The Role of Philosophical Optimism in Candide

March 03, 2013

The Role of Philosophical Optimism in Candide

Voltaire was a French philosopher who stood for the philosophy of optimism which he expounds in his book Candide and this is a French book that he wrote in 1759. It revolves around a number of characters Candide being the main one. The book begins by introducing the background of Candide who lives in Westphalian who stays with Doctor Panglosse who is a philosopher. Voltaire expounds his theory through doctor Panglosse who indoctrines his philosophy on his student and they are of the philosophy that this is the best world. Voltaire uses the characters to ridicule this by disapproving the philosophy (Vortaire1) in which Candide undergoes a number of life hardships in an attempt to rejoin with his lover Cunegonde. Finally, he disapproves the theory when Candide accepts the reality that this is not the best world and this paper presents a discussion of the role of philosophical optimism in Candide and contrasts harsh realities with the ideas of optimism.

Voltaire uses the book Candide to satirize religion and fantasy as the church is recurrent in the book Candide and the clergymen who teach about charity do not act according to their teachings. Candide finds no help from the church men but Jacques the Anabaptist comes to his aid (Voltaire 6). The author proves the hypocrisy of the church and states that the system undermines the very foundations of the Christian Religion and explains nothing (Budd 88). Voltaire believes that good and bad suffer and that this implies that God is not in charge as he has abandoned the world. Voltaire dwells so much on explaining people living in the world of fantasy where they rarely recognize reality though with diverse challenges. However hard they are, he always clings on his master's philosophy that all happens for their best and for reason. Voltaire at last achieves his goal when Candide accepts the reality and stops living in fantasy after meeting Martin, another philosopher. Voltaire has used optimism philosophy in his writing to satirize fantasy and religion so as to persuade people to live a life of realism rather than stay in a state of fantasy (Voltaire 71).

The writer has used exaggeration in the writing as Candide is portrayed to have been lucky on several occasions and escaped a number of death cases. He is chased out of the castle with kicks when he kisses the princess of Baron. It is after his excommunication that the Baron castle is attacked by Bulgarians where the most of the inhabitants are killed and ones that survive narrowly escape death. He joins the Bulgarian army and he narrowly escapes death when he is caught taking a stroll and fails to withstand the beatings imposed on him (Voltaire 67). He prefers being shot dead but the king intervenes and pardons him just before he is killed. During the shipwreck, Candide, Pangloss and a sailor survive the sea wreck and later survive the earthquake at Lisbon. He also narrowly survives hanging at the same place. After killing the German father, Cacambo and his master flee and are captured by Oreillons. The cannibals almost feed on them but Cacambo's intervention saves them by the whiskers. These exaggerations have he brought satire in the writer's work.

The story starts by briefly describing the philosophy of doctor Pangloss that, 'The nose is formed for spectacles, therefore we wear spectacles. The legs are visibly designed for stockings; accordingly, we wear stockings......' This is a perfect explanation of what the optimism philosophy entails as it offers the belief of the optimists that everything has a cause and effect and happens for the best. This satire brings out the extent of obsession of the optimists.

The writer has tried to use harsh reality to contrast the optimism idea of philosophy, for instance during the ship wreck, James is thrown off board by the sailor. Candide tries to save the drowning man but Pangloss prevents him by claiming that the bay had come to exist so that James could drown. "...prevented by the philosopher Pangloss, who demonstrated to him that the roadstead of Lisbon had been made on purpose for the Anabaptist to be drowned there" is a quotation from the book. The reality is that James was drowning and was in need of help. Instead, Pangloss interprets the case in a philosophical way which leads to loss of life that could have been prevented (Budd).

The other incident used by the writer is during the earthquake at Lisbon when the earthquake claims lives of many people in this region with many of them being buried in rumbles while others dying from serious injuries. The master interprets the incident as a way to eliminate