Some considerations about the concept of History according to Voltaire

Abstract

This article focuses on François Marie Arouet Voltaire's definitions of history (Dicionnaire Philosophique and Encyclopaedia) and his most relevant history works including (Essai sur les moeurs). It examines specific characteristics of his work such as the denial of myth by assuming the anlaysis of fact and the use of witnesses' accounts: the search for an argumentative yet agrecable style: relative perspective when comparing different peoples and nations, and the assumption that history is the expression of human spirit in a process of perfectibility. It also evaluates this historiography and the concepts of originality and influence.