MISCELLANEA: Écrasez l’infâme: Voltaire’s Philosophy of Religion

The author presents the basic premises of Voltaire’s philosophy of religion, based on a recreationof its historical and philosophical context, as well as an analysis of source texts.This includes: the declared elitism of Voltaire and les philosophes, referring to the “brilliant”philosophical and scientific mind; their affirmation of the necessity to separate eliteand common knowledge; and their conviction that religious faith (religious fanaticism)is obviously the source of all evil in the world. Such a discursive field renders the disputebetween deists and atheists insignificant, as both deism and atheism are included as formsof “philosophical religion”, that is, two forms of religious knowledge meriting popularization.Elite philosophical knowledge considers deism to be safer than atheism, nonethelessregarding the “brilliant” human mind as the proper object of worship in the so-called“religion of les philosophes”. One of the dogmas in this “religion” is a ruthless, albeit bloodless,war on evil.