Examples Of Rationalism In Candide

In our interactive orals today we discussed the philosophical and contextual considerations of Voltaire’s satire novel “Candide”. In our discussion we went over the history of Enlightenment and the two types of enlightened thinking: Humanism and Rationalism. Through the discussion I was able to expand my understanding of Voltaire’s belief in the “power of reason to overcome traditional authority and embrace rational change”. Enlightenment philosophy is the understanding that we can collectively as a society make the world a better place. There are two types of enlightened thinking that are prevalent in Candide: rationalism and humanism. Rationalism is traditionally described as the “process of knowledge being attained through reason”. Whereas
humanism studies the whole person, and the “uniqueness of each individual through values and creativity”. Voltaire’s “Candide” is characterized by the primary issues of the Enlightenment, but also criticizes certain factors of the Enlightenment Era. Voltaire’s utilizes enlightened ideas to question optimism, which believes that rational thought can obtain the evils committed by society. Voltaire utilizes Pangloss’s rants to represent the humor characterization of the traditional optimist. Voltaire writes “He proved admirably that there cannot possibly be an effect without a cause and that in the best of all possible worlds the baron’s castle was the best of all castles and his wife the best of all possible baronesses.” Here we see Voltaire strike the claim that “[this is] best of all possible worlds” mocking the popular optimistic humanistic belief that everything happens for a reason. However, Voltaire then uses Martin to contrast Pangloss’ optimistic views stating “being flogged and hanged in an auto de fe being dissected and rowing in the galleys-experiencing, in a word, all the miseries through we have passed- or else sitting here and doing nothing?” What Voltaire is implying in this passage is that human beings don’t suffer from political, violence, crime and war, but they suffer from their own inherent flaws and imperfections. Which is typically associated with the rationalistic view that in the end, our bodies will yield to the forces of the world and we will eventually move into a state of chaos and die. Through the discussion my knowledge of enlightened ideas were expanded and helped me conceptualize some of Voltaire’s techniques in mocking late Philosophers theories within the novel.