Optimism In Voltaire’s Candide Essay

Gottfried Leibniz was, among other things, a philosopher and was vanquish known for his philosophy on optimism. Leibniz believed that at that place existed a supernatural public who cre take ind and controlled the demesne. He further espoused that this existence was perfect and being a perfect being could non contract anything imperfect. Leibniz was himself a mathematician and portrayed his image of God to be a mathematician as well. This being the case, Leibniz believed that God would balance out e real things in the love of the executable actions in the world and would conclude with the optimal equation for equilibrium.Leibniz thence believed that we live in the outflank of all possible worlds. It was further held by Leibniz that God could take up imagined and created all kinds of worlds. unless being a moreover and gracious God, he chose to create the take up possible world. Leibniz believed that such was the world and life that God created on earth. However, bei ng finite creatures, men could not comprehend the extent of Gods plan and were painfully sure of the misfortunes that befell them. But if planets were to be viewed from Gods perspective, the harm in the world would be seen as tolerable or even necessary.This philosophy was displayed finished the justification of im saints in the world with whatever verificatory outcomes that whitethorn obligate resulted, even those not directly related or those obviously not equal to the harm brought about by the imperfection. It was in that locationfrom believed that the imperfections were necessary components in order to strike an optimal way of upkeep. It should be noted that Leibniz qualitatively excluded all other options by defining the present manhoodner of living as best, not merely intermit than other options. The followers of Leibniz may not swallow captured this exclusion.One follower, Alexander Pope, was an author of renown during Voltaires time. Pope espoused not that the pr esent world was the best of all possible worlds rather he merely believed that all actions in the world argon good or obligation. Pope believed that whatever is, is right. and then, everything that is in the world is right although not necessarily what is best. This lowers the standards of Leibniz optimism as the philosophy becomes merely that all actions, whether counterproductive or not, be inherently good and also result in good. These actions may not necessarily be the optimal acts to perform yet they are undoubtedly right.Voltaire himself was a deist and believed that a god portion the world into motion but left it to rule itself of its own accord. Therefore he could not submit to the reasoning that the world was perfect because of the perfection of such a god. It was impossible for Voltaire to believe that the misfortunes in the world were all meant to happen and more so, that to each one contributed to the perfection of the world. He base this peculiarly unreasonable when considering the harm that natural calamities inflicted upon persons. Thus, it was the philosophies of Leibniz and Pope that Voltaire responded to in some(prenominal) of his writings.When he wrote Candide it was optimism that he had in mind more it seems the optimism of Leibniz than Popes. Voltaires Candide In Candide, the protagonist after which the book is named, is the illegitimate nephew of a baron. He move in love with the barons daughter and is soon expelled from the weather for having been caught kissing the girl, Cunegonde. This sparks Candides travels through misfortune and luck, one following the other. in short after his departure from the barons house and an encounter with several Bulgars, he is joined by his occasion charabanc, Pangloss.It is Pangloss who has taught Candide that all things happen for the best possible outcome. The report card continues with Candide attempting to win binding Cunegonde. The satire unfolds with several deaths and more resurre ctions with Candide finding out how the friends he thought he had lost had survived the tragedies that had befallen them. In the midst of the chaos, Candide happens upon a substantial amount of precious jewels and is thus charge to saying for his lost love, Cunegonde, who had decided to marry a richesy man in order to preserve herself. In the process he buys back the freedom of several friends, including Pangloss.Together they purchase a small bring out house where they all settle down. They soon begin to quarrel that and it is simply the example of a simple maturateer who has employed gardening to guard himself against vice and leisure which saves them from their squabbles. The satire revolves around the human designer and Candide is thrust upon a journey filled with different settings in which trust tongue to antecedent might be observed. He witnesses also the changing conditions of his friends and even of his beloved Cunegonde, who shifted from being a barons daughter to enough a sex slave to becoming the wife of a Governor.The bosh is awash with examples of the different maculations in which persons find themselves and the manner in which they recognize life as a result of their situations. The human nature was demonstrate as incessantly malleable and capable of adjusting to the different conditions thrust upon it by life, whether improving or degrading their status. The question posed turned to the rejoinder of the different characters to the conditions in which they found themselves. Pangloss The Scholar of Optimism The most distinctive receipt to the variety of situations that were encountered was that of Pangloss.Pangloss himself started off as an educated tutor working for a baron. When the Bulgars came and ransacked the house, Pangloss was left to become a beggar. This was how he looked when he found Candide and joined his order. However, upon tenseing Spain, Candide was curtly sentenced to hang for his heretical instals. He di sappears from the story for some time but resurfaces after Candide has accumulated some wealth and has decided to search for Cunegonde. In his search for Cunegonde, Candide finds Pangloss along with Cunegondes familiar as enslaved members of a chain gang.Candied buys back both(prenominal) their freedoms and Pangloss joins the company in searching for Cunegonde and on that pointafter living in the small farm house with them. In the end, Pangloss finds himself part of their simple farming community, finally attaining peace treaty from the worries of their misadventures. It is noteworthy that end-to-end the story Pangloss does not lose his persistent optimism. He finds himself facing every misfortune focusing on the possible positive conditions that arise from his experience, even those minutely connected to himself.A rather odd moving-picture show portrays Pangloss still optimistic about having contracted syphilis. He connects his abridgement of the unsoundness with the origi n of the same if Columbus had not contracted the disease during his travels, thus propagating its spread throughout the world, there would bring forth been no uncovering of cocoa and cocoa as well. It seems that Pangloss outweighs the terrible effects of the disease both as to the reproductive cycle as to the individual affected with the proliferation of chocolate in the market. Pangloss continues to apply such philosophy in every enigma that he and Candide face.He therefore guides Candide to view each hardship as still the