How does candide reflect the concerns of the enlightenment

Although, it reflects the Enlightenment era it closely can be viewed to be translate from Romanticism style of writing. Blind optimism has concealed the eyes of human beings from the defects of the world since the age of Enlightenment.

Defying the archaic thinking of society, Voltaire searched for practical and useful knowledge to explain the world he lived in. The term blind optimism refers to naievty, or having a tendency to expect the best of all possible outcomes and never accepting conclusions in a negative way. In the novel Candide, Voltaire strikes his major characters with atrocious events to challenge the unquestionable optimistic view of the world, showing how ludicrous blind optimism truly is.

He thus arrives to the subject of magic. With his self-proclaimed barren life, Faustus craves advancement and is therefore charmed by the seemingly harmless an Kurtz, a man with pure intentions, becomes infatuated with his god-like status among the natives.

Thus, Africa becomes the Mephastophilis in Heart of Darkness as it brings out the inherent evils in Kurtz and leads him directly into the inescapable grasp of hell. However, this does not prove Voltaire is a pessimist. During the age of Enlightenment, the philosophes believed that reason could be used to explain everything. The philosophes believed that people could make the world a better place to live in.

Voltaire is against such optimism. Ian Bell Says "The 'optimist' argument then, was complex and sophisticated, but like all ironists Voltaire chose to simplify it to the extent that it seemed complacent and absurd, and he went on to cast doubt on our chances of ever securing 'eternal happiness'" Successful Use of Satire in Voltaire's Candide Voltaire's Candide is the story of how one man's adventures affect his philosophy on life. Voltaire successfully uses satire as a means of conveying his opinions about many aspects of European society in the eighteenth century.

He criticizes religion, the evils found in every level of society, and a philosophy of optimism when faced with an intolerable world. Candide portrays religious persecution as one of the most worst aspects of society.

Open Document. Essay Sample Check Writing Quality. Throughout his travels, he adheres to the teachings of his tutor , Pangloss, believing that "all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds. Though he was by no means a pessimist, Voltaire refused to believe that what happens is always for the best. The Age of Enlightenment is a term applied to a wide variety of ideas and advances in the fields of philosophy, science, and medicine. But I think the complexities go even deeper than that.

If I spend too much time immersed in thought and no time actually doing things, I start to feel listless and depressed. It is good to work, to create things, to take a break and focus on practical issues. So part of the issue is balance. Excessive contemplation can be exhausting and demoralizing.

In my experience, doing one small thing to make the world better feels infinitely better than all the cognitive analysis of how horrible things are. There, however, lies a small defense of philosophy.

Ignorance may be bliss, until the problems of the world force their way into your life and you find yourself utterly unprepared for them.

Better to have some understanding of the problems, and be prepared to do what you can about them. But why did Leibnitz assert something so absurd and depressing as the assertion that we live in the best of all possible worlds? My understanding is that the motivation was at least partially religious. God is good and omnipotent, therefore if suffering exists it can only exist in the most minimal form possible.

Prior assumptions forced his philosophical hand. When we demand conclusions in absence of conclusive evidence, one of two things happens. Either we come to a conclusion that is insufficiently supported, and reason itself leads us down a path of lies, or we make ourselves a Sisyphus, constantly formulating and rejecting hypotheses and exhausting ourselves in a futile task. But to contemplate openly, that is an entirely different thing. To wonder, and leave ourselves open to possibilities, reveals the incredible intricacy of the universe in a way that finding answers never can.

This I think was part of the appeal of Romanticism, and later Absurdism. Sorry for rambling on so long. Thanks for this great thought inducing post. I only read the first paragraph, but my, this is amazing!! Thanks for sharing! Think about the Double-Edged Sword. So, once you gain a greater level of knowledge on a subject, it becomes your duty to share that knowledge in a Good way. Now, you have the problem of tuning your Moral-Compass.

I shall leave it to someone else to try to think of an Evil way to tune your Moral-Compass, maybe try to be rid of it altogether? A lifelong champion of the poor and downtrodden, he wrote against tyranny and religious persecution with unmatched audacity.

Despite his relentless criticism of powerful individuals and institutions, Voltaire became good friends with King Frederick of Prussia. They often quarreled, as Voltaire inevitably quarreled with anyone in power, but the ties of their friendship were lasting. In the s, Voltaire grew increasingly appalled by the specters of injustice and inexplicable disaster that he saw around him.

In , Voltaire purchased Ferney, an estate near the border between France and Switzerland, so that he might easily flee across the border to escape French authorities. Ferney quickly became a retreat for important European intellectuals. Though often considered a representative text of the Enlightenment, the novel actually savagely satires a number of Enlightenment philosophies and demonstrates that the Enlightenment was a far from monolithic movement.

In his later life Voltaire was involved in a wide variety of campaigns for social and political justice. The strain of the trip was more than his failing health could support, however, and he died in May of Voltaire would have appreciated the irony of this act, as he and Rousseau were bitter rivals during their lifetimes.

Many historians mark the French Revolution as the crowning event of the Enlightenment era. The primary feature of Enlightenment philosophy is a profound faith in the power of reason and rational thought to lead human beings to a better social structure.

The political ideology of Enlightenment philosophers is characterized by a spirit of social reform.