François Marie Arouet (Voltaire)
1689-1755
Who Was He
•François-Marie Arouet was a writer better known through his pen name of Voltaire.
His Ideas
Voltaire was prolific — writing plays, novels, essays and letters. As a writer, Voltaire was most concerned about individual rights and civil liberties. In other words, he believed that man had the natural right to freedom of speech, press and religion. Interestingly, Voltaire was very much against widespread participation in government (ie. Democracy) because most people were vastly uneducated. He did not mind a strong and powerful monarchy — as long as the monarch was enlightened. An enlightened monarch would protect individual rights and freedoms.