Language:
English
Year of publication:
1998
Titel der Quelle:
The Eighteenth Century; Theory and Interpretation
Angaben zur Quelle:
39,2 (1998) 107-126
Keywords:
Voltaire,
;
Bible Influence
;
Philosophy
;
Antisemitism Philosophy
;
Antisemitism History 1500-1800
Abstract:
Voltaire's reputation is based on his struggle against superstition and for tolerance. Yet his writing about Jews, which was something of an obsession for him, was disparaging, dismissive, and intolerant. For Voltaire, Judaism represented the very antithesis of Enlightenment values. He insisted that the Jews be tolerated, yet depicted them as the essence of all that is intolerable and strove to deny that they made any contribution to European civilization. The fundamental difference between Voltaire's judeophobia and 20th-century fascist antisemitism is that Voltaire's intolerance was held in check by his equally deep commitment to the ideas of tolerance and cosmopolitanism.
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