    • @frankburklin1116
      @frankburklin1116 Месяц назад +15

      Prescient. But human nature never really changes , regardless of the times. Rinse and repeat.

    • @masonvegas4336
      @masonvegas4336 27 дней назад +2

      Thx

    • @peaceleader7315
      @peaceleader7315 24 дня назад

      They will.. but slowly. ​@@frankburklin1116

    • @Thrankson
      @Thrankson 24 дня назад +1

      Perhaps there is no such thing as “human nature”. Maybe we just make it up as we go🤷‍♂️

    • @peaceleader7315
      @peaceleader7315 24 дня назад +1

      @Thrankson every human being is spongbob square pant .. we absorb things we don't have, nature or instinct..
      I guess it was just the surrounding environment as finally decision and conclusion.

  • @kristenrosales2919
    @kristenrosales2919 Месяц назад +98

    "God is a comedian playing for an audience too afraid to laugh".- Voltaire

    • @mikebarnes5528
      @mikebarnes5528 Месяц назад +3

      In his last years he turned back to God & “adored him”. God has forgiven him for such statements like you quote. Don’t waste your time to bitterness & hate.

    • @ibeetellingya5683
      @ibeetellingya5683 23 дня назад

      Great statement, but I can't find where Voltaire wrote that. Where is it from?

    • @hewitc
      @hewitc 21 день назад

      Religion sells false hope to frightened people. It's is an extremely lucrative business.

    • @gamkal7231
      @gamkal7231 11 дней назад +5

      @@mikebarnes5528 Where do you see bitterness and hate in this?
      By the way, Voltaire was a Deist all his life, which meant in the 18C that he believed in a "higher power' but not in any religion, which after decades of study into history and religions, he considered all man-made (and very abusive). So there was "no turning back to God". He never left his won concept of 'God' expressed in a poem in his 20s, Epitre à Uranie or Le Pour et le Contre ("For and Against"). He just deepened it, really.

    • @bwilderd5082
      @bwilderd5082 10 дней назад

      @@mikebarnes5528You have no way of knowing that.

  • @paulnolan4971
    @paulnolan4971 19 дней назад +12

    Many are destined to reason wrongly; others, not to reason at all; and others, to persecute those who do reason.
    Voltaire

  • @MysticChronicles712
    @MysticChronicles712 Месяц назад +32

    Every history video feels like a window into the past, bringing ancient tales to life.

  • @nayanendumisra6764
    @nayanendumisra6764 Месяц назад +23

    Excellent piece of biography of French philosopher, Voltaire. I loved it. I thank the narrator for his beautiful presentation. ❤🎉😂

  • @j.dunlop8295
    @j.dunlop8295 19 дней назад +7

    Driver of the French revolution, with writings like "Candide!" Which expressed that "Good people doing nothing, are nothing!"

  • @troygaspard6732
    @troygaspard6732 Месяц назад +32

    A feerless man that liberated so many for centuries to come. Many kids still read Candide in school. Viva Voltaire!

    • @moussesucree
      @moussesucree Месяц назад +2

      Vive*

    • @ivanbarbosa81
      @ivanbarbosa81 19 дней назад +2

      He should come back now that intolerance is rising

  • @donaldwhittaker7987
    @donaldwhittaker7987 Месяц назад +17

    I've often thought of frank zappa as the voltaire of 20th century music. Ridiculing authority usually gets you some well deserved air play eventually.

    • @stefanschleps8758
      @stefanschleps8758 18 дней назад

      Spot on.😊
      Great minds think alike.

    • @CanadianMemorials
      @CanadianMemorials 15 дней назад

      I inherited 14 albums..... seems like an accurate depiction.

  • @paulbk7810
    @paulbk7810 Месяц назад +11

    Well done. Thank you. ---- If I were to time travel, I would choose the time of Voltaire. And beg to be his valet. To be near historic genius.

  • @arsartium108
    @arsartium108 Месяц назад +8

    In typical French fashion, Voltaire was very expert at enjoying his senses and devoted an inordinate amount of his thinking to it.

  • @-RONNIE
    @-RONNIE Месяц назад +14

    He really was a exceptional person that gave a lot to the world

  • @HistoriadorGrego
    @HistoriadorGrego Месяц назад +33

    A very influential person in Europe and the Western world

    • @ivanbarbosa81
      @ivanbarbosa81 19 дней назад

      The father of the french revolution

  • @mylindacasbarro777
    @mylindacasbarro777 9 дней назад +2

    Voltaire was a gift to all who read him. 🙏👑♥️

  • @fredthegredgred9013
    @fredthegredgred9013 Месяц назад +10

    Incredible writer, I agree with alot of his philosophy

  • @donyoung7874
    @donyoung7874 Месяц назад +6

    When I first read Candide in college, I thought it should've been made into a Monty Python film.

