Editing Candide (section)

===Optimism===
''Candide'' satirises various philosophical and religious theories that Voltaire had previously criticised. Primary among these is [[Gottfried Leibniz#Theodicy and optimism|Leibnizian optimism]] (sometimes called ''Panglossianism'' after its fictional proponent), which Voltaire ridicules with descriptions of seemingly endless calamity.<ref name=davidson54>Davidson (2005), p. 54</ref> Voltaire demonstrates a variety of irredeemable evils in the world, leading many critics to contend that Voltaire's treatment of evil—specifically the theological problem of
its existence—is the focus of the work.<ref>''Readings on Candide'' (2001), p. 121</ref> Heavily referenced in the text are the Lisbon earthquake, disease, and the sinking of ships in storms. Also, war, thievery, and murder—evils of human design—are explored as extensively in ''Candide'' as are environmental ills. Bottiglia notes Voltaire is "comprehensive" in his enumeration of the world's evils. He is unrelenting in attacking Leibnizian optimism.<ref>Bottiglia (1951), p. 720</ref>

Fundamental to Voltaire's attack is Candide's tutor Pangloss, a self-proclaimed follower of Leibniz and a teacher of his doctrine. Ridicule of Pangloss's theories thus ridicules Leibniz himself, and Pangloss's reasoning is silly at best. For example, Pangloss's first teachings of the narrative absurdly mix up cause and effect:

{{quote|text={{lang|fr|Il est démontré, disait-il, que les choses ne peuvent être autrement; car tout étant fait pour une fin, tout est nécessairement pour la meilleure fin. Remarquez bien que les nez ont été faits pour porter des lunettes; aussi avons-nous des lunettes.}}}}

{{quote|text=It is demonstrable that things cannot be otherwise than as they are; for as all things have been created for some end, they must necessarily be created for the best end. Observe, for instance, the nose is formed for spectacles, therefore we wear spectacles.<ref>Smollett (2008), Ch. 1</ref>}}

Following such flawed reasoning even more doggedly than Candide, Pangloss defends optimism. Whatever their horrendous fortune, Pangloss reiterates "all is for the best" ("{{lang|fr|Tout est pour le mieux}}") and proceeds to "justify" the evil event's occurrence. A characteristic example of such [[theodicy]] is found in Pangloss's explanation of why it is good that [[syphilis]] exists:

{{quote|text={{lang|fr|c'était une chose indispensable dans le meilleur des mondes, un ingrédient nécessaire; car si Colomb n'avait pas attrapé dans une île de l'Amérique cette maladie qui empoisonne la source de la génération, qui souvent même empêche la génération, et qui est évidemment l'opposé du grand but de la nature, nous n'aurions ni le chocolat ni la [[Cochineal|cochenille]];}}}}

{{quote|text=it was a thing unavoidable, a necessary ingredient in the best of worlds; for if Columbus had not caught in an island in America this disease, which contaminates the source of generation, and frequently impedes propagation itself, and is evidently opposed to the great end of nature, we should have had neither chocolate nor cochineal.<ref name="Smollett 2008, Ch. 4" />}}

Candide, the impressionable and incompetent student of Pangloss, often tries to justify evil, fails, invokes his mentor and eventually despairs. It is by these failures that Candide is painfully cured (as Voltaire would see it) of his optimism.

This critique of Voltaire's seems to be directed almost exclusively at Leibnizian optimism. ''Candide'' does not ridicule Voltaire's contemporary [[Alexander Pope]], a later optimist of slightly different convictions. ''Candide'' does not discuss Pope's optimistic principle that "all is right", but Leibniz's that states, "this is the best of all possible worlds". However subtle the difference between the two, ''Candide'' is unambiguous as to which is its subject. Some critics conjecture that Voltaire meant to spare Pope this ridicule out of respect, although Voltaire's ''Poème'' may have been written as a more direct response to Pope's theories. This work is similar to ''Candide'' in subject matter, but very different from it in style: the ''Poème'' embodies a more serious philosophical argument than ''Candide''.<ref name="aldridge 251–254, 361">Aldridge (1975), pp. 251–254, 361</ref><!--Temmer, I think, disagrees with this. However, he is in the minority, and is not primarily a Voltaire scholar… see:

Voltaire and Samuel Beckett: A Comparative Study of Candide and The
Unnamable By: Ludlow, Gregory; Comparatist: Journal of the Southern
Comparative Literature Association, 1978; 2: 1–10. (journal article)
ISSN: 0195-7678 Sequence number: 1979-2-1786 Accession number:
1979201786 -->