Scholium on the concept of law in Voltaire

Abstract

A man deeply involved in the problems of his time, François Marie Arouet identifies how the more egalitarian rights of men are ensured in a society that, the enlightenment of reason, could be constituted of its time. To this end, the concept of law appears in his writings as an alternative, comprehensive reading key, capable of assisting in the understanding of social construction and, therefore, of man's own predicatives. Thus, this article aims to investigate the concept of law from Voltaire's philosophical works. By relating an idea of law with other fundamental concepts, such as liberty, natural and moral education, the philosopher distinguished civil laws from the main laws, identifying the predicatives of each of them. In this context, a mandate is imposed: will good laws be enough to guarantee the functioning of society? To give directions to this question, the main works used were The ignorant philosopher, Philosophical Dictionary and Treatise on Metaphysics.