Voltaires Candide as Vehicle to Discredit Optimism Essay -- Candide e

Voltaires Candide as Vehicle to Discredit Optimism Optimism was an attractive to many because it answered a profound philosophic question if matinee idol is omnipotent and benevolent, then why is there so much evil in the world? Optimism provides an easy musical mode out God has do everything for the trump, and even though one might experience personal misfortune, God (via your misfortune) is still helping the greater good. Voltaires experiences led him to dismiss the idea that this is the best of all realizable worlds. Examining the death and destruction, both man-made and natural (including the Lisbon earthquake) Voltaire concluded that everything was not for the best. Voltaire uses Candide as the vehicle to attack optimism. Pangloss is meant not to attack Leibnitz, precisely rather optimism as a philosophy. Thus the reader cannot forget that all of Panglosss ramblings are not Voltaires personal attacks on Leibnitz, but in some way represent a characterization of the typi cal optimist. Pangloss, writes Voltaire, Proved admirably that there cannot possibly be an effect without a cause, and that in this best of all possible worlds the Barons castle was the most beautiful of all castles and his wife the best of all possible baronesses (Voltaire 2). Thus we have established Pangloss as the champion of optimism. Yet on the nose as quickly, Voltaire points out the absurdity of this doctrine. Observe, says Pangloss, seeking to demonstrate that everything has a cause and effect, noses were made to support spectacles, hence we have spectacles. Legs, as anyone can plainly see, were made to be breeched, and so we have breeches (Voltaire 3). The sheer stupidity of these illogical conclusions will likely... ... Candide respond, in closing, to his friend the Optimist? That is very well put, said Candide, but we moldiness cultivate our garden (Voltaire 75). Works Cited and Consulted Bottiglia, William. Candides Garden. Voltaire A Collection of Critical Ess ays. New Jersey Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968. Durant, Will, Ariel Durant. The Story of Civilization Part IX The Age of Voltaire. New York Simon and Schuster, 1965. Frautschi, R.L. Barrons alter Approach to Voltaire Candide. New York Barrons Educational Series, Inc., 1968. Lowers, James K, ed. Cliff Notes on Voltaires Candide. Lincoln Cliff Notes, Inc. 1995. Richter, Peyton. Voltaire. Boston Twayne Publishers, 1980. Voltaires Candide and the Critics. California Wadsworth Publishing Company, Inc., 1996. Voltaire. Candide. New York Viking Publishers, 1998.