  • @balletshoes
    @balletshoes Месяц назад +9

    'Judge a man not by the answers he gives, but by the questions he asks' has to be my favourite quote of his. But I have a very hard time reconciling with the fact that preached liberty and social reform, yet he was so fond of the Ottoman empire - an exceptionally backward and cruel one, not mention it enslaved my nation and destroyed so much cultural heritage. But we all have flaws ...

    • @chrisgavin2794
      @chrisgavin2794 29 дней назад +2

      What about the Ottoman Empire did he admire?

    • @johnnwako2488
      @johnnwako2488 20 дней назад

      Which one is "my nation"?

  • @paulnolan4971
    @paulnolan4971 19 дней назад +3

    If there’s life on other planets, then the earth is the Universe’s insane asylum.
    Voltaire

  • @paulnolan4971
    @paulnolan4971 19 дней назад +2

    The only way to comprehend what mathematicians mean by Infinity is to contemplate the extent of human stupidity.
    Voltaire

  • @markberman6708
    @markberman6708 Месяц назад +8

    One of my favorites....

  • @capt.bart.roberts4975
    @capt.bart.roberts4975 Месяц назад +5

    Voltaire, is one of my heroes. 😶

  • @BlueNeahno
    @BlueNeahno 25 дней назад +4

    Seek the unknown,question everything.

  • @user-mt2uj8xl2u
    @user-mt2uj8xl2u Месяц назад +4

    I love them already. Nonsense and Latin and then all the other things freedom. It's a beautiful thing

  • @Keef_DGAF
    @Keef_DGAF Месяц назад +11

    Voltaire is my spirit animal

  • @TupacMakaveli1996
    @TupacMakaveli1996 Месяц назад +4

    I liked Voltaire work about god so much. Really interesting work!

  • @andrewheaney6858
    @andrewheaney6858 28 дней назад +1

    Great informative and thought provoking video!

  • @stephenh5865
    @stephenh5865 25 дней назад +3

    I agree with his epitaph, he sounds enlightened.
    I gotta read Candide, and Voltaire philosophy.
    He's a Soul Man!!!

    • @gamkal7231
      @gamkal7231 11 дней назад

      @stephen5865 Zadig is even better, imo. But don't miss esp his Treatise on Tolerance and his Philosophical Dictionary (which is on religion, not philosophy). Those are among the ones that shook everybody's boats!

  • @abhradip_1
    @abhradip_1 Месяц назад +7

    Make a video on Swami Vivekananda and his social philosophy

  • @paulnolan4971
    @paulnolan4971 19 дней назад +2

    So long as the people do not care to exercise their freedom, those who wish to tyrannize will do so; for tyrants are active and ardent, and will devote themselves in the name of any number of gods, religious and otherwise, to put shackles upon sleeping men.
    Voltaire

  • @alexoblivion9295
    @alexoblivion9295 Месяц назад +5

    Could we maybe get a video about Zadig?

  • @etiennevanonselen7949
    @etiennevanonselen7949 24 дня назад +2

    The tale of Micro Mega, by Voltaire comes to mind...thanks for post...A libertine❤

  • @chrisbond7324
    @chrisbond7324 Месяц назад +3

    Read candide i'm just falling in love with it

  • @miguelangelous
    @miguelangelous Месяц назад +5

    Much appreciated 👌🏼

  • @SK-re7vo
    @SK-re7vo Месяц назад +6

    Hey!
    Can you make a series on Indo-europian legends and myths

  • @alfredthevarajah1344
    @alfredthevarajah1344 27 дней назад +2

    He was one of the contributors to the French constitution.

  • @freak8385
    @freak8385 Месяц назад +8

    Very interesting, I always heared of this man but now I will for sure look for more info on him.

  • @uria3679
    @uria3679 Месяц назад +5

    Please do a Robert Heinline video

  • @Initwithlove
    @Initwithlove 13 дней назад

    That was really good❤❤ thank you

  • @starcapture3040
    @starcapture3040 Месяц назад +2

    Cool you added scholars episodes to your channel, Do Ibn Rushd please

  • @user-vl4jj5dp2o
    @user-vl4jj5dp2o 23 дня назад +1

    I may start considering him an eighteenth century Hunter S Thompson

  • @christianchauhan23
    @christianchauhan23 Месяц назад +5

    ❤🤍💙 all your videos mate👍

  • @robertmorris9133
    @robertmorris9133 26 дней назад +2

    Very English humour, brilliant man😊

  • @kathleensmith644
    @kathleensmith644 Месяц назад +3

    Nothing changes. Everything is the same.

