“Story of Civilization. Volume 9: The Age of Voltaire”, by Will and Ariel Durant

 

898 pages, Simon & Schuster, ISBN-13: 978-0671013257

The Story of Civilization is an 11-volume set of books by the American writers, historians and philosophers Will and Ariel Durant that focuses on a philosophical understanding of Western history that was intended for the general reader. Written over a period of more than fifty years, Volume 9: The Age of Voltaire was originally published in 1965, and covers the Age of Enlightenment as exemplified by Voltaire, focusing on the period between 1715 and 1756 in France, Britain and Germany. This volume differs somewhat from those that came before in that it is structured around the life and times of one man, namely, François-Marie Arouet: Voltaire, a man who touched and was touched by the intellectual flowering of the era as none of his contemporaries were. Beginning with a brief summary of the life of Voltaire, they pen a history of Britain from 1714 to 1756, including all of their major rulers, philosophers, scientists and artists (a not inconsiderable task, seeing as his was the time of George I and II, William Pitt, John Wesley, David Hume, Alexander Pope, Henry Fielding and George Frideric Handel.

Returning to France after this Albion idle, he writes fiery pieces that force him to flee once again, this time to Cirey in Haute-Marne and Émilie du Châtelet, his life-long paramour and the translator of Newton as Voltaire takes up the mantle of the scientist – however, these experiments in love and science fail, and Voltaire eventually decamps to Prussia on the invitation of Frederick the Great where he experiences Sparta by day but Athens by night. Voltaire, naturally, writes more sharply than he thinks and wears out his welcome at Frederick’s court, eventually moving to Geneva and its more tolerant climate. The Durants take the opportunity afforded by Voltaire’s to this army with a state to cover the life and music of Johann Sebastian Bach, who is neither witty nor fashionable and, consequently, not at all famous during his lifetime, but whose works will nevertheless survive long after Voltaire’s vanish. Johann Sebastian’s son, Carl Philipp Emanuel, has more success and finds his way to Frederick’s court, who plays the flute and pretends to be a composer; Frederick, for his part, is philosopher enough to be a skeptic, skeptical enough to be a cynic, and cynical enough to be an effective king.

The Durants use this pause in their tale to discuss the many great advancements in science being made during this most interesting of times, with men like Leonhard Euler, Joseph-Louis Lagrange, Pierre-Simon, Marquis de Laplace, Carl Linnaeus and Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon virtually founding the sciences of Geology, Botany, Zoology and Psychology. From there the Durants lead us onwards to the philosophes, that most influential of French intellectuals (not necessarily philosophers in the strictest sense) who attempt to reform the world around them using the force of reason. They are not academics, but rather public intellectuals who write with grace and charm, especially against Christianity and the hammer-lock the Catholic Church had over the intellectual life of France in particular and much of Europe in general. The outstanding work of these philosophes is the Encyclopédie, a massive attempt to systematize and rationalize our understanding of the world, and Denis Diderot, the editor of this project, is the most important of this crowd after Voltaire, although there are many other contributors: Paul-Henri Thiry, Baron d’Holbach, Jean-Baptiste le Rond d’Alembert, Claude Adrien Helvétius, Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm and Julien Offray de La Mettrie.

The Durants are particularly drawn to the conflict between reason and religion, as should come as no surprise to anyone who has read the preceding books in this series. Convinced that it is the defining struggle of the age, they rehash all of the arguments for and against religion to exhaustion, going so far as to append an imaginary dialogue between Pope Benedict XIV and Voltaire to examine the argument once more. But if one had simply read the so-called “Apology” to The Age of Voltaire, the reader would have discovered this beforehand:

Blame for the length of this volume must rest with the authors fascinated to exuberant prolixity by the central theme – that pervasive and continuing conflict between religion and science-plus-philosophy which became a living drama in the eighteenth century, and which has resulted in the secret secularism of our times. How did it come about that a major part of the educated classes in Europe and America has lost faith in the theology that for fifteen centuries gave supernatural sanctions and supports to the precarious and uncongenial moral code upon which Western civilization has been based? What will be the effects – in morals, literature, and politics – of this silent but fundamental transformation?

The Durants state categorically that “Voltaire is without question the most brilliant writer that ever lived…His ideas were seldom original, but in philosophy nearly all original ideas are foolish, and lack of originality is a sign of wisdom”. After completing The Age of Voltaire, one would find this a difficult conclusion to argue with.