In this episode I briefly describe the events of the French Revolution and then turn my attention to the life and times of two prominent 'engaged philosophers': Voltaire and the Marquis de Condorcet. Both fought against the injustices of the Ancient Regime, i.e. the time prior to the French Revolution, when France was ruled by absolute monarchs. Through their active defence and rehabilitation of the victims of injustice both Voltaire and Condorcet brought to light the religious intolerance and the obscurantism of their age.

I also briefly discuss the controversial German philosopher G. W. F. Hegel who became the philosopher of the French revolution.

I conclude this episode with a brief look at engaged intellectual in our age: Bertrand Russell, Jean-Paul Sartre and Noam Chomsky.

Literature:

A good, concise introduction to the ideas of the French Revolution is George Rudé, The French Revolution (1988). A classic, comprehensive study is Albert Soboul, The French Revolution 1787-1799 (English translation 1975).

There are numerous biographies of Voltaire. For this episode I used Jean Orieux, Voltaire (2 volumes 1977). For Condorcet I used the brilliant biography of Elizabeth & Robert Badinter, Condorcet - Un Intellectuel en Politique (1988), which unfortunately has not been translated into English.