    • @hewitc
      @hewitc 21 день назад +1

      "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good!"

  • @mylindacasbarro777
    @mylindacasbarro777 9 дней назад

    I write that down! 🙏👑♥️

  • @user-gd4ku5se8h
    @user-gd4ku5se8h 18 дней назад

    If you're interested, the short Voltaire story Micro Megas is on Doc Sloan's Science Fiction Station channel. Doc himself reads it. There's two versions so click on the longer of the two as the shorter is work/kid safe and is not the complete story.

  • @MooseBme
    @MooseBme 25 дней назад +1

    !Viva Voltaire!

  • @e.f.4299
    @e.f.4299 24 дня назад

    Ty

  • @Dishfire101
    @Dishfire101 28 дней назад +2

    Hume, Smith, Black all Scottish from the enlightenment ❤

  • @pencilsandlight1318
    @pencilsandlight1318 26 дней назад +2

    And don’t forget to tend your garden.

  • @professorchronicler
    @professorchronicler Месяц назад +1

    How to make animated videos like you ?

    • @SeeUinHistory
      @SeeUinHistory  Месяц назад +1

      We have a professional animation editor on our team 👍

  • @BrandonBDN
    @BrandonBDN 8 дней назад

    “I must give you a piece of intelligence that you perhaps already know - namely, that the ungodly arch-villain Voltaire has died miserably like a dog - just like a brute. That is his reward!”
    -Mozart

  • @charliemcternan8190
    @charliemcternan8190 Месяц назад +4

    That was a very French name

  • @jonlee557
    @jonlee557 24 дня назад +1

    Maybe the beginning of existentialism as we know it.

  • @user-tp7gy4dj4l
    @user-tp7gy4dj4l Месяц назад +4

    That 'biblical solution to toenail fungus' ad in the middle of a Voltaire video is the sort of thing that Voltaire made fun of.

    • @christopherhamilton3621
      @christopherhamilton3621 Месяц назад

      That tells us more about what ads you get than it has to do with the video, but interesting nonetheless…😂

    • @andrewheaney6858
      @andrewheaney6858 28 дней назад

      ⁠@@christopherhamilton3621 For being the type of person that watches a Voltaire ?

  • @Kodeekat
    @Kodeekat Месяц назад +1

    Isn't he the one who said "I drink (coffee) therefore I am"?

  • @AngelRiverar-yz7kz
    @AngelRiverar-yz7kz Месяц назад +4

    🌟🏆🎊🎉🎉🏅

  • @seekinggodfirst754
    @seekinggodfirst754 9 дней назад

    I love Candide 😊

  • @user-ov6ny3uc3l
    @user-ov6ny3uc3l Месяц назад +2

    And he was a southpaw. GO LEFTYS!! YOU RULE!!

  • @ivanbarbosa81
    @ivanbarbosa81 19 дней назад +1

    A genius

  • @Donathon-qx8kq
    @Donathon-qx8kq Месяц назад +23

    I've never had a hero.... this guy is the closest I've ever come....

    • @gandalfstormcrow8439
      @gandalfstormcrow8439 Месяц назад +5

      Jesus Christ died for you.

    • @jonhappleseed8144
      @jonhappleseed8144 Месяц назад

      @@gandalfstormcrow8439Jesus was in his 30s with no girlfriend and hung out with a bunch of guys. He also identified openly with at least three identities: the father, the son, and the holy 💩. In private, whatever he identified with can be several of what’s constitutes the LGBTQ 🏳️‍🌈 IA.

    • @dustinmiller2775
      @dustinmiller2775 Месяц назад

      ​@@jonhappleseed8144Voltaire said that Christianity would be a forgotten, relic 100 years after his death. Ironically, the French Christian Society set up their headquarters in Voltaire's house, a hundred years after his death.

  • @SteveXNYC
    @SteveXNYC Месяц назад +1

    Volt here

  • @michaeljohnangel6359
    @michaeljohnangel6359 Месяц назад +2

    "I die, loving my God … and detesting superstition." How's that for a blatent contradiction?

