Voltaire - The Best of All Possible Worlds
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- čas přidán 5. 04. 2023
- Discover the life of Voltaire, a man of extremes. From his sickly birth to his role in the Age of Enlightenment, his story is one of constant questioning and battling for free speech.
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"It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets." -Voltaire
“Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.”
Fav quote of Voltaire EVER.
So true of the modern world
@@IBTU So true in the entire history of humankind
Voltaire is the single most important reason for the moral collapse of western civilization and the depravity of the present.
@@johne.8939 Your statement against Voltaire is most certainly an oversimplification. If Christian Churches would have given copies of the book of Proverbs to all young adults in their teen aged years then the general public would have had a better grasp of morality. If those same churches would have encouraged their patrons to pray to Jesus in the book of Psalms then professed Christians would undoubtedly have had a much more fruitful prayer life. If Christians were taught to read and study the Gospels of Jesus and the Epistles of Paul throughout their lives on earth; then surely this world would not be going to hell in a hand basket. And its the church that's holding the basket! Most certainly it is the Catholic Church, more than any other, that is the most bloody and cruel of all the Christian churches. It has denied the people these wisdom's found within the Bible and has denied its patrons the public library. Just imagine for a moment Christians going to the library and reading the writings of A.W.Tozer, C.S.Lewis, Charles Spurgeon, or biographies of men like William Tyndale or the story of the Waldensians. As it is most Christians are ignorant of the history of Christianity, ignorant of the Bible and ignorant of the histories of their own countries in which they live. As for the collapse of western civilization; I strongly suspect that it is spearheaded by the W.E.F. and their Agenda 2030. The billionaires club of multinational corporations and their political puppets seem to be behind the curtain of this current moral depravity. Big pharma and the medical establishment, and the school teachers union, all seem to be working hand in glove with the globalist agenda. The Christian Church seems to be as quiet as a church mouse.
@@chrisgillard6129 I take it you’re Protestant.
"Friendship is more precious than love."-Voltaire. Something I abide by now at age 67.
after covid I've reverted to love;
Voltaire said that but certainly did not live by it, he frequently wrote to his niece about his sexual and romantic desire for her.
"To the living we owe respect, but to the dead we owe only the truth.”- voltaire
Third comment I'm making to just test something
Lefty Won't Listen = Righty Won't Read and round and round the toxic feedback loop of horrrors goes.
Backfiring overly stringent censorship by Liberal platforms is factual fuel for the muh free speech paranoia. Deny reality of real crimes done that Lefty Won't Listen about, whoops people funnelled to 'totally different' echo chambers.
Oh what a surprise. Dare to criticise the platform for a factual error they're making as policy that increases polarisation and extremism, and it glitches. How interesting.
There are concerns to be raised about The Law of Unintended Consequences and how that might apply to Free Speech.
“Don’t think money does everything or you going to end up doing everything for money”
Voltaire
I find it interesting that Voltaire is smiling in all of his portraits.
The original troll of the world.
If I had a time machine, I would want to go back in time and show him Borat and Ali G lol.
Smirking I’d say 😂
"It is dangerous to be right on matters in which the established authorities are wrong" Voltaire
🐰
🤝
"I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it" - Voltaire
My forever favorite quote in the world.
It's a good one but it's comes from his Biographer. He never said that in this exacly words...
@@pedromastrangi9969so his biographer was paraphrasing then. So he must have said something to the same effect
"It is dangerous to be right in which the established authorities are wrong." - Voltaire
Glad that he finally got his own videos
Could you do more videos on philosophy/philosophers? I'd love to see some of my hero's covered by you and your writers!
David Hume PLEASE! Underrated!
How about Commodore Matthew Perry?
Or maybe perhaps Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz?
The guy who had a feud with Sir Isaac Newton on who invented calculus first?
Heroes.*
Thank you for this one. I am a fan of Voltaire. The "Candide" reference for the video is so perfect for him
2:35 - Chapter 1 - My motto is to the point
5:40 - Chapter 2 - To the point
7:00 - Chapter 3 - Love truth but pardon error
9:35 - Chapter 4 - What are we to think of human reason ?
