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

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 เม.ย. 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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ความคิดเห็น • 137

  • @deborahdavis6801
    @deborahdavis6801 28 วันที่ผ่านมา +186

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

    • @frankburklin1116
      @frankburklin1116 25 วันที่ผ่านมา +15

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

    • @masonvegas4336
      @masonvegas4336 20 วันที่ผ่านมา +2

      Thx

    • @peaceleader7315
      @peaceleader7315 17 วันที่ผ่านมา

      They will.. but slowly. ​@@frankburklin1116

    • @Thrankson
      @Thrankson 17 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

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

    • @peaceleader7315
      @peaceleader7315 17 วันที่ผ่านมา +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.

  • @paulnolan4971
    @paulnolan4971 12 วันที่ผ่านมา +12

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

  • @kristenrosales2919
    @kristenrosales2919 หลายเดือนก่อน +97

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

    • @mikebarnes5528
      @mikebarnes5528 26 วันที่ผ่านมา +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 16 วันที่ผ่านมา

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

    • @hewitc
      @hewitc 14 วันที่ผ่านมา

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

    • @gamkal7231
      @gamkal7231 4 วันที่ผ่านมา +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 3 วันที่ผ่านมา

      @@mikebarnes5528You have no way of knowing that.

  • @MysticChronicles712
    @MysticChronicles712 หลายเดือนก่อน +32

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

  • @nayanendumisra6764
    @nayanendumisra6764 หลายเดือนก่อน +23

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

  • @donaldwhittaker7987
    @donaldwhittaker7987 หลายเดือนก่อน +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 11 วันที่ผ่านมา

      Spot on.😊
      Great minds think alike.

    • @CanadianMemorials
      @CanadianMemorials 8 วันที่ผ่านมา

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

  • @troygaspard6732
    @troygaspard6732 หลายเดือนก่อน +31

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

    • @moussesucree
      @moussesucree หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      Vive*

    • @ivanbarbosa81
      @ivanbarbosa81 12 วันที่ผ่านมา +2

      He should come back now that intolerance is rising

  • @j.dunlop8295
    @j.dunlop8295 12 วันที่ผ่านมา +7

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

  • @mylindacasbarro777
    @mylindacasbarro777 2 วันที่ผ่านมา +2

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

  • @paulbk7810
    @paulbk7810 หลายเดือนก่อน +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 28 วันที่ผ่านมา +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 หลายเดือนก่อน +14

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

  • @HistoriadorGrego
    @HistoriadorGrego หลายเดือนก่อน +33

    A very influential person in Europe and the Western world

    • @ivanbarbosa81
      @ivanbarbosa81 12 วันที่ผ่านมา

      The father of the french revolution

  • @fredthegredgred9013
    @fredthegredgred9013 หลายเดือนก่อน +10

    Incredible writer, I agree with alot of his philosophy

  • @balletshoes
    @balletshoes หลายเดือนก่อน +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 23 วันที่ผ่านมา +2

      What about the Ottoman Empire did he admire?

    • @johnnwako2488
      @johnnwako2488 13 วันที่ผ่านมา

      Which one is "my nation"?

  • @TupacMakaveli1996
    @TupacMakaveli1996 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

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

  • @paulnolan4971
    @paulnolan4971 12 วันที่ผ่านมา +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

  • @capt.bart.roberts4975
    @capt.bart.roberts4975 หลายเดือนก่อน +5

    Voltaire, is one of my heroes. 😶

  • @markberman6708
    @markberman6708 หลายเดือนก่อน +8

    One of my favorites....

  • @BlueNeahno
    @BlueNeahno 18 วันที่ผ่านมา +4

    Seek the unknown,question everything.

  • @etiennevanonselen7949
    @etiennevanonselen7949 17 วันที่ผ่านมา +2

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

  • @user-mt2uj8xl2u
    @user-mt2uj8xl2u หลายเดือนก่อน +4

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

  • @Keef_DGAF
    @Keef_DGAF หลายเดือนก่อน +11

    Voltaire is my spirit animal

  • @donyoung7874
    @donyoung7874 หลายเดือนก่อน +6

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

  • @paulnolan4971
    @paulnolan4971 12 วันที่ผ่านมา +2

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

  • @stephenh5865
    @stephenh5865 18 วันที่ผ่านมา +3

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

    • @gamkal7231
      @gamkal7231 4 วันที่ผ่านมา

      @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!

