The Role Of Optimism In Voltaire's Candide

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“The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds; and the pessimist fears this is true” (James Branch Cabell, The Silver Stallion). This quote embodies the idealism of optimism displayed within the story Candide. In today’s society, we are taught to look forward to more fortunate outcomes in life, and to discover the advantages even in the most detrimental situations. By definition, optimism is a disposition or tendency to look on the more favorable side of events or conditions and to expect the most favorable outcome, or can be interpreted as the belief that good ultimately predominates over evil in the world (dictionary.com). In the story Candide by Voltaire (Francois-Marie Arouet), Candide is the protagonist who displays …show more content…
He proclaims, “The pursuit of happiness is an idea that has long been debated and whose meaning is still up in the air.” He first discusses that the idea of the pursuit of happiness dates back to the philosophies of Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle. According to Darnton, they categorized the concept of happiness into a general philosophy of pleasure and pain, which is something Candide experienced in the story. Darnton explicates how Candide is searching for happiness, and he makes the assumption that Candide believes his happiness lies within being with Cunegonde. From this perspective, there is an indication of can see why Candide endures all of his trials and tribulations in order to be reunited with her. It was his love for her that drove his desire to live happily ever after with her as his …show more content…
He produces an argument that entails, “Two of the most prominent philosophes, Voltaire and Diderot, were in fact opponents of the kind of political rationalism that they are often thought to have embraced. Both of these thinkers rejected the idea of a single "rational" political order, advocated gradual reform rather than wholesale change, and denied that the steady application of reason could produce inevitable or endless progress.” He describes that they practiced naïve optimism, which was can be described as purposely ignoring facts and making judgements due the presence of biases. Rasmussen’s views Candide as the book that distinctly displays naive optimism. It is susceptible to reason with this judgement because Voltaire constructed his character Candide to remain optimistic no matter how bad things got or seemed. With the ideology from Pangloss’s philosophies, Candide sought to see the good even in the bad. With this in mind, it gives a different perspective on why Voltaire wrote Candide, and why he made the story with the ideologies he presented in the story. From this article, it seems to be politics that helped shape his outlook of the world, and his characters in the story mimicked what he saw and how he felt about the world and the need to stay
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