1694-1778
"Let the punishments of criminals be useful. A hanged man is good for nothing; a man condemned to public works still serves the country, and is a living lesson."
Voltaire was one of the most influential Enlightenment philosophers, whose work pushed for reason and public critical thinking. Voltaire believed that the most inhuman crimes were caused by religion. He claimed that what the Church called sin, the government deemed crime. Voltaire's writings criticized this relationship and called for a separation between Church and State. He believed that the need to support human rights far surpassed religious dogma, and that the government's main duty is to acknowledge and secure the rights of the People. Voltaire helped publish Beccaria's Crime and Punishments in England.