  • @paulnolan4971
    @paulnolan4971 12 วันที่ผ่านมา +3

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

  • @chrisbond7324
    @chrisbond7324 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

    Read candide i'm just falling in love with it

  • @abhradip_1
    @abhradip_1 หลายเดือนก่อน +7

    Make a video on Swami Vivekananda and his social philosophy

  • @freak8385
    @freak8385 หลายเดือนก่อน +8

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

  • @alexoblivion9295
    @alexoblivion9295 หลายเดือนก่อน +5

    Could we maybe get a video about Zadig?

  • @SK-re7vo
    @SK-re7vo หลายเดือนก่อน +6

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

  • @andrewheaney6858
    @andrewheaney6858 22 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

    Great informative and thought provoking video!

  • @miguelangelous
    @miguelangelous หลายเดือนก่อน +5

    Much appreciated 👌🏼

  • @christianchauhan23
    @christianchauhan23 หลายเดือนก่อน +5

    ❤🤍💙 all your videos mate👍

  • @robertmorris9133
    @robertmorris9133 19 วันที่ผ่านมา +2

    Very English humour, brilliant man😊

  • @uria3679
    @uria3679 หลายเดือนก่อน +5

    Please do a Robert Heinline video

  • @mylindacasbarro777
    @mylindacasbarro777 2 วันที่ผ่านมา

    I write that down! 🙏👑♥️

  • @kathleensmith644
    @kathleensmith644 29 วันที่ผ่านมา +3

    Nothing changes. Everything is the same.

    • @hewitc
      @hewitc 14 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

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

  • @Initwithlove
    @Initwithlove 7 วันที่ผ่านมา

    That was really good❤❤ thank you

  • @starcapture3040
    @starcapture3040 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

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

  • @alfredthevarajah1344
    @alfredthevarajah1344 20 วันที่ผ่านมา +2

    He was one of the contributors to the French constitution.

  • @user-vl4jj5dp2o
    @user-vl4jj5dp2o 16 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

    I may start considering him an eighteenth century Hunter S Thompson

    • @Confucius_Says...
      @Confucius_Says... วันที่ผ่านมา

      Exactly ‼️‼️‼️🤣🤣🤣

  • @user-gd4ku5se8h
    @user-gd4ku5se8h 12 วันที่ผ่านมา

    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 18 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

    !Viva Voltaire!

  • @Dishfire101
    @Dishfire101 21 วันที่ผ่านมา +2

    Hume, Smith, Black all Scottish from the enlightenment ❤

  • @e.f.4299
    @e.f.4299 17 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Ty

  • @pencilsandlight1318
    @pencilsandlight1318 19 วันที่ผ่านมา +2

    And don’t forget to tend your garden.

  • @jonlee557
    @jonlee557 17 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

    Maybe the beginning of existentialism as we know it.

  • @seekinggodfirst754
    @seekinggodfirst754 2 วันที่ผ่านมา

    I love Candide 😊

  • @ivanbarbosa81
    @ivanbarbosa81 12 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

    A genius

  • @charliemcternan8190
    @charliemcternan8190 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

    That was a very French name

  • @Kodeekat
    @Kodeekat 27 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

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

  • @BrandonBDN
    @BrandonBDN 2 วันที่ผ่านมา

    “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

  • @professorchronicler
    @professorchronicler หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    How to make animated videos like you ?

    • @SeeUinHistory
      @SeeUinHistory  หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      We have a professional animation editor on our team 👍

  • @SteveXNYC
    @SteveXNYC หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Volt here

  • @AngelRiverar-yz7kz
    @AngelRiverar-yz7kz หลายเดือนก่อน +4

    🌟🏆🎊🎉🎉🏅

  • @Donathon-qx8kq
    @Donathon-qx8kq หลายเดือนก่อน +23

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

    • @gandalfstormcrow8439
      @gandalfstormcrow8439 หลายเดือนก่อน +5

      Jesus Christ died for you.

    • @jonhappleseed8144
      @jonhappleseed8144 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@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 หลายเดือนก่อน

      ​@@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.

