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Persona #60

Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)

1694–1778
French philosophe, dramatist, polemicist for religious toleration

Écrasez l'infâme — crush the infamous thing; Deism plus empirical method plus relentless wit

Attribute Fingerprint

Rows where personas disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid (32 attributes) is shown.

Attribute Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)
Time · Extent Infinite
Time · Ontological Status Substantival
Time · Grain Continuous
Time · Freedom Non-Deterministic
Time · Traversability Linear
Time · Dimensionality One
Time · Direction Uni-directional
Space · Extent Infinite
Space · Ontological Status Substantival
Space · Curvature Flat
Space · Dimensionality Three
Space · Locality Local
Matter · Extent Finite
Matter · Ontological Status Substantival
Matter · Conservation Conserved
Matter · Dimensionality Three
Matter · Locality Local
Observer · Time Instance Single
Observer · Space Instance Single
Observer · Knowledge Extent Immediate
Observer · Knowledge Retainment Total
Observer · Physicality Embodied
Observer · Agency Active
Observer · Number Plural
Observer · Metaphysical Agency Personal
Observer · Moral Authority Reason
Observer · Theological Method Critical
Energy · Extent Finite
Energy · Ontological Status Substantival
Energy · Conservation Conserved
Energy · Dispersibility Irreversible
Information · Ontological Status Substantival
Information · Cosmic Conservation Conserved
Information · Personal Conservation Conserved
Information · Granularity Continuous

Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence

What each persona's writings reveal about their stance on each of the six dimensions.

Time

Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)

Conventional Newtonian: substantival, infinite, linear, non-deterministic. The Deist universe runs on its own laws; human history is open and improvable by reason and tolerance.

Space

Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)

Newtonian: substantival, infinite, flat, three-dimensional, local.

Matter

Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)

Conventional Newtonian.

Observer

Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)

Single embodied person, plural among others, actively engaged. Personal metaphysical agency: a Deist Creator — Voltaire built a chapel at Ferney with the inscription "Deo erexit Voltaire."

Energy

Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)

Conventional Newtonian.

Information

Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)

Conserved at both scales. Voltaire's career-long programme of publishing, translating, and disseminating treats recorded knowledge as the durable medium of moral progress.

Internal Tensions

Where each persona's working synthesis strains against itself.

Voltaire (François-Marie Arouet)

Voltaire's record on religious tolerance is real (the Calas, Sirven, and La Barre cases); his record on the Jews of his own time, in some of his late writings, is significantly worse. The deeper philosophical tension is between his Deist providentialism — "If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him" — and the bitter conclusion of Candide that the world we live in is manifestly not the work of a benevolent Providence in any unproblematic sense.