Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Nature's Policy

What is tolerance? It is the consequence of humanity. We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other's folly - that is the first law of nature.” -Voltaire

            Voltaire (1694-1778) was among the most influential writers in France during his life. As a free-thinking philosopher, poet, and playwright, Voltaire constantly challenged and subverted the repressive measures used by the Church and State of both France and Europe. Given his strong opposition to these forms of repression, it doesn’t come as a shock to read his derogatory argument against mankind in his essay titled “Policy” (or “Politique”).


            Voltaire writes this argument on “policy” as part of his “Philosophical Dictionary”—which was comprised of a large volume of personal philosophical writings, writings that were to be subsequently read by the effete, preeminent political and religious leaders in France. Voltaire’s deliberative argument centers itself around the exploration of a central concept: mankind’s animalistic desire for subsistence and accommodation is the cause of the formation, and the destruction, of society. Voltaire uses the literary devices of parison, metaphor, and synecdoche to give his narration an objective, omniscient feeling for his readers—which proved all the better to spread his philosophies.   
  
            Voltaire expresses a parison between man and animal with several metaphorical contrasts between bees, beavers, silk-worms, and lions. Each example and metaphor compounds against the previous one in order to create a logical, natural reasoning in the minds of his audience. This vituperation of man’s subconscious decisions, this heaping of abuse against the governing urges of mankind, is one way Voltaire begins to press his philosophies through the gate of logic that guards the minds of his audience.


            More influential than his dehumanizing metaphors, Voltaire powerfully subverts the conceptual entities of both government and societal power through the use of synecdoche—serving to simultaneously build his personal ethos and destroy the pathos behind any specific political entity (e.g. the Catholic Church, King Louis, etc.). Voltaire hardly shares any examples of specific nations, governments, or social entities by a given name. By addressing, through a summation, a controversial entity, Voltaire is able to increase a mood of generality a logical apathy—an increasing objectivity—towards all “nations, or rather clans.”

2 comments:

  1. I find the idea of the dehumanizing metaphors rather intriguing. I think in the terms of a revolution, you need to get people to be willing to fight. Using a metaphor that makes the opponent seem less human makes them easier to attack. Going against a vicious animal seems more noble than attaching a human. It is interesting how we have kept this in modern day politics too. We classify parties as animals as well and it opens the way for attacks.

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  2. The first quote and your last paragraph remind me of what you said with the last topic you took up for this class, which was, in fact, tolerance. Which seems a little funny, because we don't typically pick up our pitchforks and torches at the sound of that word. His subject is pretty strange anyway--who calls for a revolution against humanity itself (the ugly part of humanity, but nevertheless...). Very interesting stuff.

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