England as a mirror
Read the Philosophical Letters as an indirect critique of France through religion, commerce and science.
An original introduction. This guide accompanies the work; it is neither the complete text nor a translation.
Situating the text
Drawn from his stay in England from 1726 to 1728, the letters appeared first in English in 1733, then in French in 1734. The Parlement of Paris had the book burned and Voltaire withdrew to Cirey; the portrait of England is deliberately idealized to serve a French argument. In letters on the Quakers and England’s many sects, on Parliament, commerce, smallpox inoculation, Bacon, Locke, Newton and English literature, Voltaire turns a portrait of England into an indirect critique of France. A final letter contests Pascal’s picture of human misery and defends ordinary life.
Following the arguments
Religious plurality : The coexistence of many sects, sustained by commerce, suggests that diversity of belief can pacify a society instead of tearing it apart. Experience : The letter on Locke praises a modest philosophy that studies the soul through experience rather than claiming to know its essence. Attraction : Set against Descartes’s vortices, Newtonian attraction becomes the model of a science that measures phenomena without inventing hidden causes.
Continuing the reading
Begin with the letters on the Quakers and on Locke, then read the one on Pascal’s Pensées; ask what each idealized English scene is meant to make French readers see at home. Drawn from his stay in England from 1726 to 1728, the letters appeared first in English in 1733, then in French in 1734. The Parlement of Paris had the book burned and Voltaire withdrew to Cirey; the portrait of England is deliberately idealized to serve a French argument.
Praising another country can be a way of criticizing one’s own; the idealization must be read as a strategy.
Your turn to think.
- What does the coexistence of sects in the letters suggest about the conditions of religious peace?
- Which features of England does Voltaire simplify in order to criticize France?
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