Voltaire's View on the Progress of the Human Mind

Voltaire knows whati good in what is bad. He knows, without very much argument, that dante is bizarre and shakespeare is no good. Conderses famous escuise on the progress of the human mind as simply a story of efforts on the part of human beings against most terrible odds. In that sense, toyto speak, there is, culture does not exist to them. And this is a tradition that calden the french tradition rather crudely.