Francois Marie Arouet was born on November 21, 1694 in Paris. He was the son of a notary. The name most people know Francois by is his pen name, Voltaire. Voltaire was a French author, philosopher, and apostle of free thought. Voltaire was the most influential figure during the French Enlightenment. Voltaire received an excellent education at a Jesuit school called Louis-le-Grand. At age 16 he left school and became friends with Parisian aristocrats. The aristocrats admired his …showed first 75 words of 817 total…

…showed last 75 words of 817 total…teller of tall tales, he had a keen awareness of what is now called the human predicament, man’s struggle to so live in society. Voltaire was one of the originators of modern historiography, the study history. Despite the many different views on Voltaire, I believe that Voltaire was one of the world’s greatest writers and philosophers who’s style, wit, ideas, views, and his keen sense of justice was misunderstood in his time.