By Nick Deiuliis
The Frenchman François-Marie Arouet (1694-1788) was one of history’s greatest minds. Who? You may better recognize him by his pen name: Voltaire.
The Enlightenment author, philosopher, comedian, and historian employed legendary wit when engaging in one of his many passions: criticizing authority and its often-flawed logic. The Catholic Church and state monarchy were regular targets, as were defenders of slavery. Voltaire was a vocal advocate of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and separation of church and state. He was a classic liberal before such a moniker existed. And he advocated as such despite the constant risk of censorship and punishment by the establishment.1
Voltaire was one of history’s great writers, publishing plays, poems, novels, essays, histories, and scientific papers. He was beyond prolific, writing 20,000 letters and 2,000 books and pamphlets. Voltaire was one of the first authors to be commercially successful on an international scope.
Beginning a Voltaire Journey
With such a vast inventory to choose from, where would the curious reader interested in exploring Voltaire begin? His Alphabet of Wit is a great place to start. Interestingly, one of his shortest works is one of his most entertaining and stimulating works. A used copy can be had for a few dollars and is well worth the investment.
A paperback version of the book, or perhaps more appropriately, the pamphlet, fits easily in a pocket. It consists of concise, one-word/term topic essays arranged in alphabetical order that are insightful, edgy, and poignant.
The lineage of Voltaire’s Alphabet of Wit is murky. The individual essays first appeared in Questions on the Encyclopedia, and then were re-presented as Reason by Alphabet. After Voltaire’s death, these earlier writings were supplemented with additional essays and papers to create Voltaire’s eight-volume Philosophical Dictionary. Sometime after his death, a new pocket volume, more representative of Voltaire’s earlier shorter works, was published as the Alphabet of Wit.
A sequential reading through the Alphabet of Wit is time well spent and offers a great feel for Voltaire’s wisdom. Many passages resonate today as much as they did in the latter half of the 1700s when first published.
The following dozen selections are especially relevant in modern times.
Books
Near the start of the Alphabet of Wit, Voltaire submitted his thoughts on the topic of ‘books’. He observed that throughout history the civilized world and its leaders were typically under the sway of books. There are countless books, many of them mediocre. But exceptional books, despite being few, enjoy an outsized impact on civilization.
Voltaire highlighted an irony.
Before the printing press, when books were scarce, the literate had an unfulfilled demand for works. When coupled with high illiteracy rates, it meant very little reading of books was occurring. Then, the printing press, publishing, and growing literacy rates made books both plentiful and readily available. Yet too few people were interested in reading.
Voltaire would lament today’s culture, where despite endless formats and open access offered for books, it seems that even fewer people are willing to invest time in reading.
Voltaire recognized it was (and remains) risky for an author to publish a book with a profound message. Particularly when the message might be threatening to the establishment, whether it be religion, government, or expert class. The author as thought leader carries risk; that was true during Voltaire’s time and today. As he put it:
“If you publish a book, a parish curate accuses you of heresy, a college sophomore denounces you, an illiterate condemns you, the public derides you, your publisher renounces you, and your wine dealer cuts off your credit. I always add to my prayers, deliver me oh Lord from the itch of bookmaking.”
Dog
Voltaire had some fun with the brief topic of ‘dog’.
On one hand, he acknowledged that the domesticated dog has become man’s best friend and that the canine enjoys a history of making people happy. But on the other hand, when individuals become angry and aim to degrade another, the label of dog is hurled as an insult.
Eloquence
The topic of ‘eloquence’ represents the letter E in the Alphabet of Wit. We typically encounter the display of eloquence when the speaker/writer exudes passion for the topic. The excited person sees things with a special eye.
Voltaire noted few things conjure eloquence more than the concept of liberty. Why? Because an eloquent defense of liberty in the face of entrenched oppressors requires speaking bold truths, applying rational logic, and backing your position up with evidence and data.
When such topics, despite being eloquently presented, are disliked by the masses or are feared by the establishment, Voltaire warned that the efficacy of eloquence typically recedes, and that compliments will work better.
Government
Speaking of dogs and eloquence (a little satire in the spirit of our subject), Voltaire offered insight on the topic of ‘government’ that rings true today.
He highlighted that the novice to government would assume there is great pleasure in governing because society sees so many individuals who are driven to govern their neighbors and jump into politics. And that governing should have been perfected long ago, because there have been exponentially more books written on government by supposed experts than there are governors. Yet despite the obsession on governing, no one has seemed to figure it out yet.
