{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,4]],"date-time":"2026-05-04T00:45:31Z","timestamp":1777855531089,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":15,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,22]],"date-time":"2021-04-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1619049600000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["J Med Biogr"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2023,2]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>The 17th and 18th centuries witnessed an intellectual movement known as the Enlightenment that made possible future revolutions such as the scientific. No person better characterizes the Enlightenment than Voltaire (1696\u20131976) who, in his book Philosophical Letters published in 1734, venerated the liberalism of English institutions while criticizing the ancien r\u00e9gime of France. He was convinced that the personal freedom the English enjoyed was responsible for their country's success, pointing to inoculation for smallpox and advances in science as evidence. His choice of smallpox inoculation and science as exemplars of empiricism, which maintained that knowledge is obtained through sensory experience, is revealing as it pinpoints political flashpoints that persist to this day. This paper explores how inoculation and science were employed by Voltaire to advance his political idea of liberty.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/09677720211010461","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,22]],"date-time":"2021-04-22T10:22:55Z","timestamp":1619086975000},"page":"28-32","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Voltaire and the politicization of medicine and science"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"31","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1852-5369","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Curtis E","family":"Margo","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, USA"},{"name":"Department of Ophthalmology, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Lynn E","family":"Harman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Ophthalmology, Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,22]]},"reference":[{"key":"bibr1-09677720211010461","volume-title":"Philosophical letters, or, letters regarding the English Nation. 1734","author":"Voltaire","year":"2007"},{"key":"bibr2-09677720211010461","volume-title":"Investigating disease patterns. The science of epidemiology","author":"Stolley P","year":"1998"},{"key":"bibr3-09677720211010461","first-page":"54","volume-title":"Major problems in the history of American Medicine and Public Health","author":"Blake JB","year":"2001"},{"key":"bibr4-09677720211010461","first-page":"30","volume-title":"Major problems in the history of American Medicine and Public Health","author":"Mather C","year":"2001"},{"key":"bibr5-09677720211010461","first-page":"37","volume-title":"Major problems in the history of American Medicine and Public Health","author":"Boylston Z","year":"2001"},{"key":"bibr6-09677720211010461","first-page":"33","volume-title":"Major problems in the history of American Medicine and Public Health.","author":"Douglass W","year":"2001"},{"key":"bibr7-09677720211010461","volume-title":"The Life and Times of Cotton Mather","author":"Silverman K","year":"1984"},{"key":"bibr8-09677720211010461","first-page":"106","volume-title":"The Cambridge History of Medicine","author":"Porter R","year":"2006"},{"key":"bibr9-09677720211010461","volume-title":"A life","author":"Voltaire DI","year":"2010"},{"key":"bibr10-09677720211010461","unstructured":"Langer WL. 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