preview

Compare And Contrast Voltaire And Socrates

Decent Essays

Introduction
Since time immemorial, man wanted to find truths about the world and its inhabitants. Many ideas by famous philosophers have been researched in the quest to know of mankind behavior and way of life. Religion has been questioned, governments, the economy, metaphysics and human intelligence. Philosophers have done this through analytical and critical minds and provided answers to the questions. I will compare and contrast here below Socrates and Voltaire, who are both renowned philosophers.
Voltaire
His approach to philosophy was based on a theory that the lesser the population was informed of the world, the happier it tended to be and the more content it tended to be with life (Voltaire, http://www.k-state.edu/english/baker/english287/Voltaire-Story_of_a_Good_Brahmin.htm, Para.8). Voltaire, despite his quest for and the achievement of knowledge, was unlikely to find a precise answer about the worldly issues. He rather discovered more of nature as opposed to satisfying his queries and was distraught to have encountered more and more questions. Interestingly, he never was able to discover his purpose or origin of life which made him deduce that ignorance is a blessing.
Socrates …show more content…

For example, when someone acts in a incorrect manner and considers their action is for a worthy purpose but later figures out that they were wrong, they are likely never to repeat it again. Unlike Voltaire, Socrates portrayed a constructive attitude towards life and indeed mortality. He was convinced that knowledge brought a lot of benefits to people and they found happiness when they comprehended their purpose in life and ignorance was not at all a

Get Access