Comparing Candide, By Voltaire, Astell And Diderot

Enlightenment thinkers believed and valued topics such as: science, religious tolerance and the idea of natural rights –life, liberty, and property. Placing importance on these areas caused great uproar in the mid 16th century society, especially by those who held power. Enlightenment thinkers such as, Voltaire, Astell and Diderot, criticized the institutions of the monarchy and the education system. By criticizing the arbitrary government’s ideas on education and equal opportunity, the purpose of the class system now became a questionable concept. If anyone were able to become educated, then there would not necessarily be a need for a monarchy or a class system with such distinct lines. The abuse of power in both of these institutions leads …show more content…
Equality would grant all men an opportunity to voice their own opinions in their government and let them explore their world around them. The enlightenment thinkers knew that they should have equal say in the government. But only the upper class ruled, and they were unfair to the lower classes of people. This system did not make sense, because the lower classes were the majority of the people and did most of the work. Voltaire agreed that the upper class held too much power. He depicts those of the upper classes as being harsh and discriminatory. In Candide, Voltaire explores the question: Why do the innocent suffer? He describes what happens to Candide when he is found kissing the daughter of the Baron. The Baron did not believe that Candide deserved to be with his daughter because he was of lower class. The whipping, harsh training, and being shot in the face were all extremely cruel affects of his kiss with Cunegund. Voltaire thought that the barriers between classes were unfair. This was part of the reason thinkers of the Enlightenment wanted to break down social barriers and grant more freedoms to all …show more content…
Only priests or noblemen were properly educated during this time. Enlightenment thinker Mary Astell was one of the most passionate thinkers to preach about the idea of intellectual equality. Astell fought for the women’s right to be educated. She believes that there is gender inequality in their society due to an error in the education system, arguing that, “Neither God nor Nature have excluded them from being ornaments to their Families and useful in their Generation; there is therefor no reason they should be content to be cyphers in the world.” The women are either not being educated at all, or are being educated on irrelevant topics, yet they are reprimanded if they do not appropriately make correct conversation in social situations. She also believes that if women were better educated then it would benefit their families as well. “One would be apt to think indeed, that Parents shou’d take all possible care of their Children’s Education, not only for their sakes, but even for their own…a great part of the Hounour of their Families depends on their Daughters.” Education should be granted to both men and women so that the kids are able to be raised properly and uphold the family name in the correct manner as they grow up. Her ideas of intellectual equality challenged hierarchy because if everyone’s mind is hypothetically the same, then