How Is Pangloss As The Counter To Voltaire

1065 Words3 Pages

Jessica Noble
Pangloss as the Counter to Voltaire In the novel Candide, Pangloss is not a believable character. He is an exaggeration, a representation of the kind of philosopher whose personality is inseparable from his philosophy. His continued optimism is subject to most of the satire found in the novel, and through forcing Pangloss to interact with the cruel world around him, Voltaire can attack the ideas Pangloss represents. His idea that this world is the best of all possible worlds is attacked frequently by Voltaire in the novel, and when covering the subject of idle philosophy, Pangloss is an example of how not to behave. It is through Pangloss that we truly see Voltaire’s feelings, as he uses Pangloss as an exaggeration of what not …show more content…

Leibniz maintains that, since the world was created by God, and since God is benevolent and capable, the world must be the best world imaginable. To Pangloss and followers of Leibniz, to have any evil in the world would be a sign that God is not all knowing and all powerful, because God is omnipotent, and must know some evil will occur. Any evil that is perceived in the world is so because humans cannot understand the ultimate good that the “evil” is meant to serve. In Candide, Voltaire stakes a different claim, demonstrating that it could also be possible that this world is not the best, and that because it is not the best God is not controlling it. Where Pangloss represents theism, Voltaire and fellow enlightened thinkers believed there may have been a god, and he created the universe, but once he created it he stepped back and watched events play out. These “Deists” believe God can be known through reason. It is for these differences that Voltaire mocks the idea of a completely good world, and is unfair in his satire, making Pangloss a caricature of a person and magnifying his flaws. The novel’s characters, especially Pangloss and …show more content…

In the chaos constantly presented in the novel, characters are prevented from making accurate assessments of the world around them because they are thinking idealistically. No one takes any action to prevent horrible situations, because they feel the situation rests in God’s hands: there is no alternative, and no changing what is done. Pangloss most fully represents this shortcoming in preventing Candide from saving the drowning Jacques, saying he believes the bay of Lisbon had been formed specifically for him to drown in, and then ignoring Candide’s struggle to free himself from the rubble post-earthquake, instead contemplating what may have caused the event. Even the name of Pangloss’s school of thought, metaphysico-theologo-cosmolo-nigology, suggests how ridiculous Voltaire believes idle thinkers to be. At the novel’s end, the group is first unhappy, all debating philosophy while the misery of the world continues. Pangloss still maintains that everything is for the best, but can no longer believe his own words. Pangloss simply refuses to incorporate his new knowledge of the cruelness of the world into his philosophy. For him, the idea is more important and attractive than reality. This concept is clearly shown in an exchange between Pangloss and Candide, where Candide asks whether Pangloss’s hanging and subsequent dissection have made him change his mind about his

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