Science in the Arts
Rationalism, Science, and Freedom of Speech:
Voltaire
Marek H. Dominiczak*
The 18th century Enlightenment thinkers began to regard observation as a primary means of gaining knowledge. Crucial to this were the discoveries of Isaac Newton
and the philosophy of John Locke (1632–1704). Isaac
Newton was previously mentioned in this series (1 ).
Locke maintained that the only source of our knowledge was our senses, and that there was no innate knowledge that a human possessed. This view implied that
knowledge had its limits because things that were unavailable to sensory perception would be unknowable.
Locke also addressed the process of scientific induction,
acknowledging that inductive knowledge may yield errors; therefore, knowledge at any point was not unchangeable and might need to be corrected in the future.
He extrapolated some of his epistemological comments
to thinking of politics and government. His lasting contribution was the view that, because there was no absolute
knowledge, political tolerance was essential (2, 3 ).
France at that time was ruled by Louis XV, after the
death of Louis XIV in 1715. Elsewhere in Europe this
was the time of the so-called enlightened despots: Frederick II in Prussia and Catherine II in Russia. In France,
intellectuals developing the Enlightenment ideas became
known as the philosophes. Prominent among them was
François Marie Arouet (1694 –1778), who changed his
name to Voltaire (4, 5 ). He was a playwright and a historian. For much of his life he was associated with the
leading Parisian theater, Comédie Française, and very
quickly became a celebrated writer (6 ). He had an extraordinary wit and a clear, concise, to-the-point writing
style.
Early in his career, after an altercation with a nobleman, he was arrested and sent into exile to England. He
became fascinated with England’s liberties and its drive
to rationalism. In Letters on England (known in France as
Lettres philosophiques), he became a champion of Newton’s and Locke’s ideas (7 ). Voltaire admired the emerging science and later went as far as building himself a
laboratory for personal experimentation—with no signif-
College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.
* Address correspondence to the author at: Gartnavel General Hospital, 1053 Great
Western Rd., Glasgow G12 0YN, Scotland, UK. Fax +44-141-211-3452; e-mail
[email protected].
Received February 15, 2016; accepted February 19, 2016.
© 2016 American Association for Clinical Chemistry
icant results. Science was for him a subject of leisurely
study for intellectual pleasure.
Voltaire had a longstanding relationship with Émile
de Châtelet, an intellectually accomplished woman who
translated Newton’s Principia Mathematica. Interestingly, she also wrote an essay on happiness (5 ).
Later he spent 3 years at the court of Frederick II,
who was keen to establish Potsdam as an intellectual center. Unfortunately, he eventually contradicted Frederick
in a scientific dispute and decided to leave Prussia, settling outside Geneva. He then bought an estate in Ferney
(today Ferney-Voltaire) on the French–Swiss border. At
the very end of his life he triumphantly returned to Paris.
Voltaire’s rational point of view was grounded in
literature and history, and he backed his arguments by
characteristically careful analyses. His Philosophical dictionary defined his views in a series of short articles (8 ).
He also collaborated with Denis Diderot and Jean
d’Alembert, the editors of the seminal Enlightenment
publication, the Encyclopedia. He was an irrepressible advocate of freedom of speech. His willingness to express
his opinions without any restraint meant that a substantial part of his writing was being censored and banned,
and it had to be initially published outside France.
Fig. 1 provides a glimpse into the artistic style of the
times, the Rococo. It shows the work from the workshop
of a leading French painter, Francois Boucher (1727–
1765) (9, 10 ). Boucher was a pupil of François Lemoyne,
and he was influenced by Jean-Antoine Watteau. He also
visited Rome and admired the work of Baroque artists.
Boucher was also involved in the tapestry design for the
famous Beauvais and Gobelin workshops. In 1765 he
became the First Painter to the King. His patron was
Madame du Pompadour, the mistress of Louis XV, who
incidentally was also a supporter of Voltaire. The panel
shown in Fig. 1 was painted in 1770 –1772 and belongs
to a series entitled The Arts and Sciences. It shows a characteristically playful allegory of architecture and chemistry. Boucher trained as a theatrical set designer and one
can detect a theatrical slant to his work. The very
playfulness of this picture demonstrates how concepts
of science started to permeate wider society. This style
would soon be superseded by the much more stern
Neoclassicism.
Voltaire remains a role model for independent
thinkers, people who are loath to unthinkingly submit to
Clinical Chemistry 62:5 (2016) 789
Science in the Arts
either religious or state authority. Toward the end of his
life he achieved a truly iconic status in France but, interestingly, this was due not only to his literary achievements. He became engaged in a long fight to make the
French judicial system more transparent, and organized
appeals against several death sentences, which he perceived to be unjust (4 ). Thus, Voltaire was both a champion of emerging science and an early advocate of human
rights.
Author Contributions: All authors confirmed they have contributed to
the intellectual content of this paper and have met the following 3 requirements: (a) significant contributions to the conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; (b) drafting or revising
the article for intellectual content; and (c) final approval of the published
article.
Authors’ Disclosures or Potential Conflicts of Interest: No authors
declared any potential conflicts of interest.
Acknowledgments: My thanks to Jacky Gardiner for her excellent
secretarial assistance.
References
Fig. 1. François Boucher (1703–1770).
Workshop of François Boucher. The Arts and Sciences: Architecture
and Chemistry, 1750 –1752 Oil on canvas, 85 1/2 ×30 1/2 in. The
Frick Collection, New York. Photo: Michael Bodycomb. ©2016 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/SOFAM, Brussels. Reproduced
with permission.
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DOI: 10.1373/clinchem.2015.253088