Voltaire's Critique of Optimism in Candide

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Voltaire's Views on Optimism Exposed in Candide In Voltaire's literature, specifically Candide, he attacks the element of human optimism. This attack on human optimism was thought to have been the result of his shock over the Lisbon Earthquake of 1755. (Gay 46) Voltaire attained that enthusiasm was a mental disease. (Gay 256) He believed that philosophies must avoid the cheap complacency of optimism(Gay 46). As Voltaire attempted to sum up in Candide," If this is the best of all possible worlds, what are the others like?" (Gay 26). Candide was proof that Voltaire despised optimism. The story is based on the assumption that God is to blame for setting us down in an imperfect world. (Andrews101) Although Voltaire denied haven written Candide, he was verbal about his opinions toward optimism. He felt optimism is absurd because there is so much human misery. (Weitz 13) Voltaire defines optimism as being "the passion for maintaining that all is right when all goes wrong with us". (Weitz14) "Ultimately", Voltaire said, "optimism is as self protecting a hypothesis about the world as one could imagine, since absolutely nothing can refute it". (Weitz 14) Voltaire did not deny natural disasters or human suffering. He denies only that these phenomena are evil. He asserted that they are necessary elements of the world. (Weitz 15) Voltaire believed that optimism is not a cause of joy or hope, but instead one of despair. Evil exists and it is Mankind's task to simply deal with it the best way it can. (Weitz 17) Works Cited Andrews, Wayne. Voltaire. New York: New Directions Pub. 1981 Gay, Peter. Voltaire's Politics.New York: Random House,1965 Weitz, Morris. Philosophy in literature. Detroit: Wayne State Univ. Press.1963

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