Images of materialism in Voltaire's tales

Abstract

Voltaire's philosophic tales organize themselves seting out from two reflection poles: on one hand, a discussion about the notion of a benefactor divine providence, and, in some cases, more precisely, about the leibnizian optimism; on the other hand, the controversy around the atheistic materialism. We try to demonstrate through some situations and characters of the voltairean tales how the critique of the providencialist theories contributes to the delineation of the classical materialism's concepts own universe.