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A review by thechaliceofaries
Candide by Voltaire
4.0
Voltaire often wrote satirical novels and plays that criticized contemporary social institutions and religious intolerance. His signature work Candide, or Optimism, follows the story of a naïve young man that experiences a series of increasingly tragic and painful mishaps. The work was a criticism of several Enlightenment philosophies, including that of optimism: the belief that the current world is the best of all possible worlds. Following a progression of natural disasters and human atrocities such as the Lisbon Earthquake of 1775 and the brutal torture and execution of the cloth merchant Jean Calas after (false) allegations that Calas murdered his own son to prevent him from converting to Catholicism, Voltaire wrote Candide to criticize the widespread belief in optimism and expose the naivete of believing that a world full of so much suffering is the best of all possible worlds.
When asked by Cacambo what optimism is, Candide replies, “it is the madness of maintaining that everything is right when it is wrong”.
The Enlightenment, or Age of Reason, was a period in history that brought about an increased appreciation for values such as inquisitiveness and honesty, while shunning older beliefs in tradition and dogma. Enlightenment thinkers favored reason over religion, and empirical evidence over customs. During this time, the philosophy of optimism grew popular as a means for people to explain away all the suffering in the world. Candide’s tutor Pangloss teaches him about optimism, saying, “they who assert all is well have said a foolish thing, they should have said all is for the best”. This was in relation to the trend of theodicy, which sought to explain the presence of evil in a world made by a perfect God. Pangloss believes that “things cannot be otherwise than as they are; for all being created for an end, all is necessarily for the best end” – basically saying that humans should not question the way things are just because they don’t understand it, because there’s a greater hidden purpose that we are not aware of. It’s easy to see how this type of thinking can be dangerous and detrimental - it encourages complacency with the state of the global affairs, suggesting that there’s nothing to improve about the world.
Apparently, then, sir, you do not believe in the original sin; for if all is for the best there has then been neither Fall nor punishment.
This book also tells us about Voltaire's views on human nature - that we have a tendency toward evil and destruction. Looking at the state of the world sometimes, it’s easy to empathize with this view:
Mankind have a little corrupted nature, for they were not born wolves, and they have become wolves; God has given them neither cannon of four-and-twenty pounders, nor bayonets; and yet they have made cannon and bayonets to destroy one another.
Let us cultivate our garden.
Instead of getting too involved with politics, Voltaire called for people to focus attention on their own personal wellbeing. He tells us that by cultivating our gardens, “our labour preserves us from three great evils – weariness, vice, and want.” Without simple labor and an honest lifestyle, man would be drawn towards committing the many injustices and crimes that befell Candide and the other characters in the book - most of which were instances of humans being cruel to each other. Voltaire believed that by focusing on ourselves, and on our own growth and development, we can avoid a lot of the suffering that we cause to each other in this world.
When asked by Cacambo what optimism is, Candide replies, “it is the madness of maintaining that everything is right when it is wrong”.
The Enlightenment, or Age of Reason, was a period in history that brought about an increased appreciation for values such as inquisitiveness and honesty, while shunning older beliefs in tradition and dogma. Enlightenment thinkers favored reason over religion, and empirical evidence over customs. During this time, the philosophy of optimism grew popular as a means for people to explain away all the suffering in the world. Candide’s tutor Pangloss teaches him about optimism, saying, “they who assert all is well have said a foolish thing, they should have said all is for the best”. This was in relation to the trend of theodicy, which sought to explain the presence of evil in a world made by a perfect God. Pangloss believes that “things cannot be otherwise than as they are; for all being created for an end, all is necessarily for the best end” – basically saying that humans should not question the way things are just because they don’t understand it, because there’s a greater hidden purpose that we are not aware of. It’s easy to see how this type of thinking can be dangerous and detrimental - it encourages complacency with the state of the global affairs, suggesting that there’s nothing to improve about the world.
Apparently, then, sir, you do not believe in the original sin; for if all is for the best there has then been neither Fall nor punishment.
This book also tells us about Voltaire's views on human nature - that we have a tendency toward evil and destruction. Looking at the state of the world sometimes, it’s easy to empathize with this view:
Mankind have a little corrupted nature, for they were not born wolves, and they have become wolves; God has given them neither cannon of four-and-twenty pounders, nor bayonets; and yet they have made cannon and bayonets to destroy one another.
Let us cultivate our garden.
Instead of getting too involved with politics, Voltaire called for people to focus attention on their own personal wellbeing. He tells us that by cultivating our gardens, “our labour preserves us from three great evils – weariness, vice, and want.” Without simple labor and an honest lifestyle, man would be drawn towards committing the many injustices and crimes that befell Candide and the other characters in the book - most of which were instances of humans being cruel to each other. Voltaire believed that by focusing on ourselves, and on our own growth and development, we can avoid a lot of the suffering that we cause to each other in this world.