| Voltaire was the pen name of Francois-Marie Arouet who lived between 1694 and 1778. Recognised as the genius of the Enlightenment, he had a significant influence on revolutionaries of 1789.Voltaire's work was largely classically influenced and sought to confront the forces of irrationalism by explaining progress through natural science and reason. Inspired by a period of residence in England, Voltaire wrote the Lettres Philosophiques (1734). In this work Voltaire attacked the abuses of the ancien regime in the name of tolerence and liberty. In his latter years he penned various works attacking the superstitions of the Catholic Church. He campaigned against intolerence, miscarriages of justice and evidence of what he perceived as political tyranny, all ideals by which the revolutionaries justified the overthrowing of the monarchy and their questioning of the validity of the dominance of the Church. |
