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The Parlement of Paris condemns Lettres philosophiques and the book is burned

In 1734 the Paris Parlement condemned Lettres philosophiques and copies were burned. In the causal graph this event sets in motion Digital Learning Access, a driver that weakens Learning Poverty Rate (low- and middle-income countries) — an improving welfare path.

Sources: [1][2]

Read the full account

In 1734 the Paris Parlement condemned Lettres philosophiques and copies were burned. The dated public cluster is the book plus the arrêt.

Context

A burned book can still spread. Newton and inoculation in French are the knowledge content. Exile to Cirey followed. Welfare improving here is the letters, not the fire.

Voltaire is not the sole author of every later object, law, or museum label that uses the name. Shared work with courts, excavators, printers, spouses, officials, and later states does not erase a documented role, and it does not make an ancient person the signer of a twentieth-century statute.

Why it matters

Knowledge-access path. High confidence.

A burned book is still a book.

Who was responsible

Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.

  • Voltaire

    Person

    Direct responsibility

    responsibility level 0.4 · verified

    He wrote the letters on English toleration, Newton, and Locke. Parlement burned copies. Complex: the book’s welfare path is access, the burning is the state’s.

What changed

Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.

Evidence

The sources behind this fact and its verification state.

Verified2 sources on file
  1. 1.Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy — VoltaireStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy · High credibility · verified
  2. 2.Gallica — Bibliothèque nationale de FranceBibliothèque nationale de France · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish

Gallica’s printings and SEP independently document the 1733–34 publication and condemnation.

Established: the letters were condemned and burned in 1734. Not established: a unique inoculation rate caused by the book that year.

Later competitions, monuments, translations, UNESCO listings, and museums are not converted into extra lifetime acts. That reading is an impact-path choice, not a property stored on the Fact itself. Confidence is stated on the impact path. A later English edition is not a recovered autograph. If a number is not in the two records named above, it is not supplied here. Confidence is stated on the impact path.

Causal path

How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.

  1. ActorVoltaire
  2. contributed toFactThe Parlement of Paris condemns Lettres philosophiques and the book is burned
  3. sets in motionDriverDigital Learning Access
  4. weakensIndicatorLearning Poverty Rate (low- and middle-income countries)

Cite this page

Factrail. (2026). The Parlement of Paris condemns Lettres philosophiques and the book is burned. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/vo-lettres-philosophiques-1734

https://factrail.ai/facts/vo-lettres-philosophiques-1734

Accessed 16 October 2026.

By the Factrail desk · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed

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