![]() Optimism 4: When Pangloss broadcasts his philosophy of optimism to the earthquake survivors, he unwittingly places himself and Candide in danger. Optimism 3: According to Pangloss, private misfortunes are directly proportional to the general good the more people suffer, the better things are. He forgets the abuses he witnessed and suffered, and he sees Jacques' kindness as vindication of Pangloss's optimism. ![]() Optimism 2: The narrator uses a Leibniz phrase, "sufficient reason", to explain how the bayonet was responsible for thousands of deaths.ĭespite his terrible experiences, Candide maintains that things happened as they did for a reason, and that all is for the best. This may explain the chaotic and bizarre reversals of fortune in Candide life really defies the neatly packaged explanations provided by metaphysical doctrines such as optimism. God is neither benevolent, nor does he intervene in the affairs of mankind. God set the universe in motion, but then he left it to run its own course. Therefore, from god's perspective, private miseries are somehow tolerable or perhaps necessary.Īs a Deist, Voltaire believed that god is an absentee creator. Leibniz says that men, as finite beings with limited awareness, cannot comprehend god's overarching plan. Being benevolent and good by definition, god would choose the best of those possible worlds. ![]() According to Leibniz, god can imagine an infinite number of possible worlds. Optimism 1: Pangloss's brand of Optimism caricatures the philosophy of Leibniz. ![]()
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