Voltaire · Philosophy

The English Letters: Liberty, Newton, and Locke

Voltaire&rsquo;s <em>Letters concerning the English Nation</em> - the book that used England as a mirror to shame France, praising its religious tolerance, its commerce, its liberty, and above all the empiricism of Locke and the science of Newton as models for a rational, free society.

What you'll be able to recall

You learned that Voltaire&rsquo;s Letters concerning the English Nation held up English tolerance, commerce, and liberty, and the empiricism of Locke and the physics of Newton, as a model for France - implicitly indicting French absolutism and superstition. Explain what he admired in England and why the book was so su…

Leads to John Locke.

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