Voltaire's Philosophical Letters

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Name Professor Class Date | Enlightenment Ideas from Voltaire's Philosophical Letters | Voltaire is credited with the bringing up of the French Enlightenment. Originally, his twenty four letters were written in French. But, they were translated to English and issued first in London. This was because of the letters’ political and controversial content which was deemed dangerous to him at the time. Considering the fifth letter titled “On the Church Of England”, he tried to explain the society of England to a friend living in France. He considered Englishmen to go to heaven as they please due to their free nature at the time. This statement was said at a time when France was in shambles trying to make Catholicism to be the only religion practiced in the country. Considering how established the Church of England was, Voltaire mentioned that politics did not favor tolerance but favored prejudice. This was when he was scrutinizing the institutional and intellectual foundation of the tolerance in the religion of England. Considering the sixth letter titled “On the Presbyterians”, he referred to the stock exchange of London which he considered to be a free market. Looking at England back then, there were laws against atheists’ hence religious tolerance was not really a bastion in England. Ironically, compared to France, England was more tolerant at the grassroots in contrast to what the law required. Also, England unlike France had no class separation that affected the economic and social status in France. This is with regards to the ninth letter titled “On the Government”. Commerce was a major factor in comparing the two countries at the time. England regarded its merchants very highly. This is considered in the tenth letter titled “On Commerce”. These two countries had different attitudes regarding trade or commerce. France had a very low regard to its merchants.
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