What was Voltaires treatise on toleration about and how did it effect the age of enlightenment?
I think what Voltaire is warning his readers that superstition and belief’s without foundation can poison people’ minds. Voltaire is warning us not to believe what we hear so readily – stories and rumours can carry on for a long time without foundation – and they do nothing but poison our minds against our neighbours – and Voltaire warns how our ignorance can turn violent against our neighbours and that we hurt people because we dont understand or want to understand. Voltaire asks us to question what we hear and believe – to avoid what is false and denounce it. But i think its also about how religion can also blind us over what is true and what we actually see. Voltaire – in the age of enlightenment – turns away from religion and the superstitions and the cruelty of the age when people would be criticised and burned for their beliefs. Voltaire’s treatise on toleration is very much a part of the age of enlightenment – an age when writers turned away from the darkness of the church towar
