Voltaire on Equality: What Does It Truly Mean to Be Equal?
What do we actually mean when we say that all people are equal? Is it a fact, an ideal, or perhaps an illusion? In his celebrated Philosophical Dictionary, Voltaire tackles this question head-on. His entry on equality is a masterwork of nuance, irony, and intellectual precision. For Freemasons — who meet as Brothers on equal footing within the Lodge — this essay remains strikingly relevant. Let us engage in conversation with this great Enlightenment philosopher. What Exactly Does Voltaire Write About Equality? The entry on “Equality” in Voltaire’s Philosophical Dictionary is anything but a dry definition. It is a vivid, carefully crafted argument. Voltaire opens with a deceptively simple observation: all human beings are born with the same basic needs. Hunger, thirst, the drive to reproduce, the same organs. So far, equality seems self-evident. But then comes the twist. Voltaire asks aloud: if we are so equal, why do we live so unequally? He describes how society generates inequality. Some own land, others do not. Some rule, others serve. The philosopher dissects this reality not with moral outrage but with cool analysis. His central thesis is that absolute equality is impossible in any organized society — yet this does not […]