11 Ideas from Voltaire, beyond the Memes
Like so many other fine things, Voltaire has today mostly been reduced to a meme. In his case, it’s usually a meme with a quote that got falsely (but sympathetically) attributed to him — that he would die for your right to say things he disagreed with.
The idea that Voltaire was a “free speech absolutist” is deeply anachronistic. No one was in the 18th century, and it is a fair bet that any of the lumieres (enlightenment philosophers) would have been saddened and amazed at our broohahas.
Voltaire was certainly an advocate of freedom of the press, and freedom of religion. But
Voltaire believed that fanaticism, incitements to violence, hateful prejudices, calls for sedition and the overthrow of legitimate governments, and libel were bad things that should be limited with the force of law. As a philosopher, he also believed that the right to express an opinion does not make it wise, right, or good to hold onto one’s ideas, and try to impose them on others, once they have been decisively falsified, or shown to be implicated in…