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Candide - A Contrast To Optimi - School Essays

Candide - A Contrast To Optimi

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Francois Marie Arouet de Voltaire was the French author of the
novella Candide, also known as "Optimism"(Durant and Durant 724). In
Candide, Voltaire sought to point out the fallacy of Gottfried William
von Leibniz's theory of optimism and the hardships brought on by the
resulting inaction toward the evils of the world. Voltaire's use of
satire, and its techniques of exaggeration and contrast highlight the
evil and brutality of war and the world in general when men are meekly
accepting of their fate. Leibniz, a German philosopher and
mathematician of Voltaire's time, developed the idea that the world
they were living in at that time was "the best of all possible
...

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were based on the idea that everything in the world
was determined by fate, theorized that God, having the ability to pick
from an infinite number of worlds, chose this world, "the best of all
possible worlds." Although Voltaire chose that simple quality of
Leibniz's philosophy to satirize, Leibniz meant a little more than
just that. Even though his philosophy stated that God chose "the best
of all possible worlds," he also meant that God, being the perfection
he is, chose the best world available to him, unfortunately it was a
world containing evil. It seems as though Voltaire wanted to ridicule
Leibniz's philosophy so much that he chose to satirize only the
literal meaning and fatal acceptance of evil of Leibniz's philosophy.

To get his point across in Candide, Voltaire created the
character Dr. Pangloss, an unconditional follower of Leibniz's
philosophy. Voltaire shows this early in the novella by stating, "He
proved admirably that ...

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Candide - A Contrast To Optimi. (2005, April 2). Retrieved December 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Candide-A-Contrast-To-Optimi/24708

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 4/2/2005 06:50:24 AM
Category: English
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 1214
Pages: 5

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