    • @rabokarabekian409
      @rabokarabekian409 Месяц назад +2

      Voltaire was a deist.
      Not contradictory at all, but certainly provisional.

  • @diagofuller6958
    @diagofuller6958 Месяц назад +1

    Humm

  • @hanzohattori5908
    @hanzohattori5908 Месяц назад +3

    Next I see Vlad the Impaler ❤❤❤

    • @leondobre7498
      @leondobre7498 Месяц назад +2

      I am relative of Vlad,I got a house 60 miles west of his mountain castle 😮😮

  • @vicgallimore6756
    @vicgallimore6756 28 дней назад

    MUST HAVE BEEN RICH, SITTING AROUD ALL DAY THINKING.

  • @JCornell-gm8cp
    @JCornell-gm8cp 29 дней назад +1

    Ponder existence more deeply.

  • @LKMNOP
    @LKMNOP 4 дня назад

    It's funny how the age of reason claim to revere Voltaire who talked about reason and yet they perpetuated the terror which was totally against reason.

  • @paulnolan4971
    @paulnolan4971 19 дней назад +1

    The comfort of the rich depends upon an abundant supply of the poor.
    Voltaire

  • @Thrankson
    @Thrankson 24 дня назад

    Spongebob Squarepants 😂I like it 👍

  • @user-kg3qv6en8s
    @user-kg3qv6en8s Месяц назад +3

    He was also a freemason

    • @gamkal7231
      @gamkal7231 11 дней назад

      Not really. Ben Franklin was, and insisted on making Voltaire an honorary member in a Freemason temple in Paris while Franklin was there, shortly before Voltaire died. But Voltaire accepted reluctantly, out of of respect for Franklin, because he thought secret societies were silly. He felt strongly about sharing his views very publicly! (Luckily for us!)

  • @amyapplegate4356
    @amyapplegate4356 Месяц назад +2

    marquis's? Marquis'.

    • @gamkal7231
      @gamkal7231 11 дней назад

      See my correction above!

  • @jamescurrie2246
    @jamescurrie2246 Месяц назад +1

    He said all he learned at Jesuit school was some Latin and a few other things. That was the sarcasm for which he was known, undoubtedly. I didn't learn anything at all from the Jesuit order. They don't like me.😢 I care a lot, too.

    • @gamkal7231
      @gamkal7231 11 дней назад

      It was a quip. But the Jesuits were definitely teaching superstitions!

  • @HenryLebensbaumLaw
    @HenryLebensbaumLaw 17 дней назад +1

    Nobody's perfect. Bed side conversion

  • @PhilipNeuer8855
    @PhilipNeuer8855 Месяц назад

    The hog?

  • @SamWellburnski
    @SamWellburnski Месяц назад +4

    Almost every French name in this video is mispronounced. Marquis sounds like markee. Marquise sounds like markeez. Rousseau is ru-so, not ro-so.

    • @libertycowboy2495
      @libertycowboy2495 Месяц назад

      The narrator is speaking English so don't see the issue. He at least says French words with a French accent 😂

    • @andrewheaney6858
      @andrewheaney6858 28 дней назад

      Is this what you got from this video, what a bizarre take away?

    • @gamkal7231
      @gamkal7231 11 дней назад

      @@libertycowboy2495 But mispronounces the words a lot!

  • @user-ug2yz6vb7p
    @user-ug2yz6vb7p 24 дня назад +1

    Ah, my kind of rebel ...the kind will act the part of anarchist and do right by God, the lottery, etc.

  • @bluetortilla
    @bluetortilla 19 дней назад

    AI

  • @rabokarabekian409
    @rabokarabekian409 Месяц назад +1

    Voltaire was a deist.

  • @JustNow42
    @JustNow42 21 день назад +1

    Not a nice guy. Actually in the more scientific books it was his ( for a while) metresse Émilie du Châtelet that stood for the math and physics and never got acknowledged.

    • @gamkal7231
      @gamkal7231 11 дней назад

      She was highly acknowledged in her own day. The Germans listed her among the top ten scientists of the age, and Italy unanimously elected her to their Academy of Science in Bologna. It was 19C and early 20th century writers that reduced her to "Voltaire's mistress". But she's a big comeback since. And Voltaire always called her a genius.

  • @paules3437
    @paules3437 23 дня назад +2

    Is this an AI narrator? Why did he try a French accent at the beginning when he can't manage "Francois Marie Arouet"? Can't pronounce "nom de plume" properly and sounds like he's saying "Using the azaleas" instead of "using this alias." I guess "this" was too difficult for him. If this is a person, why do people try to pronounce names in foreign languages? It always sounds lame. I don't know any country besides the US where this attempt is made. You never heard French announcers striving for an authentic American or British pronunciation for English words.

