Voltaire

Biographical Summary Voltaire was born Francois-Marie Arouet in Paris on February 20, 1694, the last of five children in a family of relative success and nobility. His father and namesake, Francois Arouet, was a low-ranking treasury official for the French crown, while his mother, Marie Marguerite Daumard, came from a family in the lowest ring of French nobility. Voltaire had always displayed a passion and talent for writing, but his father forced him to study law, sending him to work as an…

Candide, Optimism and what Voltaire really meant François-Marie Arouet is one of literature’s greatest minds. Voltaire, his famous pen name was the personification of the Enlightenment. Voltaire was a writer too great to be intimidated by the powerful; he regularly went after the church, kings and even his contemporaries. Voltaire’s courageous attacks and sharp wit were never more on display than in his magnum opus, Candide or Optimism. Biting, intelligent and often time’s quite humorous…

Candide’s mentor and philosopher of the barons castle, Pangloss is Voltaire way of satirizing Leibniz’s idea that all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds. The main point in Leibniz philosophy is that God created the world so it had to be perfect, and if we perceive something bad happening its because we don’t fully understand God’s plan. Pangloss like most characters in the story is not believable, but rather he is a distorted and exaggerated representation of Leibniz designed to…

In 1762 Rousseau published The Social Contract, which encouraged a democratic society and founded modern democratic theory. Rousseau, unlike men like Locke and Voltaire, wanted a major change in society. Rousseau wanted a community where people joined in politics and acted honestly for the true good of all the community’s members. From this idea ordinary people have commented on policies and required rulers to justify…

Voltaire’s masterpiece Candide is a chronicle of Candide’s journey of self-discovery. Voltaire uses plot and the philosophy of his time to explore Candide’s character. Candide’s journey takes him through a spectrum of suffering, but also gives him brief moments of happiness which he then compares to his suffering. Through these moments of pain and pleasure, Candide derives his personal identity. Voltaire pushes Candide through happiness and suffering to develop Candide’s philosophy.…

Pangloss the philosopher, who is a representation of Leibniz and Optimism. Throughout the narrative, Pangloss’ stubborn belief in Optimism becomes absurd and inappropriate when it is juxtaposed with the terrible things that the characters endure. Voltaire is questioning blind adherence to philosophical theories. The Enlightenment is characterized by a variety of advances in the fields of science and philosophy. Primarily, Enlightenment philosophy placed major emphasis on the power of reason and…

usually good at expecting how people will act, unusually he fails with Cacambo. Martin’s absolute negativity dictates that a valet trusted with millions in gold will certainly deceive his master, yet Cacambo’s honesty challenges that negativity. Voltaire likes elastic philosophies based on real proof to dogmatic assertions based on thoughts. Absolute positivity and absolute negativity both fall into the latter grouping, because they will confess no exceptions (Anon, 1964). Like Pangloss, Martin…

support freedom from tyrannical governments, Voltaire would agree with Rousseau more than Locke as the preferred model on which to form a government for the people. I believe that Voltaire would agree more with Rousseau than Locke on the best way to form a government because in Candide the idealized nation that Voltaire describes is that in El Dorado, where the general will is put above personal gain. The Anabaptist James was also praised by Voltaire for his charitable works of putting the…

can anyone remain optimistic? In the story of Candide by Voltaire, the idea of optimism and philosophy is heavy satire. In his writing, Voltaire puts Candide in situations that are heavily fantasized with exaggerated coincidence. Voltaire played with this idea to keep readers interested in Candide’s adventure and always have a reason not to create new scenarios and characters as the story progress. Candide’s adventure would also serve Voltaire as a means to reflect to his reader on how he felt…

character in a satirical sense throughout his 1759 novel Candide, Enlightenment author Voltaire squandered no time with his chance to convey any perspective he held when concerned with idle philosophers of his time and their theories of theodicy. Particularly, G.W. von Leibniz. Through the character Pangloss - a passionate philosopher, stubborn scholar, and faithful friend to the novel's protagonist - Voltaire makes sure to often allude towards the impracticality of said theories and concepts,…