11:30 - Chapter 5 - In short, she makes me happy
13:30 - Chapter 6 - More is possible than people think
15:10 - Chapter 7 - Let us cultivate our garden
17:50 - Chapter 8 - I die adoring god
🍍
I have read ‘The Story of Civilisation’ by Will and Arial Durant, all 11 volumes, 6 times. It is my favourite book series. It really is amazing. Vol. 9 The Age of Voltaire one of the best.
He just ditched his name and went all in on his gamer tag
That was an excellent episode Bio team, thankyou. I learnt a lot about my favourite philosopher.
I'm glad you're getting active on this channel again💜
Usually I listen to this channel with idle curiosity. This is the first episode to make me want to seek out more info on the subject. Someone who gains popularity for their biting wit and is cut off by friends for the same? Extremely relatable.
😂
Relatable to whom? Yourself?
@@vulpes7079 'My friends all abandoned me because I'm too funny.'
@@FaceEatingOwl "People encouraged my mean humor but then were shocked & hurt when it was inevitably directed at them on occasion."
Voltaire actually misunderstood Leibniz “best possible world” argument. Voltaire was responding as if the argument was we are in the best possible world right now; for example, he’d say things like a tragedy not-happening is obviously better than a tragedy happening. But Leibniz’ argument was that everything that happens is necessary to achieve the best possible world. It all leads up to it, but we are not now living in it.
No, he understood that. He just thought it was, at best, an ex post facto defense of God that had nothing to do with reality. See also: Pangloss explaining that humans have noses so that we can wear glasses.
Voltaire was smart enough to willfully misrepresent Leibniz’s argument. He understood that part of it. Leibniz held (paraphrase) that the universe exists as a sort of physical reflection of its Creator, a manifestation of His work. The universe is perfect, because its Creator is perfect. As part of that perfection, the universe is continuously perfecting itself. If it sounds confusing and/or tautological, that is probably my fault for mangling it. One might ask, “How can something be both perfect and perfecting itself?” Another might respond, “How can it be otherwise?”
It must be the best of all possible worlds, else the perfect Creator would have chosen the better one. That probably sums it up as pithily as possible.
Only at the very end of _Candide_ does Voltaire finally address the question of free will. The very end. As in… the final three words are, “But, free will…” and that’s the end of the book. It read like it was written by a modern mediocre late-night comic, with little of substance to contribute to the discussion.
While at Geneva, Voltaire would become close with the de Gallatin family, including the cousin of Aaron Burr, Albert Gallatin, who became President Jefferson’s Treasury Secretary after hiding away in what is now Maine during the American Revolution. Ah, the Enlightenment. How… reactionary.
Great post, sir.
Thanks for the upload
Voltaire's ERB raps;
"And I'm a free thinker, so confronting conformists like you, it's my job.
I have a sharp wit like a spit that'll skewer you like a Confu-shishka bob.
Oh, you flubbed the mission, I'm beating your submissive ass into submission, dishing out more disses than letters and pamphlets and plays I've been publishing."
To Socrates;
"Sacre bleu Socrates, you're making things a little tense.
Come, let's blind these chinese heinies with some shiny bright enlightenment.
Let me be frank, don't start beef with the Frank who hangs with B. Frank giving ladies beef franks."
Now some of these references make much more sense.
"The Perfect is the enemy of The Good" - Voltaire breaking the Perfectionist / Perfect Solution Fallacy. Many, many people need to learn that one. As also commented by Edmund Burke:
"Nobody made a greater mistake, than they who didn't even try, because they believed they could only achieve little, if anything" - To expand his work.
"Strive for perfection, always. Do not throw TANTRUMS if you cannot achieve nor receive it. If absolutely necessary and no other choice, accept the lesser evil" - Horseshoe Party UK.
"Making the world a better place, is a marathon not a sprint" - I cannot find a source for it. Maybe I coined it, maybe nicked it from a friend.
"Who is my master? He who decides what repels or attracts me" - Epictetus.
"Hope for the best, prepare for the worst" - Unknown though often attributed to Aurelius. I lack clear evidence for that.