    • @SeeUinHistory
      @SeeUinHistory  23 дня назад +1

      It's not AI, our videos are narrated by real people.
      And this is such a great comment to read because most of the comments on our videos complain that the narrator didn't correctly pronounce the name or the word in the original language - be it French, or Latin, or Greek, or Japanese - as if the narrator always was required to know the pronunciation in all the languages.
      And you're right, that's just happens in english.
      Anyway, thanks for commenting and I'll try to work on better narration for future videos - although we'll never please everyone

    • @gamkal7231
      @gamkal7231 11 дней назад

      @@SeeUinHistory Calling Emilie du Châtelet a "marquis" (which is a man) instead of a "marquise" was probably the most shocking. And I don't see why it's more difficult to pronouce. But yes, there were plenty of other weird pronunciations. Maybe you can find a true bilingual next time.

  • @paules3437
    @paules3437 23 дня назад +2

    Can't pronounce "Rousseau" either... or "Bourgeois" or The Hague (which he pronounces The Hog).
    2:09: Here's an idiotic statement in this video: "His defiance stemmed from his outspoken criticisms of the government." Whaaa? His defiance is the SAME thing as his criticisms. His defiance didn't come FROM his criticism. Who writes this drivel? Lemme guess: AI?

  • @georgesherrill3371
    @georgesherrill3371 22 дня назад

    Louis XIV died in 1715, not 1717!

  • @user-ln3lh2pz8h
    @user-ln3lh2pz8h 9 дней назад

    He was a satirist not a sarcastic.

  • @fredcrown-tamir698
    @fredcrown-tamir698 20 дней назад

    So much hatred of fellow humas over religion. No one can even prove that God exist. God exist, only to those who are chosen to know. Matthew 11:27 All things have been entrusted to Me by My Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.

  • @MegaDonzee
    @MegaDonzee 20 дней назад

    I wonder why he hated superstition but loved god? It doesn't make any sense...

    • @gamkal7231
      @gamkal7231 11 дней назад

      It does, if you understand 18th century deism. Find his Philosophical Dictionary and read the article "Theist" or Deist - depending on the translation used. It's great text.

    • @MegaDonzee
      @MegaDonzee 11 дней назад +1

      @@gamkal7231 Yes, 18th century thoughts.

  • @user-jn2wx7db1c
    @user-jn2wx7db1c 19 дней назад

    Voltaire is nothing compared to these artists paintings

  • @maxwellbrill8001
    @maxwellbrill8001 6 дней назад

    Interesting piece , know the name , but not much about him. The cynic, the critic is a total bore, unless accompanied by genius . Too many people today think themselves genius, but are nothing but complaining parasites on humanities struggles to make the world a better place. Know that all your bitching , and that is what it is does not reach the level of Voltaire , Franklin, Twain etc. Know your lane and contribute through the established system which allows for so many to flourish . Also interesting his strong belief in God

  • @catrinamcdermott4211
    @catrinamcdermott4211 9 дней назад

    But gods are superstition.

  • @gamkal7231
    @gamkal7231 11 дней назад

    A hospital nurse gave him one day to live? Women didn't give birth in hospitals in the 18th century (nor in 1694). You mean the midwife. Among lots of other minor errors. (For ex, Voltaire made 3 visits to Frederic the Great before Emilie du Châtelet died and he finally moved there for 3 years. Candide, Micromégas and Zadig were considered very minor works at the time. He didn't even publish Zadig. Some friends did. The Philosophical Dictionary (which is almost entirely on religion, not philosophy), his book on Newton and his Letters On England are the only real major works you mention - among the 200 volumes Oxford just finished printing. Contemporaries considered his history books as pretty major, esp his Age of Louis XIV and his world history. And then esp his "Treatise on Tolerance" and his écrasez l'infame pamphlet war on imposed religion the last decades of his life. Those works are what changed the laws not long after he died.
    (Also, please pronounce the S at the end of MarquiSE. A Marquis, written without the E and pronounced without the S, is a man.
    Just trying to help!)

  • @andrewcothran8377
    @andrewcothran8377 16 дней назад

    cunning little brain regular Voltaire., thinks hes quite a lover but theres not much there .

  • @lazn9863
    @lazn9863 Месяц назад +3

    i studied zadig in french the guy could destroy you with two words a badass