Voltaire recounted a story from a traveler to a nation that was at war with its neighbors. Both the host nation and its enemies were governed by the inept. The conflict exacted a heavy toll financially, sapped a generation via battle casualties, and hobbled the national economy.
But a few years after the war, the nation rebounded to where it was as good as, if not better than, it was before the war. The traveler deduced that the quick rebound despite the poor political leadership was because the nation enjoyed a superior private sector and culture of achievement.
Voltaire reminded us that although government may be inept, in the end, it’s the private sector and individual citizens that matter most. Food for thought with today’s bureaucratic state and elite class.
Happiness
Like all philosophers, Voltaire could not help expounding on the topic of ‘happiness’ in his Alphabet of Wit.
He pondered what makes one person happier than another. Where two people are in very different circumstances, one enduring difficult hardships and the other enjoying the best of times, it is easy to see why happiness would vary.
But what about the more challenging scenario: where two people are equally healthy, wealthy, and placed in society? Typically, the most moderate, least worrisome, and most perceptive person ends up being the happier. However, being perceptive often coincides with not being moderate.
What then sets the degree of happiness? Voltaire concluded that it’s not a person’s position but instead their disposition that drives their happiness. And a person’s disposition is something that is largely outside the direct control of the individual.
Marriage
The Alphabet of Wit offers an excellent, short essay encapsulating Voltaire’s views on the institution of marriage. He covers familiar ground to the modern reader; ideas debated today in the arena of domestic policy and whether marriage should be incentivized by the state. Voltaire advocated for society to induce citizens to marry early, including the offering of tax incentives. He went a step further and suggested the incentive provided to the marrying individuals be shouldered and paid for by a tax on those of the same age who remained unmarried.
He also thought married individuals, specifically men, are less likely to commit crime; marriage makes society safer. Voltaire saw marriage as encouraging virtue, because the father or mother of a family thinks twice before making a fool of oneself if it would embarrass the family.
Voltaire argued that married soldiers reduce desertion and improve morale; they’re fighting for more than just the state, a flag, or as a mercenary (the Romans felt the same way).
Today inside the DC Beltway, there’s endless analysis and lobbying for policies that echo Voltaire’s views on marriage.
Morality
According to Voltaire, morality is not something that must be studied to understand. As he put it, there is one universal morality, similar in the way that there is only one geometry. People don’t need a formal education to understand right from wrong. Morality is understood from within the heart. Superstition, ceremony, or ideology is not the same as morality. Those things vary and differ over time and geography, but morality is a constant across individuals who behave rationally.
Novelty
One of the most interesting entries in the Alphabet of Wit is found with the letter N under the topic of ‘novelty’.
Voltaire observed how human nature makes us bored with the meaningful but everyday occurrences. Yet we often are obsessively interested in the newest, shiny thing. He used the example of bookstores struggling to sell established classics yet easily selling (and focusing marketing on) recent best sellers lacking substance. The same dynamic is found in romantic relationships; couples may tire of one another and become distracted and tempted by the novel (another individual).
Voltaire suggested that although the drive to novelty may lead to poor decision-making and upside-down priorities, it might also be necessary to keep humans on top of the food chain in nature. If everyone followed the maxims of ‘being content with what you’ve got’ and ‘not to desire more than what you have’, society would not have been nearly as advanced as it was in his time, and certainly as much as it is today. Parallels can be drawn to Voltaire’s observation about the benefit of novelty and the advantages of capitalism over socialism.
Voltaire displayed his epic wit at the end of this essay when he pointed out that such apathy toward novelty in society would be a tragedy, because it would’ve robbed the world of the benefit of Voltaire.
Right
A personal favorite in Voltaire’s Alphabet of Wit is his discussion on the topic of ‘right’. There are modern take-aways to this essay that apply to both government and religion.
Voltaire told the story of a brave individual who traveled from place to place and dared to speak truth to power at each stop.
The individual went to a government official in charge of finance and said:
“Sir, you are completely mad. You think that we can increase the national wealth by printing paper money. This is not wealth, but only a sham for the real wealth of produce and manufacture. What you should have increased was our production of grain, wine, and linen, making sure it found a market. But you make 10 times as much in paper notes as we have actual wealth in money and goods; You are 10 times mad.”
Perhaps required reading for sitting governors of the Federal Reserve.
