Voltaire, born in 1694 and passing away in 1778, was another of fundamental influence to the French Revolution. Voltaire was perhaps the most prominent of all the Philosophes given that, whilst he was not the first, he certainly strongly criticized known beliefs by putting them to the tests of reason, experience and usefulness. Through questioning old ideas, Voltaire praised many aspects of the eighteenth century British society, including its limited monarchy, commercial enterprise and religious tolerance, which he believed that the French should adopt. Like Descartes, Voltaire questioned the creditability of Christianity as it was so widely accepted in France at the time, referring to it as an “infamous thing”, characterized by prejudice, superstition, bloodshed and war. In contrast to this, Voltaire looked highly upon the London stock exchange as a place where people of all religions could trade and associate as equals, an ideal that he held on many levels. Voltaire studied the philosophies of Englishmen such as Newton and Bacon, and developed an interest in justice for it’s own sake. This lead him to fighting the battle between enlightenment and oppression, putting him on the side of the Encyclopaediests, as well as meaning that he sided with the third estate in conflict between it and its two superiors.
Montesquieu was another of the Philosophes, who lived at around the same time of Voltaire. Montesquieu held that there was no perfect model of law, but rather all were relative to the society in which they were a part. He did, however, believe that all societies could learn about political liberties from the British. According to Montesquieu, anyone with power, the king included, should be restrained by other political bodies. This idea lead to the separation of powers, the idea of partitioning the branches of authority into legislative, executive and judicial arms, as opposed to the system that was held in France at the time whereby the King had absolute power. This would guarantee individual rights and freedoms, which was clearly not apparent in France at the time, where the separation of the three estates was evidently infringing on the rights of the ‘lower’ members of society in the third estate.
Rousseau is another of the Philosophes who had a strong effect on pre-revolution France. He was an influential novelist, philosopher, botanist, musician and political theorist, who had an enormous effect on Romanticism in literature and philosophy. His famous political thesis, The Social Contract, developed a civil case for liberty and helped to prepare for the French Revolution by defending the will of the people against divine right.
Denis Diderot is remembered most soundly through his project of twenty-five years, Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire Raisonné des Sciences, des Arts et des Métiers. This text of seventeen volumes voiced the advanced opinions of the time in philosophy, religion, science and politics. Diderot believed that scientific principals and reasoning would allow individuals to understand the world for themselves. This understanding would, in turn, help humanity to achieve progress.
The effect of these men, amongst many others, is rudimentary to history as it stands. Without the widespread beliefs of these philosophers and their works, the people of France may never have had the leadership required to avert their country from the downward cycle in which it was in for many years before the Revolution of 1789.
