![]() ![]() His influence on popular thought is critical to understanding the manner in which religion and evil are treated today. Right or wrong, Voltaire’s stinging denunciation has reversed the way many view the world in the modern day. He did such an efficient job that many lean toward pessimism in the modern day.ĭue largely to the impact of “Candide,” horrific events through antiquity will be viewed with decreasing hope and little optimism. ![]() Voltaire certainly heightened awareness toward the blatant issue of evil. Voltaire’s legendary wit is showcased throughout the story, but to truly understand much of the humor, one must be somewhat familiar with the philosophy of optimism and the key supporters of it. Many believe that Voltaire uses Pangloss to represent Leibniz and the optimism of the Renaissance philosophers. The character of Pangloss is the driving force behind the philosophy of optimism throughout the book. ![]() Though he stays committed through a ridiculous amount of hardship, he ultimately rejects the philosophy of optimism and concludes with the famous line, “We must cultivate our garden,” meaning that the individual must only take pains to avoid the three great evils: boredom, vice and poverty. Many Harvard students and graduates will remember his 1971 work A Theory of Justice, mandatory reading in Bass professor of government Michael Sandel’s Justice, and in a number of philosophy and intellectual-history courses. In spite of his terrible suffering, Candide continues to cling tightly to his now seemingly foolish optimism. John Rawls is to modern political philosophy, perhaps, what John Maynard Keynes is to economics. He proceeds to have a wealth of misfortunes accost him, including being flogged, nearly dying in an earthquake, losing a great fortune, and having the love of his life stripped away from him. Despite his misfortune, he is unfazed and continues to think everything in the world is as it should be. Pangloss’ philosophy is that of unbridled optimism, and he quickly convinces Candide of the necessary truth behind optimism.Ĭandide falls in love with the daughter of the baron and is subsequently banished from the kingdom. He pokes fun at the teaching of men such as Leibniz throughout his entertaining story of a simple man who experiences the worst the world has to offer.Ĭandide is the bastard nephew of a wealthy baron, who employs a philosophy tutor named Dr. And then starting the recovery effort the very next dayroaring back soon enough. ![]() With Stoic optimism, we can be Edison, our factory on fire, not bemoaning our fate but enjoying the spectacular scene. He wrote a variety of intellectual work during his tenure, but his magnum opus and most berating work against optimism was Candide.Ĭandide is Voltaire’s celebrated satire of optimistic philosophy. The answer, I say, is with philosophypractical philosophy. Voltaire, the penname of French writer Francois-Marie Arouet, was one of the most notable critics of optimism. Though this view was prevalent through much of the Renaissance, the 18th century period of the Enlightenment brought derision and castigation from men who saw this optimism as misplaced and foolish. Men such as Baron Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz, wrote convincing works advocating a doctrine of optimism. Pain, suffering and the problem of evil still troubled the intellectuals of the day, but they found ways to reconcile an all-loving deity with these alleged inconsistencies and saw room for optimism and hope. Voltaire’s work Candide took a satirical view of optimism and so the word became popular outside of its use in the field of philosophy. Is there room for optimism and hope in such a world?ĭuring the Renaissance, many of the prominent philosophers and theologians had formulated a worldview saturated with optimism. Anyone who denies this has to look no further than events such as the Holocaust or the atrocities committed in Darfur. Betty White said that her secret to living to just so shy of 100 was that she never ate anything green and that she was a “cockeyed optimist.” But it seems as if there are non-personal, non-philosophical senses of optimism/ pessimism.In this world, misfortune strikes every day. We tend to think of optimism and pessimism as personal, psychological characteristics. The HBS hosts talk about optimism and pessimism in its personal, political, and philosophical senses. ![]()
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