"What stands in the way becomes the way" - Aurelius. AKA Be flexible enough to alter or abandon plans as life throws curveballs.
"Obsessively being full of hatred for your enemies, is like you drinking poison then expecting them to die" - Anon attributed to various from Buddhism to Maya Angelou.
"Be water" - Bruce Lee.
"Never overly rely on anybody, for even your own shadow will leave you entirely in total darkness" - Ibn Taymiyyah
@@AnyoneCanSee Absolutely. I've a variety of playlists for psychology and mental health and philosophy. I like the Stoic app and also Zen Enso too.
People WITHOUT serious mental health conditions, I highly, highly recommend Mark Manson. For those who do, you'd be better off focusing on the channels mostly based on content by actual medical professionals.
@@AnyoneCanSee I am a student of sample culture and poetry. And as such, I love that quote and have remixed it for myself.
"Perfect is the enemy of good. Good enough is the enemy of Better. Perfection is imperfection." - The Ghost of Voltaire?
Though I've read more of and more about Voltaire since, it Candide that struck me like a thuderbolt when first encountered many, many years ago. The basic thrust of the book still informs what has probably remained my core philosophy to this day, despite having found much to admire elsewhere and not always of the same political, spiritual or even objective bent. (Indeed I will forever be grateful to have taken both philosophy and great books courses while at college - I wish we encouraged this more today.)
Oh man this video was out of this world. So good. I watched It twice, love you guys.
Well done, as usual.
I discovered Voltaire fifty years ago reading Candide, a desperately flippant attitude about life and misfortune! However it's also indirectly critical of leadership and the church! All his works certainly added to the fall of the monarchy!
"I died adoring God!" Not the church!
Thank you Simon ❤
Maybe John locke could get his own or Rousseau at some point
Thanks for posting on Voltaire ❤😂🎉
DeGaulle said in 1968, "You don't arrest Voltaire," in response to Sartre's arrest, but it turns out Voltaire was indeed arrested many times.
DeGaulle likely did not mean that Voltaire was never arrested, but rather referred to Sartre as being 'a Voltaire' and therefore should not be arrested. Also, in french "arrest" is "arreter" which means also to stop, so DeGaulle could have been using a double meaning of you don't arrest a Voltaire and also you cannot stop the likes of Voltaire. That's just my interpretation.
I had to read his work in high school for my Humanities class. Good Stuff📚
Awesome video!! Would love one on The Age of Enlightenment.
Thank you Mr. Simon, I vaguely remember learning a little bit about Voltaire back in middle or high school, and I am thankful that I have been watching your content for now (on most of your channels), and I am thankful that you did a great deep dive on Voltaire
Great video! Thanks!
Finally! I had been hoping for a Voltaire video for some time. I'm very glad you guys brought one out, and you did it well. Maybe you could also do an extended version? A lot of fascinating aspects of Voltaire weren't covered, which is expected, considering what a lengthy life he had.
Good video 👍🏻
Interesting video 😮
This video was great. Could you do a video on John Glenn?
Thankfully we don't ban books these days!
Are you serious go inside a US school library!!
@@Ubique2927 My post was sarcasm lol.
Or burn them right? Right?
No books are really banned once you reach adulthood. All you need is money to buy the books. Or, a bit of that je ne se quo.
Almost every book ever written is also digitized to the internet, yet that may involve some extra legal actions if the work is still in copyright. Or it requires money.
"Let me BE FRANK
Don't start beef with THE FRANK
Who hangs with B. FRANK
Giving ladies BEEF FRANKS"
-Voltaire
Gotta love ERB
I'll not be taught camaraderie
From a frog who rigged the lottery!
You make a mockery of ethics
So keep your fat nose in your coffee!
Glad I'm not the only one who thinks of this whenever Voltaire is mentioned
A+ video!
Amazing writing, topic, hosting, and images.
Great job! I always wondered what a Voltaire vid would be like! Now that that’s checked off the list, if I may make a request: Dante Alighieri, author of the Divine Comedy(Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso)? Perhaps you could draw parallels to Dante’s life through the Divine Comedy? Please and thanks!
your videos are amazing!
