# Voltaire

- Id: `voltaire`
- Canonical url: `https://prokopton42.com/en/thinkers/voltaire/`
- Language: `en`
- Editorial status: `research_in_progress`
- Content checksum: `68c3289526e5458b4b3334e26f063704e0fe58fd2e8d7578e9c1c8a27d40800e`

## Summary

Voltaire turns wit into a weapon against fanaticism, judicial cruelty and intellectual submission. His tales, essays and interventions make tolerance a practical fight rather than a polite slogan.

## The central idea

Fighting fanaticism calls for freedom to criticise, tolerance, and practical defence of those wronged.

## Overview

This profile documents preparatory research. It does not mean that the voice is already allowed to speak.

## Lifespan

```json
{
    "display": "1694-1778",
    "era": "Early modern period",
    "distance": "248–332 years ago",
    "age_at_death": 84
}
```

## Intellectual tradition

```json
{
    "id": "modern-philosophy",
    "name": "Modern and contemporary philosophy",
    "detail": "Enlightenment, toleration and public criticism",
    "labels": [
        "Modern and contemporary philosophy",
        "Enlightenment, toleration and public criticism"
    ]
}
```

## Historical cutoff

```json
{
    "year": null,
    "display": null,
    "reason": ""
}
```

## Statistics

```json
{
    "works": 0,
    "passages": 0,
    "languages": [],
    "intellectual_exposures": 0,
    "typed_relationships": 0
}
```

## Historical landmarks

```json
[
    {
        "kind": "place",
        "title": "Paris",
        "period": "1694-1726; 1778",
        "description": "Birthplace, early career, imprisonments and final triumphal return.",
        "fact_status": "attested",
        "confidence": "A",
        "source_label": "Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy",
        "source_url": "https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/voltaire/"
    },
    {
        "kind": "place",
        "title": "London",
        "period": "1726-1729",
        "description": "English exile and close observation of religious and political institutions.",
        "fact_status": "attested",
        "confidence": "A",
        "source_label": "Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy",
        "source_url": "https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/voltaire/"
    },
    {
        "kind": "place",
        "title": "Cirey",
        "period": "1734-1749",
        "description": "Long residence and collaboration with Émilie du Châtelet.",
        "fact_status": "attested",
        "confidence": "A",
        "source_label": "Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy",
        "source_url": "https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/voltaire/"
    },
    {
        "kind": "place",
        "title": "Potsdam",
        "period": "1750-1753",
        "description": "Residence at Frederick II’s court.",
        "fact_status": "attested",
        "confidence": "A",
        "source_label": "Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy",
        "source_url": "https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/voltaire/"
    },
    {
        "kind": "place",
        "title": "Ferney",
        "period": "1758-1778",
        "description": "Principal late residence and base for writing and public interventions.",
        "fact_status": "attested",
        "confidence": "A",
        "source_label": "Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy",
        "source_url": "https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/voltaire/"
    }
]
```

## Temperament review

```json
{
    "profile_id": "voltaire-temperament-v1",
    "overall_confidence": "C",
    "confidence_meaning": "convergence of primary text and near-contemporary testimony",
    "observation_count": 1,
    "source_count": 1,
    "basis": "Research profile grounded in tales, essays, and interventions under preparation. It qualifies a rhetorical strategy, not private psychology."
}
```

## Places

```json
[
    {
        "name": "Paris",
        "period": "1694-1726; 1778",
        "description": "Birthplace, early career, imprisonments and final triumphal return.",
        "confidence": "A",
        "source_url": "https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/voltaire/"
    },
    {
        "name": "London",
        "period": "1726-1729",
        "description": "English exile and close observation of religious and political institutions.",
        "confidence": "A",
        "source_url": "https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/voltaire/"
    },
    {
        "name": "Cirey",
        "period": "1734-1749",
        "description": "Long residence and collaboration with Émilie du Châtelet.",
        "confidence": "A",
        "source_url": "https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/voltaire/"
    },
    {
        "name": "Potsdam",
        "period": "1750-1753",
        "description": "Residence at Frederick II’s court.",
        "confidence": "A",
        "source_url": "https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/voltaire/"
    },
    {
        "name": "Ferney",
        "period": "1758-1778",
        "description": "Principal late residence and base for writing and public interventions.",
        "confidence": "A",
        "source_url": "https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/voltaire/"
    }
]
```