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The Role of Optimism in Candide

From the essay Attacking Optimism: Everything isn't for the best, and Voltaire knew it by Eric Jonas

 (The page numbers below reflect those of our text.)

What is optimism?

In 1686, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, a prominent philosopher, emphasized the role of a benevolent creator—a creator who thought kindly toward us and wished us well ((Discours de Metaphysique (Discourse on Metaphysics)). Here are the basics of this philosophy:

Ø Monads are the constituent components of the universe. 

Ø All monads are linked in a complex chain of cause and effect. 

Ø A Creator had linked these in a particular order to create a harmonious universe. 

Ø Since this Creator is benevolent, omnipotent, and omniscient, He, by logical extension, would create the best of all worlds.

Ø Hence, everything that happens in the universe is part of this greater plan, and thus must be for the best.

Ø The reason that we humans cannot appreciate how the evils encountered in everyday life contribute to the best of universes and universal harmony is the fault of our limited perception. 

Ø According to the theory, no matter how confusing and unfair life may seem, everything happens for the best because each event is a precisely placed monad in the Creator’s universal chain.

Ø Thus, the theory of Optimism.

Optimism was attractive to many because it answered a profound philosophical question that mankind had been grappling with since the beginning of faith: if God is omnipotent and benevolent, then why is there so much evil in the world? How does this account for disasters? (earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and the like).

Optimism provides an easy way out of this philosophical dilemma: God has made everything for the best, and even though one might experience personal misfortune, God (via your misfortune) is still helping the greater good.

What was Voltaire opposed to?

Voltaire's experiences led him to dismiss the idea that this is the best of all possible worlds. Examining the death and destruction, both man-made and natural (including the Lisbon earthquake), Voltaire concluded that everything was not for the best. Bad things do happen, and they happen without being part of a greater good.

How, then, did Voltaire answer the question so easily solved by optimism, namely, why does evil exist in the world? As a Deist, Voltaire's God was one who initially created the world and then left it to its own devices. When, at the end of Candide,Pangloss asks the dervish why man exists, the dervish responds, "What does it matter whether there's good or evil? When his highness sends a ship to Egypt, does he worry whether the mice on board are comfortable or not? "(437). To Voltaire, people were the mice, and "his highness" the king was not concerned in the least with their day-to-day existence.