Very interesting!
What?! Two videos in a week?! Thanks. Maybe, Rousseau next?
Starting this video, I was thinking, "who the f*** IS this guy? WHY are of all things SHIPS named after a poet?!"
The awnser? A badass. Voltaire was a badass. And now easily one of my top ten favorite historical figures ever.
00:00
Altair was born weak and sickly but lived to age 84 and spent much of his life exiled from Paris. He ridiculed the debauched lifestyles of the nobility he patronized yet engaged in considerable debauched himself.
00:47
Tales of his many Works made him fabulously wealthy, and he became a leading figure in the historical period known as The Age of Enlightenment.
01:03
Voltaire argued against slavery, criticized organized religions, and questioned the legitimacy of absolute monarchies. He used history, science, nature, and humanity to argue for the existence of a Supreme Being and wrote to Kings and princes suggesting actions that affected Nations.
02:04
Falter was born in 16194, the son of an affluent lawyer and Court functionary, who, by marriage, held minor privileges in the hierarchy of French nobility. He was suspicious of democracy and lived a life of extremes, indeed foreign.
03:04
Jesuits inspired my taste for literature and sentiments, and they divided their hours between teaching and exercising.
03:21
Voltaire left college at 17 and joined a minor Noble order, but his father insisted he prepares for a law career. The young man professed his motto: "Let us not load our brains with useless things."
03:55
Foot the Son started a relationship with Pimpet, and his father ordered him to return to Paris. When Pimpet rejected his advances, Francois Marie accepted his father's judgment.
05:01
Louis Xiv distrusted Philippe Arroway, but his father persuaded the Duke de Sales Amore to let him stay in Paris and titillate the salons and patrons with his poetry liberally laced with heresies barely concealed innuendo directed at some of the powerful Nobles in the Regency.
06:14
A group of bursters appeared in early 1717, and the Regent responded to the verses by issuing a secret arrest warrant for the Duke de Orleor.
06:46
Arroway was sent to the Bastille in Paris without a trial and began writing an epic poem based on Henry Iv of France. He also worked on his play, Edipur, and began signing his name as M. Arrowhead Voltaire.
07:44
In October 1718, Voltaire was allowed to return to Paris to oversee the production of Oedipa, a play that included the theme of incest. The space was an immediate Temptation in Paris, playing for 45 performances, an unheard-of record at the time.
08:37
In 1726, Voltaire was sent to the Bastille after the Chevalier de Run commented about the writer's adopted name. Voltaire asked for a voluntary Exile in England rather than another lengthy incarceration, which was granted.
09:22
Voltaire was escorted to Calais, where he embarked on a ship for England, debated with political leaders, aligned himself with the liberal Whig party, and attended Productions of Shakespeare's plays. He came to appreciate religious tolerance and then enjoyed it in Britain.
10:28
Voltaire's letters philosophy sir La Anglae philosophical on the English were met with limited praise, though another play, Zaire 1732, was a rousing success.
11:40
Voltaire's philosophical letters on the English were published in Rule, and he was forced to flee Paris. He sought refuge with his new mistress, the Marquis De Chateaulay, at Siri near the border with Lorraine.
12:13
Voltaire and Frederick Prussia had a long-standing correspondence and an on-again-off-again friendship. Voltaire also began an affair with Marie Luis Migno, his niece.
12:44
Voltaire never married and had no known children, though his relationship with the Marquis and his widowed niece may have been more platonic than sexual.
13:11
Voltaire moved to Prussia at the invitation of Frederick the Great, where he produced Micromegas, a work of Science Fiction in which extraterrestrials visit us and observe the defects of the human race in answer to a human's question.
14:02
Voltaire made enemies as quickly as he amused his friends and patrons, and by mid-1752, he was no longer welcome at Frederick's Court. He was banished from the French capital and settled on an estate near Geneva, where he published another epic poem.
15:09
Voltaire published Candide in 1759, a satire on religion, the military establishment's War, philosophers, charlatans, and humanity. Candide encounters an enslaved person in French Guiana who believes that if all Humanity shared a common ancestry, then no one could treat their relatives so horribly.
