Why Do We Follow Candide's Philosophy?

“Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people”-Socrates. The wrath of God has been a source of control for as long as religion has been followed. It is what causes followers to behave within the realms of their religion. But to the disbelief of God fearing men, not every event that transpires is for the best intention. In Candide by Voltaire, the idea that everything happens for the best of reasons is challenged. We follow Candide as he is kicked out of his estate, loses his lover, gets beaten repeatedly, and has his faith challenged every step of the way. Throughout it all we experience Candide’s chronicles interpreted through Voltaire’s own satirical humour and experience Candide’s struggle to have faith in his philosophy. In the book, the philosophy followed by Candide, that we live in the best possible world and everything happens for the best possible reason, changes over and over. …show more content…
He is forced to fight in the army of the Bulgars, and receives a punishment from them almost immediately. At this point in the story, Candide still believes in his original philosophy. In the next chapter, he says to an orator, “There is no cause without effect. All things are necessarily connected. I had to be driven away from Lady Cunegonde, I had to run the gauntlet, and I have to beg my bread until I can earn it; all that cannot have been otherwise”(Candide 21). Even after the small but painful amount of events that have happened to him, he sticks to his philosophy. He believes that everything that has happened to him is still for the best, and everything will eventually work