  • @user-ov6ny3uc3l
    @user-ov6ny3uc3l หลายเดือนก่อน +2

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

  • @user-tp7gy4dj4l
    @user-tp7gy4dj4l หลายเดือนก่อน +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 หลายเดือนก่อน

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

    • @andrewheaney6858
      @andrewheaney6858 22 วันที่ผ่านมา

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

  • @hanzohattori5908
    @hanzohattori5908 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

    Next I see Vlad the Impaler ❤❤❤

    • @leondobre7498
      @leondobre7498 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

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

  • @vicgallimore6756
    @vicgallimore6756 21 วันที่ผ่านมา

    MUST HAVE BEEN RICH, SITTING AROUD ALL DAY THINKING.

  • @michaeljohnangel6359
    @michaeljohnangel6359 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

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

    • @rabokarabekian409
      @rabokarabekian409 24 วันที่ผ่านมา +2

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

  • @Thrankson
    @Thrankson 17 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Spongebob Squarepants 😂I like it 👍

  • @paulnolan4971
    @paulnolan4971 12 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

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

  • @JCornell-gm8cp
    @JCornell-gm8cp 22 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

    Ponder existence more deeply.

  • @diagofuller6958
    @diagofuller6958 29 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

    Humm

  • @user-kg3qv6en8s
    @user-kg3qv6en8s หลายเดือนก่อน +3

    He was also a freemason

    • @gamkal7231
      @gamkal7231 4 วันที่ผ่านมา

      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!)

  • @HenryLebensbaumLaw
    @HenryLebensbaumLaw 10 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

    Nobody's perfect. Bed side conversion

  • @amyapplegate4356
    @amyapplegate4356 25 วันที่ผ่านมา +2

    marquis's? Marquis'.

    • @gamkal7231
      @gamkal7231 4 วันที่ผ่านมา

      See my correction above!

  • @jamescurrie2246
    @jamescurrie2246 หลายเดือนก่อน +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 4 วันที่ผ่านมา

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

  • @SamWellburnski
    @SamWellburnski หลายเดือนก่อน +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 หลายเดือนก่อน

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

    • @andrewheaney6858
      @andrewheaney6858 22 วันที่ผ่านมา

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

    • @gamkal7231
      @gamkal7231 4 วันที่ผ่านมา

      @@libertycowboy2495 But mispronounces the words a lot!

  • @rabokarabekian409
    @rabokarabekian409 24 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

    Voltaire was a deist.

  • @user-ug2yz6vb7p
    @user-ug2yz6vb7p 17 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

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

  • @PhilipNeuer8855
    @PhilipNeuer8855 หลายเดือนก่อน

    The hog?

  • @paules3437
    @paules3437 16 วันที่ผ่านมา +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  16 วันที่ผ่านมา +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 4 วันที่ผ่านมา

      @@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.

  • @bluetortilla
    @bluetortilla 12 วันที่ผ่านมา

    AI

  • @JustNow42
    @JustNow42 14 วันที่ผ่านมา +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 4 วันที่ผ่านมา

      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 16 วันที่ผ่านมา +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?

  • @MegaDonzee
    @MegaDonzee 13 วันที่ผ่านมา

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

    • @gamkal7231
      @gamkal7231 4 วันที่ผ่านมา

      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 4 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

      @@gamkal7231 Yes, 18th century thoughts.

  • @georgesherrill3371
    @georgesherrill3371 15 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Louis XIV died in 1715, not 1717!

  • @user-ln3lh2pz8h
    @user-ln3lh2pz8h 2 วันที่ผ่านมา

    He was a satirist not a sarcastic.

  • @user-jn2wx7db1c
    @user-jn2wx7db1c 13 วันที่ผ่านมา

    Voltaire is nothing compared to these artists paintings

  • @gamkal7231
    @gamkal7231 5 วันที่ผ่านมา

    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!)

  • @catrinamcdermott4211
    @catrinamcdermott4211 3 วันที่ผ่านมา

    But gods are superstition.

  • @fredcrown-tamir698
    @fredcrown-tamir698 13 วันที่ผ่านมา

    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.

  • @andrewcothran8377
    @andrewcothran8377 9 วันที่ผ่านมา

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

  • @lazn9863
    @lazn9863 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

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