16:02
Candide discovers a utopian society dubbed El Dorado, where citizens are free of religious Dogma and governed by human reason. To Voltaire, the seemingly perfect world of El Dorado could not exist.
16:32
Candide derides the then-popular philosophy of optimism, believing that most people cultivate their gardens in the manner most suitable to their existence.
17:02
The book was immediately banned or censored throughout France but was eventually regarded as one of the most significant works of French literature ever written.
17:20
Voltaire's book, Irene Stricken, was banned across foreign France and was later expanded to 120 entries. He was ill during the midwinter Journey and died at the end of May 1778, probably of uremia.
18:15
Voltaire's enemies claimed that he accepted baptism into the Roman Catholic Church on his deathbed, but there is no evidence that he did so.
18:48
The Catholic Church denied Voltaire's Reigns burial in consecrated ground in Paris, and his remains were buried at the Army in Champaign through the influence of the Arab distilleries.
19:17
The Voltaire Institute compiled and translated Altair's work, published in 1976. The project moved to Oxford's Voltaire Foundation in 2022.
19:38
According to the Voltaire Foundation, his life's writings extended to over 15 million words, and up to 25 000 letters have yet to be found.
Suggestion: *Davy Crockett*
It would be interesting to separate the man from the myth.
He is one of my favourite people in the history of humanity.
How about composers? They had fascinating lives!
I love the musical "Candide" by Leonard Bernstein.
Could you do a Thomas Paine video?
A man ahead of his time.
Voltaire is my all time favorite author thinker philosopher humorist man of many talents!
Yes Voltaire is one of my favorites along with Thomas Paine.
Renaissance man?
@@IGOTSYA More like Enlightenment man.
same as putin
Especially the humour part. :-D
Leibnitz ("best of all possible worlds") was Voltaire's (and Johnson's) punching bag. I admire Voltaire's way of living, housemates with the most beautiful and intellectual courtesans of his day, conducting scientific experiments with them, and pursuing the life of a libertine AND a free-thinker.
WHAT IVE BEEN WAITING FOR
Philosophical wisdom which eternity will never surpass.
Please do Spinoza!!
You should do a video on Jonathan Swift. Btw Swift, while born to English parents, was Irish born and raised.
You really need to make a Biographics on Rene Descartes plus many other philosophers.
Day 2 of asking for Flavius Belisarius, General of the Eastern Roman Empire!
Mozart upon hearing the news that Voltaire had died:
“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!”
😂😂😂
Any chance of seeing biographics cover two obscure people who are a couple of my favourite humans ever: Robinson Jeffers and Edward Abbey?
Reading Durant's STORY OF CIVILIZATION in 13 volumes taught me more about life in this world than any other work.
One of your more outstanding videos, Simon.
Wasn't Voltaire's version of the Joan of Arc story called "La Pucelle" which is slang/familiar term for a virgin and a word meaning a very young woman/teenager? that would make more sense because I'm not sure La Purcelle has any meaning.
"we do not pray to him at all said the reverend sage we have nothing to ask of him he has given us all and we give him thanks incessantly"
put the entire quote 😠
You should really try it. ! Might surprise you how good it works.
I’d love to see a vid on Alfred Kubin
Could you maybe do a Biographics about Jefferson Davis, the Confederate President? I know it's probably gonna be a controversial topic, but since we already got videos about most other main figures of the American Civil War (Lincoln, Grant, Lee...), it would fit in quite well...
This guy make a video about anything. I don't question the quality of the content, rather I wonder how much he puts on this job anymore. He's basically just a narrator reading a script, kinda without adding anything beyond that.. I'm puzzled
One of the pictures behind you is crooked, Simon. Please fix it, lol.
I clearly need to start reading Voltaire.
Wow. A citation from Will Durant. I have all 11 volumes, and it is incredibly readable.
"If you want to know who controls you, look at who you are not to criticize"
Jesus christ this is so true.. The *protected group* thats wrecking our culture due to intolerance and the power they currently hold...
Very interesting two comments about Prosperity Gospel HERETICS wouldn't go through. Let's see if this one does!