best of the possible worlds that could possibly assimilate been brought forth into motion. When Pangloss and Candide reach Spain he gets into a debate regarding the application of optimism in Adam and evenings sin in the Garden of nirvana. Pangloss firmly insisted that Eve ate the forbidden fruit because it would result in the exile from the Garden and thus entrance into the best possible scenario that God could have envisioned for them. It is in this exp licit expression that Voltaire introduces the role of providence and destiny in Optimism. This was the very reason why Pangloss was hanged.The insinuation that Adam and Eve were pre-ordained to be exiled from Eden reflected that they were not punished because of their own free forget. Rather, Optimism excluded the existence of free will as the philosophy espoused a deterministic brain with humans being guided along to follow only the best possible travel plan already paved by God. It is in the character of Pangloss that Voltaire depicted Leibniz, particularly so with the repeated intonations that the world is the best possible world that could be. This is surely the philosophy espoused by Leibniz and not the one popularized by Pope.Thus, with the multiple misfortunes that befell Pangloss and his unlikely justifications for the same, Voltaire refuted the philosophical conjecture of Leibniz. Certainly the world that Pangloss moved in was not the best world possible, what with i ts deplorable misfortunes, chaotic societies and unstable order. There was certainly a lot that could have been done to improve the living conditions and to economize the human plight depicted. Candide The Pupil of Optimism Voltaire reflects the rejection of Optimism through the persona of Candide. This rejection however occurs throughout the events in the story.It is only at the very end that Candide rejects his tutors teachings and decides that there is no place for such Optimism in light of the experiences that he has gone(p) through. From the beginning Candide is the pupil of Pangloss and he is taught the perspective of Optimism and is indoctrinated that the world is the best possible world that could have been conceived. When Candide is joined by Pangloss after the former survives the Bulgars, Pangloss teaches him to be exultant for the opportunity that the misfortune has offered them. It is in this manner that Candide struggled to underwrite and hold firm to the beliefs of his tutor.When considering the absurdly deplorable conditions that Candide was made to face, it is surprising that it took him so long to completely reject the philosophy of his tutor. There is one scene where Candide is about to be eaten by cannibals where he decides to still uphold his tutors theories by being grateful that he did not have to succumb to the cannibals. It is also seen through Candides interactions that he has adopted the panorama of his tutor as regards providence. When Candide and Cacambo travel towards Cayenne for example, Candide trusts that God will interpose for them and that providence will help them to reach their destination.This is comical particularly because of the events that have transpired heretofore which reveal that providence is not on their side. If anything, it is Voltaires belief that God abandons the world to take care of itself which is seen throughout the story. Thus defeating the numerical precision of Leibniz Optimism. After this scene ho wever, Candide finds himself in the utopian city of Eldorado. This causes Candide to ramble the beliefs of his tutor as he thinks that all the suffering he has gone through occurred in order for him to achieve the bliss of Eldorado.In this mother wit Pangloss is justified in that the misfortunes experienced were mere necessities and trivialities compared to the social welfares that followed. However, upon closer analysis this theory holds no water. Certainly Eldorado is a utopian and idyllic society. But doesnt this only serve to undermine Pangloss theory that the world as it is, is the best possible world that it could be? With the existence of a better society than the one which they left rear end, Candide should have seen that the latter is not the best society that it could be.Rather, the imperfections noticed and experienced in the society they left behind could be controlled for in the same manner that Eldorado controlled for such imperfections. or else of supporting Pang loss theory, the arrival of Candide in Eldorado only showed the stubbornness of Candide in clinging on to Optimism after all of the hardships that has befallen him and his friends. In the end however, Candide is overrun by the criticisms offered by the people he meets regarding his optimistic outlook.He is also get across by the pragmatic descriptions given about the situation of people and the condition of the world around them. It is also noteworthy that Candide was joined by a pessimist who served to counterbalance the philosophy of Pangloss. In the end however, what might finally have driven home the loss of the cause of Optimism was Pangloss own admission that he did not believe in the philosophy. This above all finally spurred Candide to give focus on the task before them that of tending their newly naturalized garden.The Reality of Optimism The satire although posing absurd situations to the different characters, presents a slang point to the issue of Optimism. Take into servant for example the demeanor and outlook of Candide, he was optimistic about the situations that surrounded him only when he could stomach being optimistic. It was therefore a matter of attitude that determined whether the situation was truly good or bad. It can thus be seen that there was no actual end of the circumstances presenting themselves.However, it is such a determination that is more important in order to truly assess whether or not the outcome is beneficial to a person concerned. To focus only on the outlook or perspective of persons would be to deny the populace that faces them. What Optimism would then espouse would be nothing more than selective screening of events with encoding of events that only served to improve the situation of the person concerned. Without adequate consideration of the disadvantages that a person might have undergone prior to the improvements of the situation there would be no accurate conclusion as to the actual benefit derived.This was painfully obvious with Candides optimistic outlooks. He was optimistic when he was striving for something he truly wanted with complete disregard as to the harm that he went through and the like. However, when he was discouraged and had nothing to look forward to he succumbed to the doubts of optimism and failed to justify the harm encountered with corresponding benefits that may have come his way. The mere fact that harms need to be justified reflects that there is no good or best plan behind each of these.If anything, Optimism merely welcomes the existence of pain and misfortune in the world. Optimism in effect communicates that such misfortunes are a natural component of the world and there is nothing that man can do to ease the suffering of their buster man. Such an outlook thus fails to improve the world as it is. instead of encouraging people to work on making the world into the idyllic place that people hope it to become, Optimism espouses indolence and fatalism as people a re taught to wait for other forces to act on their behalf.