Freedom is the health of the soul. How not to become an idiotic nation

“I do not agree with any word that you say, but I’m ready to die for your right to say” - the statement attributed to Voltaire could really become the motto of his work. The philosopher, writer and publicist, Voltaire (1694-1778) believed that freedom for the soul is as important as health for the body. The most dangerous, in his opinion, if the society establishes laws that “prevent to write, speak and even think”: in this case, people fall into spiritual slavery, and the nation is made "idiotic, cowardly and barbaric".
Jean-Jacques Russo (1712-1778) was the opponent of Voltaire on the issue of freedom. Rousseau believed that personal freedom can be limited to public benefit, but only on condition of the “public agreement”, when fair laws have been in force in the state, to which all citizens are equal. If the state does not comply with this agreement, to abandon freedom, it means to renounce its human dignity, from the rights of human nature, even from its