Oh look, more comments that speak plain facts not going through.
Exaggeration! Our culture is fine, it just has some issues.
@MISM in Canada they are making it to where you're fined 2500 dollars if you protest drag or lgbt events.. Stop fooling yourself
The actual origin of the quote was a Neo-Nazi who did time for possessing CP. For context.
I thought there'd be some mention of the legal cases Voltaire helped with like when a young depressed man took his own life but the lawyer was trying to argue that the father had killed his son because the son wanted to become a Catholic, but that was probably because Robert Green Ingersoll talked alot about them in his lectures. That's a guy you could do a video on.
A video on Enver Hoxha would be good
I think we need a biographics about Louis X of France. He was such a fascinating man who seemed to want way more modern morals (except for his affairs) to be the law in France and is the reason Slavery in France itself was pretty much outlawed in the early 1300s amid many other reforms that led to him getting the nickname "The Quarrelsome". I just stumbled upon him when I was curious about why Slavery was outlawed before the 1700s in mainland France. It dates back to when he decided to make sure every serf's freedom was paid for one way or another because he found even that level of oppression to be abominable. He also let the Jews return to their homes in France where they had been exiled from for 9 years. Just those two facts alone are fascinating and I want to know how he did fiscal and centralizion reforms even if some of them were overturned. Sadly the only video on him is in French and I don't speak French.
Can you do a video on stand watie last confederate general to surrender and only native American general in the war
Why dont u do videos on brands and the history of them. Maybe a bit dodgy with legal stuff but would be good like ford motors or mcdonalds or pepsi etc
You're wearing a band-aid on your little finger!
I’m here for the Voltaire quotes🎉🎉🎉🎉
How many times did he have to flee Paris 😂😂
Maybe thomas jefferson next?
"I'll have the pancakes in the Age of Enlightenment please" 😉😂
Next should be Thomas Hobbes.
Can you make video of Stjepan Radić
Voltaire: The man who believed nothing, and everything all at the same time.
I think it's safe to say, Voltaire was simply a contrarian. He was for whatever people were against, and was against whatever people were for. If Voltaire were alive today, he would be a deeply religious, conservative man...simply because they are in the minority.
Iirc he was also massively influential for Catherine the Great of Russia.
Philippe I, Duke of Orléans died on June 9th 1701, the one who became regent to the boy King Louis XV was his son, Philippe II, Duke of Orléans.
This period was called the régence period, which last between 1715-1723, in which Philippe ll, Duke of Orléans served as prince regent during this period
I’d love a video on Dorothy Parker! A poet/ social philosopher with a life more colorful than anything she could have committed to paper 😂❤
Il faut cultiver notre jardin🙃😊
I'm dissapointed with the glancing mention of his relationship with Emilie du Chatelet. She was an incredible woman and deeply talented mathematician and she greatly influenced him. Please do a full biographics episode on her, you'll be amazed. And for anyone who reads this comment please read the book "Passionate Minds" by David Bodanis, which is a biography of her and Voltaire's relationship.
Absolutely agree, she's such an impressive figure who depressingly few people know about. If anyone reading this wants a good overview of her on CZcams, I recommend Wes Cecil's "Forgotten Thinkers" episode on her.
Please Do Booker T. Washington next
It is time. The Biogreaphics of Simon's beard.
Us Rohan’s have remembered Voltaires silly folly
Can we have a vid on John Stuart Mills please because both Marxists and Conservatives have no idea what real, workable, reformist socialism is.
It's extra funny when it's British people saying it doesn't work and never can. As we live in the Social Democracy constructed between:
Historic Liberal Party, Beveridge Report 1942, Attlee launching the NHS and Welfare State, then Churchill expanding it from 1951.
Alternatively one on Gladstone might be great, and also extremely amusing just for one quote in particular.
William E Gladstone: Men are apt to mistake their strength of their feeling, for the the strength of their argument. The heated mind resists the chill touch and relentless scrutiny of logic.
Interesting choice to refer to Swift as "British"
Please can you do the Stewart kings? Ideally James IV or V or Charles II
Is your finger ok?