Tag: Voltaire

The Enlightenment in Britain and France

Posted in social institutions

The Enlightenment marked a change in the way that humans understood themselves. Before the Enlightenment, they were bit players under God’s direction; after the Enlightenment, they stood at center stage…

Voltaire’s England

Posted in economic institutions, history of science, history of trade and commerce, political institutions, property rights, social institutions

Voltaire was exiled to England from 1726 to 1729. His English letters reveal his admiration for England’s religious tolerance, the empiricism of its science, and the vitality of its commerce…