外国人最想和你聊的名人话题：伏尔泰

　About Voltaire　关于伏尔泰

     Francois-Marie Arouet, better known by the pen name Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion and free trade. Voltaire was a prolific writer, producing works in almost every literary form including plays, poetry, novels, essays, and historical and scientific works. He wrote more than 20,000 letters and more than 2,000 books and pamphlets. He was an outspoken supporter of social reform, despite strict censorship laws and harsh penalties for those who broke them. As a satirical polemicist, he frequently made use of his works to criticize intolerance, religious dogma and the French institutions of his day.
     Francois-Marie Arouet was born in Paris, the youngest of the five children (only three of whom survived) of Francois Arouet (1650-1722), a notary who was a minor treasury official, and his wife, Marie Marguerite d'Aumart (ca. 1660 - 13 July 1701), from a noble family of the province of Poitou. Voltaire was educated by Jesuits at the Collège Louis-le-Grand (1704-1711), where he learned Latin and Greek; later in life he became fluent in Italian, Spanish and English.
     From an early age, Voltaire displayed a talent for writing verse and his first published work was poetry. He wrote two book-long epic poems, including the first ever written in French, the Henriade, and later, The Maid of Orleans, besides many other smaller pieces.
     Voltaire was one of several Enlightenment figures (along with Montesquieu, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and émilie du Chatelet) whose works and ideas influenced important thinkers of both the American and French Revolutions.
     伏尔泰不仅在哲学上有卓越成就，也以捍卫公民自由，特别是信仰自由和司法公正而闻名。他曾两次被捕入狱，主张开明的民主制度，强调自由和平等。尽管在他所处的时代审查制度十分严厉，伏尔泰仍然公开支持社会改革。他的论说以讽刺见长，常常抨击基督教会的教条和当时的法国教育制度。雨果曾评价说："伏尔泰的名字所代表的不是一个人，而是整整一个时代。"他提倡卢梭所倡导的天赋人权，认为人生来就是自由和平等的，一切人都具有追求生存、追求幸福的权利，这种权利是天赋予的，不能被剥夺，这就是天赋人权思想。
     伏尔泰信奉自然权利说，认为"人们本质上是平等的"，要求人人享有"自然权利"。他主张人人在法律面前平等，但又认为财产权利的不平等是不可避免的。他把英国的君主立宪制理想化了，认为最理想的是由"开明"的君主按哲学家的意见来治理国家。伏尔泰在启蒙运动的思想家中，反映上层资产阶级的利益，主张开明君主制。他在哲学上信奉英国唯物主义哲学家洛克的经验论。在哲学上，他承认物质世界的客观存在，肯定认识来源于感觉经验，但他又认为神是宇宙的"第一推动者"。他对劳动人民是十分鄙视的，认为他们只能干粗活，不能思考，说"当庶民都思考时，那一切都完了"。伏尔泰在反封建的启蒙运动中作出的巨大的贡献，是值得人们永远纪念的。