ENGL 2200: English II (Prof. Khan)

A translation by Burton Raffel (2005).

An appreciation by Julian Barnes of Voltaire's most famous work..

This article explores the disagreement between Voltaire and Rousseau on the meaning of the Lisbon earthquake.

This Open University film examines the roots of religious skepticism over the past 400 years (59 min).

A Smithsonian Institution documentary on the Great Earthquake (44 min).

An overview of Kant's life and thought.

A summation of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz's assertion that "this is the best of all possible worlds," an idea famously ridiculed by Voltaire in 'Candide.'

An essay on Voltaire's life, ideas, and writings.

A brief overview of Voltaire's life and work (35 min).

This poem was an attack on both the optimism of Alexander Pope's "Essay on Man" (1734) and its acceptance of natural disasters as evidence of God's will. Voltaire would expand upon the themes of this poem in his satire, 'Candide' (1756).

An accessible brief video on Voltaire and his thought (12 min).