As stated by the philosopher, Leibniz, “The world is the best of all possible worlds, and everything in it is a necessary evil.” Candide, a novel by Voltaire explores the philosophical dimensions of paternalistic optimism. Paternalistic optimism is the idea of a perfect predestined world created by God’s intentions. These ideals found strong acceptance among the Catholic Church, monarchs and other influential members of society. These members then presented paternalistic optimism in such a way, that the lower classes unquestioningly accepted these teachings as a way of their life. Candide was written as a counter-response to this philosophy, and became very controversial in pre-revolutionary French society. Through the philosophical underpinnings of paternalistic optimism, Voltaire explores the idea of a parodic Christ figure, represented by Pangloss, to not only criticize the French social hierarchy during the 1750s, but to
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Pangloss’s views never change, even after going through a horrific series of incidents, he still clings on to the belief that everything is for the best. In fact at the very end of the book, after encountering numerous misfortunes and almost dying twice, Pangloss states that, “All events are linked together in the best of all possible worlds,” and then goes on to state how all of Candide’s misfortunes led him up to this one moment, all planned out by God himself. This stativity of Pangloss’s exemplifies the unwaveringness of his ideas, even when he may doubt the validity of the theory. Furthermore, this can be viewed symbolically as an allusion to the Catholic Church, since Pangloss and the Church have such static perspectives, even when the world around them is evolving, and new information is being
Pangloss’s views never change, even after going through a horrific series of incidents, he still clings on to the belief that everything is for the best. In fact at the very end of the book, after encountering numerous misfortunes and almost dying twice, Pangloss states that, “All events are linked together in the best of all possible worlds,” and then goes on to state how all of Candide’s misfortunes led him up to this one moment, all planned out by God himself. This stativity of Pangloss’s exemplifies the unwaveringness of his ideas, even when he may doubt the validity of the theory. Furthermore, this can be viewed symbolically as an allusion to the Catholic Church, since Pangloss and the Church have such static perspectives, even when the world around them is evolving, and new information is being