Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T12:00:06.518Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

12 - Voltaire and the politics of toleration

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 May 2009

Nicholas Cronk
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
Get access

Summary

It would be an understandable mistake if, in seeking a working definition of the problem of toleration, we came to believe that it was essentially a matter for theological debate. Works of reference rarely explain that, in the eighteenth century, even the Church looked upon this theological issue as being, in parallel, a practical problem with distinct political ramifications. Similarly, Voltaire's own concern with toleration - all too easily linked with his campaign against l'Infâme (dogmatic, revealed religion in all its worst manifestations) - was always deeply political. Furthermore we cannot adequately define the political nature and above all the specificity of Voltaire's views on toleration with reference to Voltaire alone. He did not evolve in a self-sufficient vacuum. For example, his celebrated Traité sur la tolérance (1763) was long presented - even by the most reputable scholars - as though it was to be understood with exclusive reference to his campaign against l'Infame. A more appropriate reading takes account of the years 1751-62 which saw a concerted campaign for and against toleration within a particular political and economic framework where Voltaire responds belatedly to specific conservative proponents of the status quo. No investigation, therefore, into Voltaire's complex views can possibly dispense with some preliminary examination of the background against which those views evolved and to which they often ultimately proved to be a response.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×