The individual was imprisoned for his words, but when released he traveled to the Vatican to speak more truth to power. He said to the Pope:
“Holy Father, you do everything contrary-wise to the way Christ instructed. He was poor and you are very rich. Paid tribute and you exact it. He submitted to the powers that be and you have become one of them. He wandered on foot and you visit Castle Gandolfo in a splendid carriage. He ate whatever people gave him; you would have us eat fish on Fridays even though we reside far from rivers or the sea.”
Voltaire had an interesting twist at the end of this story, to make a final point about the consequences of ‘right’. The individual was imprisoned and punished each time he spoke truth to power. Despite this, he persisted until he was ultimately executed for delivering a similar message to another religious leader. The final sentence of the story: “Nevertheless he had been right all along.”
Self-Love
One would be justified in speculating that the great author and philosopher Ayn Rand was a fan of Voltaire and his Alphabet of Wit. Because his essay on ‘self-love’ reads as if the founding mother of objectivism is speaking:
“Whoever said that self-love is the basis of all our emotions and actions was right; it isn’t necessary to prove that men have faces, nor that they possess self-love. It is the instrument of our preservation: it is like a provision for perpetuating mankind; it is essential, it is dear to us, it is delightful, and it should be hidden.”
That last part, making the case for humility while embracing self-love, might be the one point Ayn Rand disagreed with. But the rest is as if it came straight out of Atlas Shrugged or The Fountainhead.
Slavery
A stark contrast to ‘self-love’ is offered with the immediately following topic found in the Alphabet of Wit: ‘slavery’. Voltaire took to task those who argue that slavery is superior to free labor because the free laborers must look after themselves and might go hungry, whereas slaves are taken care of by their masters. The problem, of course, (beyond the morally reprehensible concept of people owning people) is that the human spirit seeks independence and, if wired for freedom, an individual will neither desire nor require someone else taking care of them in the form of a master.
Voltaire keenly noted that when the free individual cannot find sufficient work, it is typically not because they are independent, but instead because of impediments that are placed between the worker and their production.
It’s up to individuals to decide what state, or degree, of freedom they prefer. If you asked the humblest worker who was wearing old clothes, had barely enough to eat, and had the most basic roof over their head whether they would rather be a slave and be given better food, clothes, and shelter, the individual worker would laugh at you.
This essay’s points were channeled in the endless debate between North and South before the Civil War over that ‘peculiar institution’ of slavery; with the South putting forth the flawed argument that slavery is a better state for the plantation worker than freedom.
The essay also applies to today’s administrative state and overly burdensome government regulation keeping free individual workers from fulfilling their full productive potential.
War
Toward the end of the Alphabet of Wit, Voltaire discerned that nature is in a constant state of war and combat; survival of the fittest in the Animal Kingdom. But because God granted man reason, and the expectation was that man would utilize reason to separate and elevate above the Animal Kingdom, one would surmise war would not be a constant state for humans. Yet we continue to war, in many instances with the combatants not understanding what the conflict is about.
Worse, much of war is justified in the name of God. Which leads to bizarre behaviors that Voltaire highlighted. If a general in a battle kills only a couple thousand enemy, he or she doesn’t give thanks to God. But if the general annihilates tens of thousands in combat or completely destroys a rival nation, the general gives thanks to God.
Voltaire concluded his essay on ‘war’ by providing a geopolitical lesson that should be heeded by today’s leaders of nations. He took exception to the argument that sometimes self-defense of a nation dictates war; that if one country during peaceful times arms itself in a way where it could destroy another nation, then that other nation is justified in immediate attack and war.
Voltaire uses logic to refute that view. Nothing is stopping the threatened nation in peacetime from making itself equally powerful to the opposition. The neighbor you fear may make alliances that threaten you, but you can make alliances as well. Your rival can grow its military, but so can you. And the rival nation might position its economy for strategic advantage, but you can imitate the same tactic. There’s typically a superior alternative to using war under justification of preventing a rival from gaining irreversible advantage over you. The rational leader will avoid war whenever and however possible. War is a true last resort, after an exhaustive failure of everything else that would constitute deterrence.
A Powerful Legacy
Nearly two millennia ago, the great Stoic Epictetus provided sage advice: “Don’t just say you have read books. Show that through them you have learned to think better, to be a more discriminating and reflective person.”
Read the Alphabet of Wit from A through Z. Then trace it in reverse. Revisit it from time to time. See what you agree with and take exception to.
Absorbing Voltaire’s orderly alphabet of essays will reinforce concepts of the great thinkers who followed and echoed him. It will also place a host of contemporary issues into a clearer light.
A world contemplating Voltaire’s alphabet just might make it a better place.
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